AlcBev in Five

Episodes

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  Pernod Ricard Puts a Number on US Softness 16.10.2026 3m

  Pernod Ricard closed its fiscal 2027 first quarter with United States sales down 10 percent, pinning the drop on consumer affordability, per Brewbound and BevNET, while Just Drinks reports the CFO expects slight improvement to continue without betting on a bounce back. MGP Ingredients says it will rebrand as Sempreon on November 2, moving to the Nasdaq ticker CASK. Also: Burgundy's US shipments fell 9.8 percent by volume in the year through July, ISWAI's chief executive tells Mint Indian value growth hinges on mix, and Icelandic Glacial will not renew its distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch InBev.
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  Bev-Alc Dodges the Inflation Print, California Craft Thins Out 15.10.2026 4m

  Brewbound reports beverage-alcohol price increases trailed the overall September CPI, while Circana's Scott Scanlon says beer's full-year numbers now depend on an early holiday start. CalMatters reports Prohibition Brewing is closing and Sapporo is selling Stone Brewing, with Brewers Association figures putting craft brewery counts down 3.5 percent nationally in 2025 and California down 5 percent since 2023, to 939. Also: Fintech acquires on-premise analytics provider Ground Signal, Diageo's Scottish strike action is suspended for talks, and Johnnie Walker launches an 1,100 pound Brora blend.
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  Carlsberg's Alwar Brewery Shut as India Listing Nears 12.10.2026 4m

  Rajasthan's pollution control board revoked Carlsberg India's consent to operate its Alwar brewery and ordered an immediate shutdown over particulate emissions, per a regulatory order reviewed by the Economic Times, weeks before a listing expected to raise about 700 million dollars. Poland's lower house backed a bill extending the alcohol advertising ban and adding off-premise sales curbs, Just Drinks reports, and the Scotch Whisky Association has appealed Defra's approval of the English whisky geographical indication, per Harpers. Wine Spectator, via Shanken News Daily, reports Chapter Eleven filings at Signorello Estate and Gundlach Bundschu and a McManis Family winery sale, in what analyst Rob McMillan calls California's biggest reset in thirty years.
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  Japan Raids Four Brewers, Carlsberg Shuts Marston's 09.10.2026 4m

  Japan's antitrust body searched Asahi, Kirin, Suntory and Sapporo over suspected collusion to raise beer prices, per Drinks International and Just Drinks, with no company response reported. Carlsberg Britvic plans to close the Marston's brewery in Burton upon Trent in summer 2027, putting about 310 jobs at risk and citing structural decline in cask ale, and Constellation Brands raised its GAAP earnings guidance while beer depletions slipped 0.6 percent. Also: SFGATE reports California's 84 billion dollar wine business under pressure at every tier, 174 layoffs filed at Diageo's Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Maryland, and European beer consumption down 3.2 percent last year.
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  Japan Raids All Four Big Brewers 08.10.2026 4m

  Japan's Fair Trade Commission executed simultaneous searches at Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Suntory Spirits on suspicion of coordinated wholesale beer price increases, per Tech Times; all four confirmed the searches and denied wrongdoing. Brewbound reports Constellation Brands' beer shipments rose 5.5% in its fiscal second quarter while depletions fell 0.6%, a gap management attributes to distributor restocking, and Shanken News Daily argues wholesalers are rebuilding as total beverage houses as Sierra Nevada becomes the latest supplier to exit Coors Distributing Company for Reyes in Denver. Also moving: Constellation's $75 million SpikedAde purchase, August beer supply down 1%, Treasury Wine Estates cutting about 170 corporate roles, and Heaven Hill selling Irish Mist.
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  Constellation Beats, Craft Spirits Contract 07.10.2026 4m

  Constellation Brands beat second-quarter estimates with net sales up 6% to $2.63 billion and is buying ready-to-drink maker SpikedAde, per EconoTimes, while shares fell about 4.5% after hours. The 2026 Craft Spirits Data Project, reported by Brewbound and BevNET, puts craft distillery volumes down 8% with closures outpacing openings for the first time, and Just Drinks reports control-state spirits sales fell more than 5% in August. Also moving: GlenWyvis appoints administrators, Anora takes exclusive Bacardi distribution in Sweden and Norway, and Tesco is among the bidders for Majestic Wine Group.
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  Southern Glazer's Settles With the FTC 06.10.2026 4m

  Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits has reached settlement terms with the Federal Trade Commission over price discrimination allegations, with BevNET reporting the proposed order caps the pricing gap between chains and nearby independents. Wholesaler depletion data shows wine and spirits down 6.7 percent with the on-premise holding up better, per Shanken News Daily, and U.S. wine depletions are forecast to fall below 300 million cases for a sixth straight annual decline. Carlsberg is also acquiring PepsiCo bottlers in Georgia and Armenia, taking its bottling tie-up with PepsiCo to 17 markets.
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  Martignetti Closes RNDC Control State Deal 02.10.2026 5m

  Martignetti has completed its purchase of RNDC's control state business, adding operations in 17 states and taking its footprint to 20, per Brewbound and Shanken News Daily. The Times of India reports Scotch prices in India have fallen 10 to 15 percent as the UK trade pact's halved tariff reaches shelves in four states, and NIQ's September on-premise data shows higher pricing offsetting volume pressure while ready-to-drink keeps posting double-digit growth. Also: William Grant and Sons sales down 4 percent, Wales raising its minimum unit price to 65 pence, and Coors Distributing seeking injunctions in Denver District Court.
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  Spirits Hit 31 Straight Years Up, Scotch Pumps the Brakes 01.10.2026 5m

  Shanken's Impact Databank has U.S. spirits volume rising for a thirty-first consecutive year to 313.4 million nine-liter cases, with ready-to-drinks growing while core spirits soften. Supply Chain Brain, relaying The Guardian, reports Scotch distillers pausing production as stock builds into a whisky loch, alongside GlenWyvis entering administration and a strike at Diageo's Cameronbridge. Also: Keg 1 River City signs to acquire RNDC's Kentucky assets, Circana data shows beer losses concentrated among the largest vendors, and Molson Coors closes its Cornwall brewery in December.
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  Canada Alcohol Ban Takes Effect, Whisky Loch Deepens 30.09.2026 5m

  The United States import ban on most packaged Canadian alcohol took effect Tuesday, per The Trent, with earlier shipments facing a 50 percent tariff instead, and Spirits Canada noting 93 percent of exported Canadian spirits go south. Brewbound reports Coors Distributing Company has filed two lawsuits to halt terminations by Mark Anthony Brands and Constellation Brands, while The Guardian reports Scottish distilleries are pausing production against the unsold surplus known as the whisky loch. Also covered: Japan unifies its beer liquor tax at 54.25 yen per 350 millilitres on October first, Scotch prices in India fall 10 to 15 percent, and Heineken says Iran war fuel costs are lifting Asian brewing inputs.
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  The Ban That Misses the Brands 28.09.2026 5m

  Morningstar reports the brands most American drinkers name, Labatt Blue and Molson Golden among them, are brewed in the United States and fall outside Tuesday's ban on Canadian alcohol, leaving importers sorting SKUs by country of production. Euronews reports Cognac exports have fallen from 230 million bottles in 2023 to 140 million under Chinese retaliation and a 15 percent US duty, with the trade bureau asking Brussels for a solidarity mechanism. Also: Campari Group's largest-ever US launch spend behind Sarti Rosa, Coors Distributing Company's plan to contest the Mark Anthony and Constellation exits, and NIQ scans showing 8.5 billion dollars in off-premise beverage alcohol over four weeks.
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  Diageo's New CFO, and the Math Behind the Canada Ban 24.09.2026 5m

  Diageo has appointed WPP finance chief Joanne Wilson as CFO, per Shanken News Daily, with Drinks International reporting she joins the board and executive committee in 2027. A FreightWaves analysis puts Canadian spirits at roughly 1.8 percent of the US market, the largest exposure among the banned categories, while Circana data via Brewbound shows beer declines persisting across most segments into early September. Also today, Sonoma's Bundschu Company, family-owned since 1858, has filed for Chapter 11 after an acquisition left it overleveraged, according to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
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  AB InBev Rethinks the Pack, California Leaves Grapes Unsold 23.09.2026 5m

  At its capital markets day, Anheuser-Busch InBev told investors it will push smaller and larger pack sizes, add protein and electrolytes to some beers, and expand beyond beer through Cutwater and energy drinks, per Reuters. Food Dive details Sazerac's roughly 6.31 dollar per share offer for Germany's Berentzen Group, its second European deal in a year, while the Associated Press reports about half of California's wine grape crop entered harvest with no buyer contract, against 70 to 80 percent contracted in a typical year. Also moving: White Claw's Denver distribution shifts from Coors Distributing to a Reyes subsidiary, Hoplark's parent filed for Chapter 7, and Master of Malt confirmed a customer data breach.
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  Sazerac Prices Berentzen at a 68% Premium 22.09.2026 4m

  Sazerac and Berentzen signed a business combination agreement, with a voluntary cash offer of 5.55 euros per share, about 68 percent above the unaffected three-month average, per Just Drinks. Treasury Wine Estates agreed to sell the Seppelt brand to the owner of the Stonier winery, and South Australia committed more than 100 million Australian dollars to a wine sector it describes as oversupplied. US rum volume fell from roughly 23 million cases in 2021 to 18.2 million last year, per Impact Databank via Shanken News Daily, with aged expressions holding up better than white rum.
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  Scotland Demands England Whisky Reversal 21.09.2026 5m

  Scotland's Economy Secretary Stephen Flynn has written to Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle urging the UK Government to reverse protected status for English whisky, per the Diss Express, while a UK Government spokesperson says Scotch's protections are unchanged. South Australia's Premier announced a 109 million dollar support package for the state's grape and wine industry, Winetitles reports, and Diageo has launched 20 percent ABV versions of Smirnoff, Captain Morgan and Gordon's in the UK, per Drinks International. Also: Vermont Information Processing acquires Encompass Technologies, Deutsche Bank upgrades AB InBev and Campari, France lifts the Champagne alcohol cap, and Summit Brewing faces foreclosure.
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  Sazerac Circles Berentzen as Canada Ban Nears 18.09.2026 5m

  Berentzen confirms takeover talks with Sazerac, sending its shares up about 22 percent, per Just Drinks and Reuters. The Drinks Business details what the September 29 Canadian import ban leaves open, Diageo's Cameronbridge staff set strike dates, and English whisky's new GI status draws objections from the Scotch Whisky Association. Also: Brown-Forman prices 500 million dollars of notes, bulk wine exports fall, Sazerac closes Au Vodka, and De Kuyper moves UK distribution to Disaronno Group.
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  Trump Signs Canadian Alcohol Ban, Effective September 29 11.09.2026 5m

  President Trump has signed an executive order banning Canadian wine, spirits and beer from the United States from September 29, per Shanken News Daily, with The Drinks Business reporting an exemption for containers of four litres and above that may leave Diageo's Crown Royal largely untouched. NielsenIQ data cited by Shanken shows most of the top ten US markets declining in both volume and value in the four weeks to August 29, while Boston Beer told the Barclays conference that Sun Cruiser has reached about five hundred million dollars in retail sales, per Investing.com. Diageo workers at Cameronbridge have voted to strike over job-loss consultation, per Just Drinks, and Johnnie Walker has released a limited-edition Black Label with Sabrina Carpenter.
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  US Bans Canadian Alcohol Imports 10.09.2026 5m

  The United States has banned a broad range of Canadian alcoholic beverages from import effective September 29, per The Daily Star, covering wine, malt beer, sake, whiskies, tequila and mezcal in smaller containers. Just Drinks reports EU spirits export sales fell 6 percent last year on weakness in the US and China, while Molson Coors told the Barclays conference its beyond-beer business now approaches 10 percent of sales. Also covered: Brown-Forman handing Swiss distribution to Coca-Cola HBC, Middleby discontinuing its brewing equipment group, and Campari's Sarti launch in the US.
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  Constellation Trades Expansion for Discipline 09.09.2026 6m

  Constellation Brands told the Barclays Global Consumer Conference it has generated more than $600 million in savings since 2023, with new chief executive Nicholas Fink framing a shift from builder to operator, per Investing.com; Heineken reported 1.5% first-half global volume growth at the same conference. Southern Glazer's published its first Raise the Bar trends report naming five growth opportunities, and Pernod Ricard has appointed four banks to advise on a possible listing of its Indian business, according to Moneycontrol. Also moving: Boston Beer's new marketing lead from Samsung Electronics America, a $2.82 million auction bid for Rogue's intellectual property, and Brown-Forman reviving the Kentucky Boy label.
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  France's Thinnest Harvest in 30 Years 08.09.2026 5m

  Preliminary French government figures reported by Just Drinks point to one of the smallest wine harvests in three decades, setting the floor under price talks before the negotiating season. Brewbound reports Circana off-premise scans showing some top beer brands running a late-summer boost despite the category slump, and Moneycontrol says Pernod Ricard has mandated at least four banks for a proposed listing of its India unit. Also: Joe Bates on travel retail spirits splitting by category in Drinks International, AB InBev India's new Rajasthan brewery, and Irish whiskey exports to the EU up 21.5 percent by volume over four years.