Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, July 26, 2025.

As the heat index crosses the 100-degree mark here on the Jersey Shore … what better topic to get excited about than refreshing 14% ABV barrel aged stouts!

This year we’ve got 3 non-adjuncted BBA stouts from our pals at GOOSE ISLAND coming late in the year:

• OG BCBS;
• Double Barrel Stout, aged in Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond bourbon barrels;
• Reserve Stout, aged for 2 years in 10-year-old barrels of Parker’s Heritage Collection 17th Edition Rye.

And 2 that you might find in your dessert aisle:

• Cherries Jubilee Stout, aged in cognac barrels with Montmorency cherries, citrus and panela, which is evaporated and solidified cane sugar juice;
• Chocolate Praline Stout, aged in bourbon barrels with cocoa nibs, hazelnuts, almonds, cashews and dates.

Mmm, I’ve recently been saying I can never seem to get enough, uh, panela in my life. Also, 2025 BCBS Proprietor’s Stout this year is meant to resemble the taste of baklava. Let the taste tests commence!

Just a reminder – these are now coming in Justin & Sean friendly 10 oz. bottles, in that the 2 of us will finally be able to finish a bottle… if we split it.

For the 2 wk period ending July 6, according to CIRCANA data cited by BMI:

• HIGH NOON: $37.5M (+3% YoY), biggest selling spirits brand family, and $7.5M above TITO’S.
• BUZZBALLS: $22.9M (+77% YoY), biggest spirits gainer and bigger sales than NEW BELGIUM in the period.
• TOTAL BEER: -4% YoY
• CRAFT BEER: -5.4% YoY
• NON-ALC: +21% YoY

BUT: As for info from the frontlines, GOLDMAN SACHS did their latest Bev Bytes survey of 40 distributors that service 25% of U.S. bev-alc outlets to get their thoughts on the July 4th holiday performance:

• 60% said trends were stronger than 2024, compared to just 25% who said so for the Memorial Day holiday;
• 40% said volume trends specifically were up YoY for the July 4 holiday.

BY BEER CO’S:

• 52% said A-B volume trends were up (that number was 35% for Memorial Day), with MICH ULTRA leading the way by far;
• 40% for HIGH NOON (even with Memorial Day);
• 33% for CONSTELLATION (Memorial Day was 27%);
• 31% for WHITE CLAW (Memorial Day was 35%);
• 18% for BOSTON BEER (Memorial Day was 23%);
• 16% for MOLSON COORS (Memorial Day was 20%).

AND: Here’s how things look for the following week in CIRCANA data, ending July 13:

• TOTAL BEER: -2.8% YoY
• SPIRITS: +2.3%
• WINE: -4.6%
• RTD: +1.6%

PLUS: Lester Jones puts total beer sales at -4% at the halfway mark of 2025, in a new presentation in conjunction with FINTECH. All of that is from the off-prem (-4.8%, $29.5B), with on-prem sales pretty much flat ($5.2B). 

You’ll get the numbers to know by supplier and category down below.

Well, I guess the headline says it all there really. The -5% YoY volume number came from the BA’s mid-year market report survey of member breweries.

At the mid-point of 2024, that number was -3.9%, and marks 3 straight years of decline. Keep in mind this is just for beer sales (no FMBs, RTDs or other bev-alc lines that some craft breweries have expanded into).

NIQ has mid-2025 off-prem volume numbers at:

• TOTAL BEER: -4.2%
• BA-defined CRAFT: -4.1%

Here’s how it breaks down by brewery category:

• REGIONAL BREWERY: flat
• BREWPUB: flat
• TAPROOM: -1%
• MICROBREWERY (under 15k BBL production): -3%

49% said production has grown, and 47% said it had fallen. 3% said “hell if I know 🤷‍♂️” (just kidding).

NEBCO is buying the STONY CREEK brewing facility on the Branford River in CT, but not the IP/brand, which will cease to exist after 15 years. No price was disclosed.

NEBCO will move its main production operations and HQ to the location, increasing brewing capacity by +50%. 

Production for NEBCO hit 20.7k BBL in 2024 (+2% YoY), according to BA data, and the brewery expects that to rise to 30k BBL with this move. 

R&D BREWING

Director of Sales – Raleigh, NC

KYOTO BREWING

Lead Brewer – Kyoto, Japan

MINNEAPOLIS CIDER CO

Around 45%

That’s the share of NEW BELGIUM sales that the Force family now has (Juice Force, Fruit Force, Tropic Force), according to CEO Shaun Belongie.

• VOODOO RANGER Imperial and Juice Force are the #2 and #3 best-selling craft beer brands, according to CIRCANA data, and #1 and #2 in the c-store category.

KIRIN-LION (aka NBB, BELL’S and KIRIN ICHIBAN) holds a 1.57% share of beer category dollars YTD through June 15 in the off-prem, according to CIRCANA data.

• ALSO: BELL’S Oberon Light is the #1 craft launch in the Midwest this year, despite distro being kept to MI and some surrounding Great Lakes markets.

45% to 39%

The change in % of folks who said they drank craft beer at least weekly from 2019 to 2024, according to the BA’s annual Harris Poll.

So, first the negative numbers (why break tradition?):

SHIPMENTS (sales to wholesalers): -0.8% YoY (YTD is -1.7%)

• Q2 ‘24: -6.4%
• Q2 ‘23: -4.5%

DEPLETIONS (sales to retailers): -5% YoY (YTD is -3%)

• Q2 ‘24: -4% 
• Q2 ‘23: -3%

BOSTON BEER also downgraded 2025 forecasts, implicating the #TrumpTariffs as a factor:

• Depletions and shipments: down high-single-digit to down low-single-digit (previously down low-single-digit to up low-single-digit);
• Gross margin, including tariffs: Between 46% and 47.3% (previously between 44% and 46.5%);
• Gross margin, excluding tariffs: Between 47% and 48% (previously between 45% and 47%);
• Capital spending: Between $70 million and $90 million (previously between $90 million and $110 million).

THE 💰 NUMBERS:

• REVENUE: $588M (+1.5% YoY)
• NET INCOME/PROFIT: $60M (+15.5%)

But as Zoe always insists, let’s end on the good news: 

• SUN CRUISER is “one of the top volume gainers in RTD spirits so far this year” according to Jim Koch, and already has a 4% share of spirits-based RTDs.

And as I always insist, let’s also have some reality (and, well, Zoe can get her own newsletter!):

• TWISTED TEA is -3.6% in sales and -5.6% on volume YTD (ending July 12).

Jim breaks down what’s happening out there with the brands here, for those inclined.

FINTECH and the NBWA teamed up for their H1 2025 sales report 🤜🤛, and here’s what we got. The data represents about 41% of all alcohol sales from wholesalers to retailers in the U.S.

SHARE CHANGES BY SUPPLIER:

• A-B: 31.1% off-prem (+0.5%), 35.5% on-prem (+1.1%)
• CONSTELLATION: 18.7% off-prem (+0.7%), 13.3% on-prem (+0.6%)
• MOLSON COORS: 18.3% off-prem (-0.4%), 25.8% on-prem (-0.3%)
• HEINEKEN: 4.4% off-prem (-0.3%), 2.9% on-prem (-0.3%)
• BOSTON BEER: 6.4% off-prem (flat), 1.8% on-prem (-0.3%)
• MARK ANTHONY: 3.7% off-prem (-0.2%), 4.9% on-prem (-0.3%)
• YUENGLING: 1.6% off-prem (flat), 2% on-prem (-0.2%)

SHARE CHANGES BY CATEGORY:

• PREMIUM PLUS LIGHT: 29.9% share in off-prem (flat), 41.6% on-prem (+0.5)
• IMPORTS: 24.6% off prem, 24% on -prem (+0.5% in both)
• BEYOND BEER (FMB & hard seltzer): 14.8% off-prem, 3.8% on-prem (-0.8% YoY in both)
• CRAFT BEER: 10.3% off-prem (-0.4%), 18% on-prem (-0.7%)
• PREMIUM PLUS REGULAR: 8.1% off-prem, 32% on-prem (+0.4% in both)
• BELOW PREMIUM LIGHT: 6% off-prem (flat), 5.1% on-prem (+0.1%)
• BELOW PREMIUM REGULAR: 2.7% off-prem, 1.4% on-prem (-1% in both)
• NON-ALC: 1.4% off-prem (+0.4%), 1.1% on-prem (+0.3%)

Jess went all 🤓 and has your numbers for brands across #bigbeer and craft here in the link. 

• REYES added 3 more brands to its CA portfolio yet again this week – FOUR ROSES, FUJI Japanese Whiskey and KIRIN BEER.
• TILRAY’s BRECKENRIDGE SPIRITS is adding an NA spirits line called Mock One. 

As I have a lotta newsletters to go until December, I gotta save some of my “best” material to use in this section ‘til at least the fall.

ALMANAC BREWING EVP of sales Kevin Scoles joins the pod this week to discuss the benefits the brand is seeing from transforming its own-premise location from a taproom to a full-blown, family-friendly entertainment space, as part of the pod’s Learning Lounge: Taproom Tactics series.

BUT FIRST: The J-Z BREWBOUND duo take the mic while ol’ man Kendall takes a nap in the hammock like he just had half of a 10 oz. BCBS bottle, and dive into:

• The latest and greatest from CALICRAFT BREWING
• The big NEW ENGLAND BREWING CO. acquisition
• The passing of craft beer pioneer Jack McAuliffe
• Why Zoe brings bad luck to Chicago

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 March Madness, which may be the savior that the bev-alc business has been waiting for! 

It seems the NCAA has eyes on expanding the annual hoops tournament to 76 teams and adding more games (not for 2026, but maybe 2027), and it’s gonna need more money to make that happen … as its TV contracts are locked til 2032 and don’t require CBS or TURNER SPORTS to pay more if more games are added.

So – enter booze! According to the WSJ, selling sponsorships for previously banned beer, wine and hard alcohol categories is a lever being looked at. Although the NCAA can’t sell those themselves, so they’ll need to enlist their CBS and TNT SPORTS partners to handle that part.

Now, who wants to tell the NCAA about the realities of bev-alc sales in the mid 2020s and the corresponding size of marketing budgets? Not sure your timing is great here, y’all.

But, the industry does clearly need to increasingly reach that next generation of drinkers, and if you throw in the ability to throw keggers between games – I think we can find a solution here.

Slainté!

-Sean McNulty 

(you can always reach me here on LinkedIn)