• 🍎 Hard Cider Primed for Growth
• 📈 Cannabis Beverages Chase THC Dosage
• 📰 News From Sierra, Brooklyn & New Belgium
• 🌎 On Tap: A Global Look at Beer
  
• 💸 Consumers' On-Prem Spending Shift

This one-time coupon code will unlock 25% OFF your next portal purchase up to $2,500 in cart value. Every hop variety, extract, oil, Salvo™ and even our latest LLZ ™ extract is 25% OFF! Apply the promo code BB25 at checkout to claim your discount. Learn more

The 15th annual CiderCon took place in Chicago earlier this month, drawing about 850 attendees and cider industry members to the Windy City for the American Cider Association’s (ACA) annual industry conference and trade show. 

The event – with the theme “Cider’s Balanced Future: People, Planet and Profit” – had an elevated air of excitement this year, as nearly half of attendees – who traveled from 40 states and 13 countries – were first-timers, including new ACA CEO Monica Cohen, who took office February 1. 

Cohen – a former executive for Dairy Farmers of America, who succeeds Michelle McGrath – shared her excitement for the hard cider segment and her role in it during a speech at the event's opening session.

Cohen said: “I believe it’s cider’s time.”

Admittedly, it is not the first time the hard cider industry has touted that “now is the time” for the segment to take off and gain a more substantial share of bev-alc. But data may back up recent claims, according to NBWA chief economist and VP of analytics Lester Jones. 

Hard cider recorded $704 million in sales to retailers (STRs) in 2024, up from $676 million in 2023, Jones said citing Fintech data, which accounts for about one-third of all licensed retailers.

The segment also grew in the on-premise, increasing STRs from $120 million in 2023, to $127 million in 2024. Draft’s share of on-premise hard cider dollar sales also increased from 31%, to 34%, taking mainly from bottled cider (down from 31%, to 27%).

Specific regional pockets are recording even more growth for the segment, causing retailers and distributors alike to gain more interest in cider, according to a panel discussion featuring Whole Foods principal beer buyer Mary Guiver, Hayden Beverage president Andy Mitchell and HopCat beverage director Justin Pollock. 

Hayden Beverage – which distributes products in Idaho, Montana and Eastern Washington – “doubled-down” on hard cider a decade ago and continues to believe in the strength of the segment, particularly when compared to the rest of the beer category, Mitchell shared. 

Mitchell said: “I don't really care about brands, I care about dollar growth. But what makes me care about brands is the cider category over the last four years has grown +68% [and] my alcohol category has grown +17%.”

Four years ago, hard cider accounted for about 2.2% of Hayden’s total bev-alc business. In 2024, that share had increased to 3.3% – admittedly “still not material.” However, the segment accounted for 9% of Hayden’s growth last year. 

Mitchell said: “You say that to a distributor, I can guarantee they will stop what they're doing and give you their full attention. Because anything that's growing, that's overindexing like that, will get their attention.” 

Insiders can read more, including why Guiver and Pollack are optimistic for hard cider, and how industry members believe the segment can best capitalize on its opportunities. 

From micro-dosed to macro-dosed, many intoxicating hemp beverage brands are expanding into stronger doses, offering more THC per dollar.

Having established ties during the category’s recent emergence, intoxicating hemp brands and bev-alc distributors are growing closer as they together seek to open up new opportunities in higher-dose products as value becomes a more pressing metric for shoppers.

If current growth trends are any indicator, there is still a lot of white space to occupy. Sales of intoxicating hemp beverages grew annual sales from $102 in 2023 to $382 million in 2024, and are expected to hit $750 million by 2029, according to the Brightfield Group.

Cann was 1 of the creators of the microdosed category in 2019, providing a “sessionable product for a mainstream alcohol consumer” with little-to-no cannabis tolerance.

Co-founder Bullock said: “If you do the math and you did the testing with consumers on what a sessionable drink would look like for a regular cannabis consumer, it’s 5 [milligrams]. The reason it’s 5 is because you don’t just drink 1, you drink around 4 over a couple hours.”

By that logic, Cann’s expansion from its original 2mg THC/4mg CBD cans into its HiBoys line (5mg THC/10mg CBD) seemed like a natural progression. Now, the brand is launching a 10mg THC HI’ER Boy (no CBD) to meet the growing demand that is largely being driven by consumers in states with no recreational cannabis market.

“We’re seeing a shift entirely in how folks consume THC. In the Southeast or the Midwest, where there are no dispensaries or only medical dispensaries, we’re finding there is a high-potency consumer that has no access to high-potency products. They want the 10 milligrams [THC],” he said.

This sentiment is being echoed across the category with many brands reporting that the increased visibility on-shelf has brought a higher scrutiny over value.

🌲Sierra Nevada parted ways with “a small number” of employees whose jobs were eliminated, as the company works to “streamline efficiencies and reinvest in areas critical to our future,” a spokesperson told Brewbound. Beer Marketer’s Insights broke the news on Friday.

The full statement provided: “As part of our ongoing efforts to adapt to a rapidly evolving craft beer landscape, Sierra Nevada has made strategic adjustments to our operations to ensure long-term sustainability and continued growth. These changes included a small number of role eliminations as we work to streamline efficiencies and reinvest in areas critical to our future. 

“Despite industry challenges, we are seeing positive momentum in key areas of our business and remain committed to driving innovation, strengthening our brands, and delivering high-quality craft beer to our customers.” 

🏭 Brooklyn Brewery bid farewell to the brewhouse in its borough's Williamsburg neighborhood where it “brewed hundreds of millions of beers, pioneered innovation in brewing and welcomed visitors from around the world.” The Williamsburg taproom will operate for the rest of the year. The company is moving its headquarters to Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood.

💀 New Belgium marked a decade and a half as an IPA maker last week, when CEO Shaun Belongie celebrated the 15th anniversary of Ranger IPA, a first for the brewer back in 2010, on LinkedIn. The company has 4 IPAs (and 1 IPA variety pack) among Circana’s top 30 craft brands, but Voodoo Ranger’s elder sibling (and namesake) is not among them. 

World Brewing Alliance president and CEO Justin Kissinger joins the Brewbound Podcast this week to chat about global beer trends, how they compare to the state of the industry in the U.S., the potential impact of updated dietary guidelines and impending tariffs and more. 

Fan of the Brewbound Podcast? Leave us a review! We’d love to get your feedback, and get more industry members in the loop on what we have going on over here. Rate and review on your podcast platform of choice (Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more). 

2025 marks a milestone year for Lawson’s Finest Liquids and its flagship Sip of Sunshine IPA. How will the Vermont craft brewery celebrate a decade of Sip of Sunshine IPA? CEO Adeline Druart shares details on the latest Brewbound Podcast. 

Druart, who took over as CEO in June 2023, shares the keys to keeping Sip growing, including a commitment to cold-chain distribution. She also discusses the crossover of her previous life in dairy, with the addition of cheese to Lawson’s taproom. 

The conversation also covers Lawson’s expansion into North Carolina and Virginia, if more markets will follow, additions to the Sunshine family, B-Corp status and the brewery’s Airbnb. 

Plus, the Brewbound team discusses Zoe’s trip to CiderCon and her Super Bowl celebration, more ad talk and play a game of Another Round or Tabbing Out on Anheuser-Busch’s American versus domestic and Ball recycling its aluminum cup business. 

Listen here or on your preferred podcasting platform. 

Consumer spending at bars increased +1% YoY in January, and increased versus fall trends, according to a report by Bank of America. 

Meanwhile, spending at liquor stores declined -5% YoY last month. That spending accounted for 4.8% of total food and beverage spending during the month, down 1 percentage point versus 2021, when consumer trends were still heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and related shutdowns. 

Bank of America economist Joe Wadford wrote: “It’s likely that some of the decline in at-home consumption can be attributed to a pivot to experiences post-pandemic, as people returned to socializing at bars and, in turn, drank less at home.

“According to BofA Global Research, it’s also possible that consumers, with elevated deposits from stimulus funds, purchased more spirits than they could consume while bars were closed during the pandemic and are still ‘destocking’ their liquor cabinets.”

Bank of America’s report follows a recent call-to-action by NBWA chief economist and VP of analytics Lester Jones for beer industry members to pay more attention to on-premise trends and data points beyond scan data. 

Look for further coverage of Bank of America’s report later this week.