• 🍻 Why Sierra Nevada is Refreshing Big Little Thing
• 🏆 2025 BA Industry Award Winners Revealed
• 🥃 Deal News: Diageo, LeBron and Ciroc
• 🥂 Consumers Still Prioritizing On-Premise Visits
• 📉 Circana: Misaligned Easter Causes ‘Ugly’ Comps
• 🗣️ 'You have an unbelievable, iconic American story'

Sierra Nevada’s Big Little Thing IPA is getting a second act. The imperial IPA has been reformulated as a juicy hazy IPA with the ABV amped up to 9.5% from 9%. 

Although Big Little Thing has been a top-30 craft brand in off-premise scans, the brand’s trends have trended down since 2023. 

Sierra Nevada chief commercial officer Ellie Preslar told Brewbound that the decision to refresh Big Little Thing as a juicy hazy IPA was rooted in maintaining it as “a strong productive SKU” rather than letting it potentially fade with inaction. 

She explained: “It’s not like the brand wasn’t still performing. It’s still a significant brand. There's still a lot of people drinking Big Little Thing.

“But if we don’t do anything, are we going to still have a strong productive SKU in 5 years?”

• In Big Little Thing’s first full year of distribution in 2021, the IPA became the 29th best-selling craft beer with nearly $20 million in off-premise dollar sales in retailers tracked by Circana. 
• In Year Two, the brand grew to more than $26.36 million (+30.9%) and finished the year as the 27th best-selling craft beer at retail.
• Signs of a downturn started in 2023, with sales declining 10.8%, to around $23.5 million, and Big Little Thing finished the year as the 28th best-selling craft beer at retail. 
• The declines continued in 2024, with the brand falling outside of the top 30 craft brands list.
• In 2025, Big Little Thing returned to the top 30 list. YTD through March 23, the IPA is the 27th best-selling craft beer in Circana-tracked off-premise retailers. Dollar sales and case sales (volume) have declined 4.2% and 4.9%, respectively. Those trends have improved over the last month (-1.9% dollars, -2.4% volume), but they’ve lagged behind the overall Sierra Nevada portfolio YTD (+3.2% dollars, +2.5% volume).

In an effort to reinvigorate Big Little Thing, Preslar said Sierra Nevada’s brewers looked to the hazy imperial IPA style, which has been a bright spot within an otherwise struggling craft segment (-3.3% dollars, -4.8% volume YTD). 

As Big Little Thing’s trends have softened, Sierra Nevada leaders engaged with drinkers in their taprooms and consumers of other juicy hazy IPAs about ways to make the beer “more approachable” and which characteristics resonate with them, which led them to a fruitier flavor profile through a new hop bill of Citra, Mosaic and El Dorado hops. 

🍺 Draft-Only PILS Rolls Out

In addition to Big Little Thing’s refresh, Sierra Nevada is introducing PILS, a new draft-only “European-inspired pilsner with an American twist,” in 30 markets starting this month. A wider rollout is expected later this year with nationwide distribution planned for 2026.

PILS (4.7% ABV, 25 IBUs) is brewed with a mix of Saphir German hops and American Crystal Lupulin hops. 

An off-premise package release is planned for later in 2025, Preslar said in a press release. 

Insiders can read more about Sierra Nevada’s strategy heading into summer, a positive note for Pale Ale and ambitions for its non-alc portfolio. 

Gain cutting-edge insights from industry leaders, explore new technologies, and hone your skills at the Craft Brewers Conference, April 28-May 1 in Indianapolis Learn more

The Brewers Association (BA) announced the recipients of the trade group’s annual Industry Awards Monday, recognizing “individuals and groups that have made a significant impact on the craft beer community.” 

Award recipients are nominated by their peers and voted on by BA staff and committee members, craft beer industry members and past award winners. 

The 2025 award winners include:

• Jolly Pumpkin founder Ron Jefferies (The Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing, in memoriam);
• The North Carolina beer community (The BA Recognition Award);
• Brewers of Pennsylvania general counsel Ted Zeller (The F.X. Matt Defense of the Industry Award);
• And Sapporo-Stone director of national accounts, off-premise, Shawn Mullen (BA Mentor of the Year).

BA president and CEO Bart Watson said: “[The winners’] dedication and advocacy have strengthened the craft brewing community and paved the way for its continued success. We celebrate their achievements and thank them for their invaluable contributions.”

Insiders can learn more about the winners here.

Diageo is teaming up with consulting and investment firm Main Street Advisors for a strategic joint venture that swaps out the spirits giant’s majority ownership of Cîroc Vodka in North America for a majority stake in basketball legend LeBron James-backed Lobos 1707 Tequila.

The deal is intended to accelerate Cîroc in the U.S. market while growing Lobos 1707 worldwide, according to a release. The announcement comes after Diageo was reportedly seeking a buyer for the vodka brand, following a now-settled lawsuit with former backer Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Lobos 1707 includes three tequilas and a mezcal, and was founded by actor Diego Osorio and backed by James in 2020.

Insiders can read more about Diageo’s financial plans for the JV, and its complicated relationship with Combs and Cîroc, which predates the now disgraced entertainment mogul’s ongoing criminal sex trafficking case.

Half of consumers went out for a drink in March, and on-premise visits aren’t expected to slow down despite economic uncertainty, according to NIQ’s on-premise marketing research arm CGA. 

CGA’s latest consumer survey results marked a three percentage point increase versus the amount of consumers who went out for a drink in February. Even more consumers (77%) went out to eat in March (flat versus February). 

Looking ahead, 77% of consumers said they plan to go out to eat in the next month, and 47% said they plan to go out for a drink. 

Note, CGA’s survey was conducted before President Trump announced sweeping tariffs, including a minimum 10% baseline duty on goods from most countries and 25% tariff on imported beer. As of press time, the Dow (-6.97%), S&P 500 (-7.25%) and Nasdaq (-7.01%) have all declined versus 5 days ago, though have improved compared to the double-digit declines recorded in the 5-day period ending Monday.

With potential tariffs looming at the time of CGA’s survey, the firm asked consumers “with the recent economic situation, and after covering living expenses (e.g. bills, mortgage, taxes), which of the following do you plan to prioritize for spending of the next three months.” 

After domestic vacations and clothing – each selected by 27% of consumers – “regular” visits to bars and restaurants was the next most popular selection, along with home improvement, each selected by 24% of consumers. “Day trips” including “sport and leisure activities" was the fifth most popular pick (22%), followed by special occasion visits to bars and restaurants (21%), entertainment packages (19%), and vehicles, international vacations and live entertainment (each 17%). 

Insiders can read more from the report, including consumer spending intent in spite of economic headwinds. 

Circana’s latest weekly scans report is “ugly,” but the numbers could be misleading, according to Circana EVP, BevAlc Scott Scanlon. 

Total bev-alc dollar sales increased 1% WoW, but declined 9% YoY in the week ending March 30, leading “a sea of red” across the industry. Total bev-alc volume declined 8.8%.

However, the poor performance could be due in part to wonky Easter comps. Easter fell on Sunday, March 31 in 2024, while this year’s holiday landed on Monday, April 21. 

Wine recorded the largest declines in the latest week (dollar sales -19.1%, volume -17.1%), disproportionately impacted by Easter comps, according to Scanlon. Meanwhile beer (dollar sales -6.4%, volume -8.3%) and spirits (dollar sales -5.3%, volume -2.8%) each recorded single-digit declines. 

Over the last 4 weeks, wine dollar sales and volume both declined 9.6%, followed by beer (dollar sales -3.9%, volume -5.6%) and spirits (dollar sales -0.6%, volume +2.3%).

Scanlon wrote: “Upcoming, [there’s] a lot of uncertainties to sort through with calendar adjustment, administration policy, and val[ue]/vol[ume] watch into the grilling season.

“[There] continues to be bright spots, but certainly very hard to see through negatives at this moment, although we should see clarity within [the] next couple of weeks and hopefully can look forward to summer strength.”

Scanlon also shared a watchout for the domestic sub-premium and super premium segments, which are “competing for growth with macroeconomic concerns.” In the latest week, both segments recorded a 3% decline in dollar sales.

Scanlon wrote: “Historically, we have seen value outperform when consumer employment is under concern, [but] we have not seen this rise like prior economic compression periods [and] will have to keep an eye on.”

What’s going on in the country’s second-densest craft beer state? The Brewbound team hit the road to Portland, Maine, to find out. 

While in town for the New England Craft Brew Summit, Brewbound managing editor Jess Infante and senior reporter Zoe Licata checked in with 3 leaders to take the pulse of Maine’s formidable (and cheerfully collaborative) craft scene. 

This special Maine-centric episode kicks off with Maine Brewers’ Guild executive director Sarah Bryan. Bryan dishes on the hottest topics impacting Maine brewers right now – including concerns over decreased tourism from Canada – as well as goals for her second year as executive director. 

Later, the team chats with Thirsty Pig owner Allison Stevens and Orange Bike Brewing co-founder and CEO Tom Ruff.

Listen here or on your preferred podcast platform, and please subscribe to and rate the show. 

The Brewbound team is hitting the road and heading to the Craft Brewers Conference on April 28 – May 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The Brewbound trio will be on the ground, covering all the latest news and presentations coming out of the conference, as well as hosting live podcast interviews at the Brewbound booth (#512).

Make sure to stop by our booth #512, where Brewbound will be chatting with brewery founders and owners, beverage entrepreneurs and c-suite leadership across the industry. Whether you’re a business vet or just starting out, we’d love to meet you and hear what’s new.

How to Connect with Us:

• Stop by our booth (#512): We’re excited to set up our Brewbound Podcast studio at BrewExpo America and engage with brewery leaders and industry suppliers. Swing by to meet our team, watch a podcast interview recording, participate in social content, and walk away with a T-shirt.
• Submit your news: Have news or updates from your brewery? Our team is covering the event and would love to hear from you. Submit your news here.
• Contact us to set up a time to chat: Want to schedule time to connect or be part of our coverage? Reach out to us at news@brewbound.com.

– Former senior White House advisor Kellyanne Conway, who addressed the NBWA 2025 Legislative Conference yesterday with advice for members on lobbying their members of Congress during the second term of President Trump, a “man that’s never had a drop of alcohol, including beer, in his life.”

Conway said: “It looks like you need to be a rebel, and I'm telling you, it’s better to be a resource. Tell your story. When people go in there, they just want to whine about tariffs or they're worried about taxes. Tell your story. You have an unbelievable, iconic American story.”