• 🍸 DRY’s Founder Bets on Low-ABV Gin
• 🧠 Tilray CEO Talks Bev-Alc, Intoxicating Hemp’s Potential
• 🏭 The Reddys Expand Manufacturing With Trillium
• ✂️ Darigold Opens Major Milk Plant
• 🏍️ Distillery Rides Into Harley Davidson
• 🤝 Lede Company Picks Up Element
• 🎙️ Now Streaming: CPG Week

Bev-alc giants have increasingly moved away from booze and towards the non-alcoholic space… so maybe we shouldn't be surprised to see a major tobacco conglomerate follow suit as it works to diversify revenue streams, writes senior reporter Brad Avery.

That’s been a goal for international power brand British American Tobacco (BAT), which cleared around $35 billion in revenue last year. Although it’s really just beginning, if you consider that the company is 140 years old.

• Over the last half-decade, the company has made selective, small-scale investments through its BTomorrow Ventures wing.
• The portfolio includes emerging functional brands like relaxation beverage Moment, shot maker More Labs and adaptogen-infused non-alc HOP WTR. 

But the debut of functional shot line Ryde: in three SKUs (Energize, Focus and Relax) represents a new phase of BAT’s evolution as a company that launches CPG brands. 

The brand, which kicked off U.S. sales last month, is the first creation from The Water Street Collective, BAT’s international brand-development subsidiary and a key piece of its ambition to create a broad portfolio of food and drink brands. 

The Collective launched in 2022 and aims to leverage BAT’s considerable resources while remaining an independent house; the team of around 100 is split between London and an American headquarters in Dallas, and runs its own internal R&D, marketing and commercial teams. 

While it doesn’t “interface with BAT that often,” the company is still able to “leverage the best bits” of what the parent company has to offer on the back end, said Water Street CEO Richard Schmidt. 

So how much is riding on Ryde:? 

Insiders can read the full story on BevNET to find out.

In June 2025, UNFI was hit by a cyberattack and forced to shut down its entire network. The result? Diminished store shelves and a huge hit to UNFI’s gross profit margins -- and maybe even YOURS. If the UNFI attack caught you off guard, it's time to start playing offense. Learn more

• Leadership Lesson: Learning from the Yerba Madre Name Change with CEO Ben Mand
• Succeeding in a Fast-Moving Marketplace: Lessons on Brand Building with Jack Belsito, CEO of VOSS Americas
• Share of Sip: Explore the Data Affecting Pricing, Innovation, and Consumer Appetites with Sally Lyons Wyatt of Circana 
• The Power of Brand: How to Turn Brand Hype Into Long-Term Success with Marisa Bertha, CSO of Liquid Death
• Expert-Led Workshops: Reaching Gen Z through NIL Partnerships, THC Beverage Supply Chains, Using AI to Stay Competitive, Growing Your Global Team 
• Beverage School: How to Launch, Grow, and Scale Your Beverage Brand

Twenty years after helping establish the adult non-alcoholic (ANA) category with DRY Soda, founder Sharelle Klaus is going from alcohol-free “botanical bubblies” to a low-ABV gin called Second Sip. No stranger to still enjoying a cocktail, Klaus wanted to bring a martini-ready gin to market that would allow her to “drink twice as much” without overindulging.

🥂 Klaus tapped spirits industry veterans Leo Robitschek (former bar director of Eleven Madison Park and NoMad) and Nick Strangeway (category consultant and creator of Hepple Gin) to found and formulate the brand.

🍽️ The brand is launching in the New York City market, hustling to establish a beachhead in on-premise with mixologists and on fine dining menus before going too deep in off-premise retail.

🤔 The “low” end of the moderation category is even less developed than the still-nascent alcohol-free spirits set, but a small group of brands like  Quarter Proof, BODY, Sommarøy and KEEL are working to educate consumers that premium, low-ABV options go beyond aperitifs and liqueurs.

Insiders can access the full story on BevNET.

Tilray Brands chairman and CEO Irwin Simon doesn’t believe the narrative that drinkers – including the youngest legal-drinking-age consumers – are giving up alcohol.

🔊 “I got four kids, and they’re all over 21, and I had 100 kids at my house for a party last week, and I didn’t see one of them walking around not with a drink in their hand,” Simon shared, during TD Cowen’s Future of the Consumer Conference earlier this week. He added that “to my dismay, they weren’t drinking non-alc.”

🪴 Simon offered another anecdote that he smelled “a lot of cannabis” as he walked to the conference, “and I tell you what, people are drinking a lot of beer and alcohol.”

Insiders can access the full story for a deeper understanding of Simon’s thoughts on the intoxicating segments. 

There’s a new-ish manufacturer in town.

After four strategic acquisitions in two years Flavor Reddy Foods has grown its manufacturing footprint and production capabilities to include dressings, sauces, mayonnaises, syrups and beverage mixes for foodservice, retail and food processing use. 

🏠 Now the company is bringing the combined businesses together under one new entity, Trillium Foods.

💰 The business debuted today with investment from Bain Capital Credit Group. Trillium is majority-owned by the Reddys, one of India’s wealthiest families and operators of multinational pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy Laboratories.

🧱 Building on its existing business with Flavor Reddy Foods, Trillium now has increased capacity and added manufacturing capabilities along with an extensive roster of existing customers.

Insiders can access the full story to understand the full scope of the new entity.

One of the largest U.S. dairy producers, Darigold Inc., has opened the doors to a new milk processing facility in Pasco, Washington.

• The new plant can process up to 8 million pounds of milk per day, sourcing from over 100 regional farms in the Pacific Northwest.
• The facility is the result of a $1 billion investment in Washington’s dairy industry by Darigold parent Northwest Dairy Association.

More Milk Money: Chobani ‘Entering a New Dimension’ With $1.2 Billion New York Facility

Braking news: an unlikely place will become the next headquarters for an expanding Milwaukee distillery – the historic Harley-Davidson campus. 

🚧 Slated to break ground later this summer, the new Central Standard Craft Distillery will encompass a refurbished 73,000-square-foot space with full distillery production, a tasting room, distillery tours, private events and new job opportunities.

🏭 The move will expand production capacity 20 times over and allows Central Standard to bring its three facilities under one roof.

👣 It is a major step in the distillery's push for regional growth, including the recent launch of an RTD can line (created in partnership with Wisconsin brewery Leinenkugel’s).

✨ As Harley-Davidson looked to rejuvenate its campus, Central Standard’s continued investment in Milwaukee’s historic properties made the distillery a perfect fit for the iconic site, according to a release.

CPG-focused marketing and consulting firm The Lede Company is continuing to expand through acquisition with its latest purchase of brand partnerships agency Element Brand Group.

• Founded in 2018, Lede’s clients include an array of CPG brands including Once Upon A Farm, Be LOVE, Hennessey Cognac and SkinnyDipped, among others.
• Element is based in L.A. and founder Heather Leeds Greenfield is poised to join Lede as partner and head of brand partnerships. She’ll be joined by Element SVPs Michael Kutach and Jill Ormand.

🗣️ “This acquisition strengthens our ability to serve clients across all touchpoints of modern brand marketing and communications,” said Lede co-CEO Christine Su in a press release.

This week, the CPG Week podcast team discusses the impact of Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) shuttering its operations in California after losing several major suppliers.

🛒 The hosts dig into the debut of digitally-native supplement brand AG1 in physical retail.

🧀 Two cheese makers are having a pretty gouda week The podcasters unwrap the details of Sartori’s acquisition of organic cheese and butter producer Rumiano. 

⚡The hosts discuss how a private equity firm plans to support Lucky Energy’s growth plans.

Click here to listen to this week’s episode. Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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