Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, August 30, 2025.

Well, all of my GUINNESS 0.0 drinking is finally paying off for my ancestral homeland. Uh, no – not Jersey (a state that has certainly already benefitted just fine from my regular GUINNESS drinking at bars) – but Ireland!

Good ‘ol DIAGEO is increasing investment in its Kildare County GUINNESS brewery expansion just outside of Dublin, to more than double its capacity of both OG GUINNESS and 0.0 for increased sales in emerging markets.

So, keep ‘em coming GUINNESS! Let me know when you expand 0.0 into 12 packs 🙏.

PLUS: Beer is showing some momentum as summer goes on, in the sense that things are uh, less bad. The L4W ending August 10 in CIRCANA off-prem data shows total beer sales 💰 improvement vs. YTD numbers at -1.2% vs. -4.4%. 

Volume losses are steady at -2.9% in both time periods. An improvement in the imports category was a large driver in the sales boost in the L4W period, with cider and domestic super premium also chipping in with gains vs. their YTD numbers. 

THEN: A little Cali RTD sales snapshot across 4 players in L4W NIQ data ending August 2 from BMI:

• HIGH NOON (GALLO): 23 share, sales -3%
• CUTWATER (A-B): 22 share, sales +14%
• VMC (GALLO): 7 share, sales +201% (this is Canelo Alvarez’s drink)
• NÜTRL (A-B): Less than a 1 share, sales -46%

80%

The amount of production that BOSTON BEER now does in house, up from 56% in 2021, according to JEFFERIES.

The firm also notes that this move is resulting in production shortfall fees needing to be paid to its contract brewers (namely CITY BREWING), which JEFFRIES notes should continue to be a drag on earnings per share revenue.

If September is knocking on our door – that means it’s time for Justin’s “Saturday stress” to return and his voice to weaken after singing “ISU Fights” loudly in the basement for 3 hours … and also time to kick off the 2026 distributor planning meetings! 

SIERRA NEVADA does the honors, and they’re tying their priorities next year to 4 product initiatives:

1. Hazy Little Thing – Looking at achieving 8 straight years of growth.
2. Pale Ale – A brand it would like to get back to growth.
3. Non-alc – Both the Trail Pass line, which is getting a Juicy IPA addition to its mixed 12pk, and Hop Splash sparkling water brand.
4. Pils – I mean, come on … you know you wanna pick up some of those 8 oz. cans.

AND: SIERRA NEVADA is finally entering the 16 oz. 4pk game in 2026 (OK, who won the pool?) with the 7.2% ABV West Ghost Modern West Coast IPA that I will totally be sampling next year. 

It’s been a popular taproom beer, and I hope NY/NJ counts as ​​one of the select markets where 16 oz. can 4-pack sales overindex that SIERRA is choosing to start distribution.

PLUS: The company is adding a spring seasonal called Springfest IPA (6% ABV), to go along with Summerfest, Oktoberfest and Celebration.

While overall craft beer sales trends are … not great #PositiveSpin, the story isn’t the same in all off-prem categories.

Grocery has been the main drag for craft, with YTD numbers essentially mirroring L4W CIRCANA data thru August 10 in the sector:

• Sales: -6.3%
• Volume: -7.7%

But in convenience, craft beer is seeing notable improvements in that L4W data:

• Sales: +2.8% (vs. +0.8% YTD)
• Volume: +0.5% (vs. -2.8% YTD)

That’s also an improvement over the last L4W period ending July 13 (dollars +0.8% and volume -1.1%), and the top 2 craft C-store brands (both VOODOO RANGER) have also not coincidentally seen large lifts in the L4W: sales +11% (+6.9% YTD) and volume +16.9% (+12.7% YTD).

FIDDLEHEAD BREWING

Field Sales Rep – Mid-Atlantic Region

GLOBAL BEER NETWORK

Marketing Coordinator – Anywhere, U.S.A.

ELITE BRANDS OF COLORADO

NA beer brand RATIONALE hired former FW, NEW BELGIUM and KARL STRAUSS exec Dave Macon as VP of Sales. 

How about that (quickly growing) THC section at my go-to liquor store in Jersey this week? This store was relatively early on the THC beverage thing in my area of Central Jersey – but generally I’d say maybe it had 2-3 SKUs last year (UNCLE ARNIE’s was probably the first).

Now, here’s where we are in mid 2025 (this area used to be mostly seltzers and FMBs and a few rando bevs). 

I asked the store manager how they’re moving – he said he’s trying to find even more, and that the 10mg cans were the most popular by a margin.

• GOLD BAR WHISKEY enlisted Joe Montana as a spokesman for its new RTD line. The brand is also the official whiskey of the 49ERS.
• CITY BREWING & BEVERAGE completed its planned transfer of ownership to a new group this month, consisting of some of its existing lenders.

As we’re nudging up to the end of summer, I guess I have to start getting my best hotel and convention jokes prepped … but the BREWBOUND team has already been hard at work assembling a great early round of speakers for this year’s confab!

• Sophia D’Angelo, founder and CEO, Boston Experiential Group;
• Kaleigh Theriault, director of bev-alc thought leadership, NIQ;
• Andrew Hummel, director bev-alc vertical, CGA;
• Rosalie Kennedy, director of marketing, Athletic Brewing;
• Sam Hendler, co-founder and CEO, Hendler Family Brewing Company;
• Bourcard Nesin, analyst – beverages, Rabobank;
• Jon Halper, owner and CEO, Top Ten Liquors;
• Nick Firestone, CEO, Firestone Walker.

Hence – it’s time to book your hotel room now here and still save $100 with early registration! 

Former ANDERSON VALLEY CEO Kevin McGee joins the pod to talk about the details of selling the brewery and the decision process that went into the move.

He also dives into recent franchise law cases and victories in CA, and his expectations for more challenges around the ability to switch distributors in the future for craft brewers.

PLUS: I think Jess was temporarily stranded at sea on her paddleboard, so Justin & Zoe take the mics to dive into the news of the week, including:

• The big distributor moves in NY
• WTF happened to BUSCH LIGHT Peach
• A fond farewell to SPINDRIFT’s brief bender into booze
• Plus, Justin has some harsh words for Big Banana

LISTEN HERE! Or just search “Brewbound” on your podcast listening platform of choice. And leave a review and rating, would ya? (Good ones only, plz)

This week’s beer goes out to TILRAY, which officially avoided being delisted from the Nasdaq and becoming the disgrace of its high school reunion this fall.

Despite requesting an extension to its previous deadline, getting stockholder approval for a reverse stock split earlier this summer (which it ultimately decided against) and the stock hitting a low of … $0.35 a share at one point in the past year – the company was able to keep its stock above $1 a share for 10 consecutive days this month, and thus get off the NASDAQ’s naughty list.

This was likely due to President Trump saying his administration was exploring reclassifying marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 3 drug (is there a Trump THC company in the works that I’m not aware of?), which has given the stock the boost it needed.

Although, as the stock is still just at $1.47 a share, yeah I think we’re Justin is buying this week’s beer.

Slainté!

-Sean McNulty 

(you can always reach me here on LinkedIn)