January Trade News

Anheuser-Busch, NFL renew Bud Light as official beer sponsor

In a new agreement, Bud Light will remain the official beer of the NFL and the partnership will last through the 2026-27 season. The brewing company will continue to be the official beer and hard seltzer sponsor of the NFL after the previous agreement was set to expire after the 2022 Super Bowl. The payment terms of the new deal were not disclosed.

Foley Family Wines by Chateau St. Jean

In early December, Foley Family Wines announced the acquisition of Kenwood, California-based Chateau St. Jean winery from Treasury Wine Estates. No financial details were disclosed. The purchase includes the 1920s chateau, the 6,000-square-foot visitor center, a 39,000-square-foot wine production facility, 79 planted acres, on-site tasting salons and extensive gardens, per release. The winery’s legacy use permit will also be transferred to Foley, which allows 24 special events annually and an additional six large-scale events annually. 

BEER NEWS

Bell’s Has a New Home in Northern Ohio with Heidelberg
Ohio will be first state to officially start the distribution consolidation process between New Belgium and Bell’s Brewery, as Premium Bev Supply sold statewide Bell’s rights. Heidelberg will carry Bell’s Beer in Toledo as well as select counties in Lorain.

Over 9,000 US Breweries Operated in 2021
With 710 breweries opening in 2021 and just 176 breweries closing, the Brewers Association counted over 9,000 breweries that operated in all or part of the year. That’s up 6% from 2020 and just slightly slower than estimated 7% volume gain of BA craft shared by BA economist Bart Watson.

US Barley Production a Casualty of Drought and Decreased Acreage
US Farmers harvested 1.94 million bushels of barley in 2021, 270,000 fewer acres than in 2020. As a result of the declining acreage, barley production, which peaked in 1970, has dropped so much since then that now the portion of it that is used for malting is considered a specialty crop. Challenges that the malting barley industry will face in 2022 include producing a sustainable crop supply, developing, and maintaining long-term relationships between farmers and buyers and geographically diversifying the growing area.

Anhueser-Busch to Launch Hard Soda Line in January
AB InBev’s Anheuser-Busch is introducing Bud Light-branded hard soda available in four flavors: cherry cola, citrus (lemon-lime), orange and classic cola. The beverage will hit store shelves in January. The alcohol giant said each 12-ounce can of Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda will have 100 calories, 5% alcohol and no sugar or gluten.

Cacti Agave Spiked Seltzer Out of Business
Nine months after launching Cacti Agave Spiked Seltzer as “the future of seltzer, “Anheuser-Busch InBev has pulled the plug on the once-white-hot brand. After a quick start, becoming a top 5 seltzer brand, with 3.2 share of the segment in just one week of sales, it has petered out significantly, holding just under a one share of the segment (0.8%) in recent Nielsen data. AB still has Bud Light Hard Seltzer (#3), Michelob ULTRA Organic Seltzer (#6) and Bud Light Platinum Seltzer (#11) as top brands in its portfolio.




WINE NEWS

19 Crimes Reveals Holographic AR Label
An augmented reality version of rapper Snoop Dogg jumps off the labels of certain 19 Crimes bottles and answers questions. The Australian winemaker has extended its partnership with Snoop Dogg, including the web enabled “Ask the Doggfather labels.”

https://www.askthedoggfather.com/

https://19crimes.com/pages/living-labels