Vol 7, No 3 Jan 19, 2026

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Dolf Stepping Down as Heineken CEO; Search Process Underway; Stock and Sales Soft EXPRESS - Jan 12 After nearly 6 years as ceo of #2 global brewer, "during which he has guided the Company through turbulent economic and political times," Heineken announced last Mon that Dolf van den Brink will "step down" as of May 31, 2026. Heineken didn't announce a successor. "The Supervisory Board respects Dolf's decision and will now initiate a search process to appoint a successor," co said. Recall, Dolf led fall investor's day in Spain just a little more than 2 months ago where Heineken announced its ambitious EverGreen Strategy 2030, looking to grow revenues mid-singles annually between now and then (tho up 1% for 9 mos in 2025). Yet Heineken has "reached a stage where a transition in leadership will best serve the company in further executing its long-term ambitions," Dolf said in a statement. So what happened between then and now? That's difficult to discern from public statements. Dolf pledged to remain focused on executing strategy between now and his departure and has agreed to "remain available to the Company in an advisory capacity for" 8 mos, starting Jun 1. Dolf is 52.


Lemon Perfect Shakeup Ousts CEO Popkin, Other Leaders; Founder Hufnagel Purchases Its Pop WTR Concept to Popularize on His Own BEV INSIGHTS - Jan 12 Launched by charismatic college hoops coach and scout who was seeking something better for his athletes, Lemon Perfect has shown impressive ability to raise capital, penetrate major chains and dazzle with its yellow color palette at retail and in events. But its heavy spending hasn't always yielded comparable velocity boost even as a copacker transition resulted in quality snafu's and out-of-stocks, so co just undertook a major shakeup that's seen departure of its CEO, CMO and other key execs. Founder/exec chmn Yanni Hufnagel has moved to non-operational role on board tho last month he'd already let trade partners know he was dropping executive duties as chmn in order to run with Pop WTR brand that had been in development within co since 2021 but been deemed a distraction given other priorities.


AB Will Be Top Super Bowl Advertiser Again in 2026; 2.5 Mins for Mich Ultra, Bud Light & Bud; Bud Light Concert & Phorm Energy Workout EXPRESS - Jan 12 AB's returning as "the number one advertiser" on the Super Bowl broadcast "across all categories" in 2026 with 2.5 mins of ad time for Mich Ultra, Bud Light and Budweiser, cco Kyle Norrington shared with INSIGHTS. Both Mich Ultra and Budweiser will get 60-second spots while Bud Light ad will go 30 seconds. This is another consecutive year of AB snagging most airtime across not just beer/bevs, but all industries, even as it's buying less airtime vs yr ago with a couple less brands in the mix on the natl and regional levels. Since a 30-second spot costs ~$8 mil on avg, even if it gets big discount, AB's likely spending $10+ mil less than last yr. It's the only beer co advertising on the natl stage as MC opted to skip this yr's Super Bowl, tho other alc bev cos like Sazerac, with Svedka, have entered the fray too. AB had 4 of the top 7 ranked ads in 2025 according to Ad Meter, which "only fueled our ambition in our excitement in what we're bringing this yr," said Kyle.


Reyes Beverage Group in Talks with RNDC To Take on Brands in Seven States EXPRESS - Jan 13 After news popped that Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) would lose Proximo nationwide recently, rumblings grew about more changes coming at big but wounded wine and spirits distrib. Turns out Reyes Beverage Group is in active discussions with RNDC about potential biz transactions in as many as 7 states, INSIGHTS understands. These are states where RBG already does biz. Reyes would run these wine and spirits units separately, presuming deals come to fruition.

Asked about this, an RBG spokesperson said: "We can confirm we are in active discussions with Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) regarding potential business transactions in Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C. We are unable to share more details at this time." As usual, there is lotsa chatter on RNDC's Reddit thread. The 7 states were even listed there correctly (RBG also in CA, MI, IN, TN and TX.)


Beer Prices Up 1.1% in 2025, On Par with Spirits, Well Below Total Inflation EXPRESS - Jan 13 Consumer price index for beer sold for at-home consumption closed out the year up 1.3% in Dec, a step back from stronger increase in Nov, but above where it spent much of 2025. At-home beer prices up just 1.1% for full yr, Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed. That's same trend tracked for spirits, which recall has lagged beer pricing for many yrs. But spirits at-home prices outpaced beer thru much of back half, including up 1.8% in Dec. Pricing in both alc bev categories far stronger than for wine, which managed a 0.3% increase in Dec, but ended the year in negative territory. On an annual basis, CPI for wine at home dipped 0.4%. In general, alc bev prices well below overall inflation, which came down from recent yrs but remained high, +2.7% in Dec, +2.6% throughout 2025, per BLS.


Happy Start to the New Year! Beer's Up & Craft Gained Share for 1 Wk Thru Jan 4 in MULC; Likely Back to Earth in Coming Wks, Sez Scott CRAFT - Jan 14 Pretty much everything was comin' up roses in beer and beyond for the first week of the new year in Circana multi-outlet + convenience channels. Beer, wine and spirits all grew for latest week thru Jan 4, 2026 (including Dec 29-31). Can't glean much from just one week, but interestingly, craft beer's 4.4% $$ gain outpaced total beer (+2.9%) for period. Multiple top craft fams saw sales pop for the week including New Belgium, Sierra Nevada and Elysian each up low double-digits by $$, Lagunitas up 8.5% and Bell's (+5%), Shiner (+4%) and Blue Moon (+3%) up low-to-mid singles. Keep in mind, that doesn't include growth from non-alc beer, which is counted separately in this dataset, and marks a 180-degree flip from 2025 trends for many of 'em. Athletic brand fam slowed but still posted mid-single-digit growth for the week too. That's 8 top fams growing and gaining share of beer in week 1. Circana exec veep Scott Scanlon expects that "the comps surge experienced may come at the cost of the next week or two," so should be interesting to see how share dynamics for craft shift as trends come back to earth.


More on RNDC; "Aligned" with Reyes on "Key Economic Terms"; Deal Expected to Close in Early-Mid Q2 EXPRESS - Jan 14 RNDC ceo Marc Sachs sent note to employees morn of Jan 13 that went somewhat further on upcoming deal with Reyes Bev Group than carefully worded RBG statement about "active discussions" for "potential transactions" in 7 states. "We have aligned with Reyes Beverage Group on key economic terms," wrote Marc, "for them to acquire" RNDC's operations in FL, HI, IL, MD, SC, VA and DC. Marc's letter appeared on a Reddit thread about RNDC. "This transaction is the result of a thoughtful and extensive process and will support our goal of strengthening the business for the long term," he continued. "While there are still a number of steps… to finalize the deal," he called this a "positive development." Marc added that "upon completion of the transaction, Reyes plans to run the newly acquired businesses separately from their current operations," as INSIGHTS originally reported.


Setting Stage for Braun's Ascension to CEO, Coca-Cola Sets Reorg That Designates Sahin to Mastermind Digitalization Push; Reported to Pause Costa Coffee Sale BEV INSIGHTS - Jan 14 Coca-Cola set stage for ascension of new CEO with org revamp even as UK outlets reported that it's pulling plug on Costa Coffee auction after bids came in too low. Recall, KO had already seemed resigned to writing off half the £3.9 bil it paid for Costa in 2018, but now it's scrapped negotiations with final bidders including TDR Capital and Bain Capital's special situations fund, Financial Times reports. Deciding what to do with unit will be on plate of incoming CEO Henrique Braun as he takes role on Mar 31. In recent months Quincey has acknowledged frankly that acquisition didn't pan out; it certainly hasn't solved problem of how Coke plays in premium RTD coffee space at time Pepsi continues its fruitful alliance with Starbucks and KDP finally appears to have solved conundrum via La Colombe tie.


Sierra Nevada Vol Down "Slightly" but Outperformed in 2025; "Cautiously Optimistic" on 2026 Progress Industry-Wide CRAFT - Jan 15 Sierra Nevada shipments and depletions dipped "just slightly," off 1.5-2% in 2025 vs 2024, CCO Ellie Preslar shared with CBN Jan 15. That likely puts shipments just under 1.04 mil bbls in 2025 vs 1.055 mil bbls in 2024, CBN estimates. It's "not where we wanted to be," but "considering the challenges of the industry," and outperformance vs both craft category and total beer, co's feeling relatively good about results. "It wasn't really driven by any one area or class of trade," tho on premise trended a bit better last yr. Sierra grew distribution in chain and indie channels both off and on premise, but "that didn't translate to volume growth because of the softness overall," said Ellie.


MIM Is Back; The Most Interesting Man Returns to Dos Equis; HUSA Ups Ante; New Twists EXPRESS - Jan 16 Heineken USA is bringing back its iconic Most Interesting Man campaign and the original MIM for its 2d lead brand Dos Equis (over 25% of HUSA biz) with fresh twists. In thinking about how to take this brand "to the next level," Heineken USA cmo Ali Payne told INSIGHTS she looked back at when its media was "really great" and came to believe that returning to the Most Interesting Man could deliver a renewed "spark" to the brand. When they tested the old ads, they had 97% recall. In a recent survey, 83% of those exposed to the original MIM ads "want to see it back" with 82% "agreeing there's nothing comparable in the category today," according to HUSA. The trick of course will be to make it new, while still staying true to one of the most memorable beer campaigns of the 21st century.


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