Welcome back to the BevNET spirits newsletter and happy new year! From shocking lawsuits to major distribution shifts, we’re revisiting the top spirits stories of 2025. 

What insiders are reading: What we learned from the hemp THC boom and the biggest bev-alc legal sagas of 2025.

Thanks for reading. 

-BevNET spirits editor, Ferron Salniker

This year’s top spirits headlines captured an industry in transition: major distribution shifts, sudden closures, shocking lawsuits, the race to win an emerging category, and of course, at least one celebrity getting that bag. From the top:

Our story investigating Who Will Win The Billion Dollar Adult Non-Alc Market was the No. 10 most-read story, illustrating the race to figure out this morphing category as it goes from niche to mainstream. With ANA continuing to expand, we took a look at who’s investing – and what products have the biggest chance of winning the category. 

At No. 9 “The Three-Tier System Is Broken.” This Craft Distiller Aims To Fix It seemed to speak to a certain frustration in the industry. Simmering tensions over distribution came to a boil this year, as slower spirit sales piled pressure on all tiers, and half of craft spirit suppliers looking for distribution said they’ve been turned down, according to the American Craft Spirits Association. A veteran of craft spirits announced his next step to open up paths to market. 

No. 6 brings us to Diageo, which also made quite a few headlines in our story about the biggest legal sagas of the year. After over a decade of investing in emerging spirits and adult non-alc brands, Diageo’s Distill Ventures ceased bringing new brands into its portfolio. With six of Distill Ventures’ investments leading to acquisitions, the accelerator served as a pipeline for innovative brands – and its closure signals a tightening spirits market.

No. 5 was one of the harder stories we had to report on, as one of the most prominent voices in spirits became the center of an ongoing lawsuit that fractured a celebrated story of representation. Uncle Nearest Distillery was sued for $100 million, with a court-appointed receiver taking over. Since then, at least twelve employees have already been laid off – 13% of the company’s workforce – and the receiver is also liquidating Uncle Nearest’s budding cognac project, with more likely on the line. The latest report from the receiver highlighted several major additional challenges ahead for the company. 

Hopping around now to No. 2, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) price discrimination case against Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits (SGWS) revealed some ugly truths about the industry: The largest distributor in the country has consistently charged independent retailers as much as 12% to 67% more than national and regional chains for the same products, according to redactions unsealed in February. 

Read on for our top stories. 

You’ve heard of clean beauty, but clean alcohol? 

• A new trade group is aiming to do what many in the bev-alc industry have historically avoided: define what “clean” drinking means. 
• The Clean Alcohol Collective (CAC), co-founded by the CEOs of RTD brand The Original Southside and Father’s Brewing, launched this month as a coalition of alcohol brands offering greater ingredient transparency.
• The CAC’s messaging – that consumers can still drink without “doubling down on the bad stuff” – is clearly aiming to seize on Americans’ declining drinking habits and search for better-for-you options. Additive-free tequila brands have found success doing that, although they’ve certainly butt heads with regulators, so the CAC is doing things differently. 

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After five years in operation, Spirited Away, the first non-alcoholic bottle shop in the U.S., has a new owner.

• As the adult non-alcoholic (ANA) category continues evolving from a niche curiosity into an established piece of the larger beverage ecosystem, the sale marks the latest in a series of specialized NA bottle shops, like Boisson and  The New Bar, transforming into distinct business platforms.  
• The New York City store has been acquired by Nicholas Pelis, a longtime spirits executive and entrepreneur who launched and sold Denizen Rum. 
• Pelis, who brings more than two decades of experience across global spirits companies, is positioning Spirited Away and other possible acquisitions to capture growth in the evolving beverage industry, and create retail environments that offer what he describes as the “full gamut” of social beverages. 

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The next evolution in adult non-alc (ANA) will require brands to tighten up their flavor profiles and get creative about new occasions. 

• Those revelations come from a panel of brands and industry experts hosted by the Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association (ANBA) last week. 
• With strides made in major retail, Milan Martin, founder and CEO at The Free Spirits Company argues that now “the real work” begins for brands to find the right pricing, promotions, and brand support. 
• And as the category evolves, early adopters are beginning to look for more from the brands they once gave more leeway to. That means being more forward-thinking when it comes to flavor profiles, said the panelists. 
• ANA brands should also look to score with consumers beyond cocktail hour, and envision themselves as replacements for energy drinks or gummies. 

Read the full recap

Stateside Brands, the company that kicked off the vodka-spiked iced tea trend, is now adding vodka to another beverage: the sports drink. 

• Super Lyte, a vodka-infused "ade" inspired by sports beverage flavors, debuts this spring in flavors of Fruit Punch, Orange, Lemon Lime and Blue Magic. The new drink contains zero carbonation, sugar and carbohydrates, and is only 90 calories per serving
• Surfside’s rise was largely based on premiumizing a beverage consumers were already familiar with (hard malt-based tea). Now, with a powerful distribution network in place, could its new line fast track another trend or spark copycats? 

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