Put another whirlwind year in perspective with BMI's annual Year in Beer Webinar, a 60-minute presentation + Q&A, coming right up on Wed, Jan 28 to break down the past year's most important developments. Get an exclusive first look at 2025 tallies as well as a rapid-fire roundup of the stats and stories that mattered most. All registrants will receive access to the live session, the full presentation deck for your records and a video replay.

Michelob Ultra hosted the "Run Back the Miracle," event Thurs night in Lake Placid, NY at the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena, which co called a "one-of-a-kind experience" honoring the 1980 USA hockey team's "Miracle on Ice" victory. Mich Ultra reimagined "pivotal moments" from the legendary game using "high-definition holograms, full-surface ice projection and historic footage," allowing the 1,800 fans in attendance the opportunity "to relive the magic of one of the most celebrated moments in sports history."

Asahi USA is unveiling Zeitaku Shibori ("Premium Squeeze"), a vodka-based cocktail in Lemon and Peach flavors, co announced. It's the first Asahi RTD to be produced in the US and clocks in at 100 cals per 12oz can. The launch "highlights the company's growing investment in North American production at its Octopi production site in Waunakee, Wisconsin," co said. The RTD will be distributed via importer Wismettac in "priority launch markets" including LA, San Fran, NY, NJ, Honolulu, Seattle, Miami, Chicago and Denver.

"A historic downturn in demand" for many spirits categories "has left drink makers sitting on a lake of unsold spirits, forcing them to mothball distilleries and slash prices" as bottles pile up in their warehouses, reported Financial Times this past weekend. Five of the biggest alcohol makers (Diageo, Pernod Richard, Campari and Rémy Cointreau) are stuck with a whopping $22 bil worth of booze right now, "the highest level in more than a decade," wrote FT. "The build-up of inventories is unprecedented," added Bernstein analyst Trevor Stirling. At Diageo, share of "maturing inventories," as a share of annual revs, has risen from 34% in 2022 to 43% in 2025. "The value of the FTSE 100 group's ageing stock, predominantly American whiskey and Scotch, had reached $8.6 bil as of June last yr," noted report.

A mountain of media coverage greeted the return of the Most Interesting Man, with some additional interesting details included in Wall St Jnl, Ad Age, CNN, Ad Week and many more. "The relaunch is backed by a 20% to 25% increase in marketing investment, [CMO Ali] Payne said," wrote Ad Age. And Heineken USA "hopes to triple" the brand's near 1 share of mkt in 10 yrs, prexy Maggie Timoney told Wall St Jnl. It's a good thing MIM is so interesting, because he ain't no spring chicken. Jonathan Goldsmith is 87, Wall St Jnl notes (even older than another octogenarian beer spokesperson, Miller Lite's Christopher Walken, who is 82).

While there's been no shortage of speculation swirling about the future of RNDC, the large but languishing wine & spirits distrib has secured "significant additional financing" to help shore up its operations, co announced late Fri and Shanken News Daily first reported.

Good Boy Vodka ceo/founder Alex Pratt is extremely bullish on 2026 plans after not being able to keep up with demand in 2025. After growing 1.5 mil cases vs yr ago in 2025, Good Boy's "projecting around 7 million cases" this year, Alex stated at BBD Summit. That's after missing last yr's mark "by well over 2 million cases," Alex and co figure, having $25 mil in backorders for the mo of Jun alone. It was "out of stock for three months" as it switched from Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits to now 90% alignment with AB network, completing the switch by Oct 1 last yr. The brand's "been going through incredible growth ever since" with the John Daly product that "put us on the map" and new Citrus Circus orange crush line in partnership with motocross legend Travis Pastrana recently added to the mix. Great Lakes is its strongest region with MI touted as Good Boy's "most mature market." But as brand expanded, NY and CA picked up and FL is "an incredible market," Alex added. Co put "a lot of resources" into its supply chain for 2026, leaving Alex extra confident this yr.

Yet another smaller AB distributor has deal to sell to a larger consolidating distrib. Huron Dist, about 1.1 mil cases in Indian Point and Alpeena, MI has deal to sell to Fabiano Brothers. Deal announced to employees and suppliers, expected to close next mo. This is Fabiano's first deal since buying 3-mil-case Hubert in 2017. It bought 4 distribs between 2010-2017. With this purchase, Fabiano will be around 13 mil cases in all and the largest distrib in the state. There are still nearly 20 AB distribs in MI. Busy time for deals in AB system nationwide. This makes 11 announced deals that INSIGHTS has tracked since Nov and 22 since the beginning of 2025. And there are more in the works.

An unexpected upturn in beer sales continued for 3d week in a row in Circana multioutlet + convenience data. Beer $$ sales up 3% and volume up 1.1% for 1 week thru Jan 11. That's 2d week in a row beer $$ up 3% following a 1% gain in week thru Dec 28. Beer $$ sales now up a skosh, 0.2% for 4 weeks. Can't remember the last time that happened. Still down 2% for 12 and 26 weeks, down 2.7% for 52 weeks. Even if this is just a temporary blip, it's a most welcome improvement. The most striking stat is that Constellation Brands returned to double digit growth in latest week. $$ sales up 10.8% and volume up 9%. But AB also looked very healthy with $$ sales up 3.9% and volume up 2% in malt bevs. And its spirits portfolio up 75.5%. Mark Anthony up 4.5% and Diageo Beer Co up 3.9%.