• 🎣 Boisson Makes A Play For Larger Ponds
• 🥛 Oatly Returns to Innovation With New Milks
• 🥕 Bolthouse Farms Prez Levisay Steps Down as Ops Split
• 🌠 Falling Star? Constellation Revamps After Damp Q3

Non-alcoholic alternative retailer Boisson announced today it has signed on with KeHE and LibDib to expand its national wholesale distribution and open the door to more distribution both on-premise at restaurants, bars and entertainment venues, and off-premise in grocery and beverage retailers. 

🤝 Leveraging its links to the $550M non-alcoholic beverage category and its retail presence, the wholesale distribution deal will help the company open doors importing and distributing global brands like Kolonne Null, Giffard NA, Caleño, Pentire, Everleaf, Little Saints, Wilfreds, Haus of Babylon, and Misty Cliffs.

💲The NA alternative distributor and retailer had a huge 2023 that included a $5 million bridge round investment led by Pernod Ricard’s venture arm, Convivialité Ventures, and a partnership with alcohol delivery platform Drizly over the summer. Most recently, Boisson announced its partnership with smart fridge maker Rocco to send a curated NA beverage package along with every fridge sold this month.

📈 "Existing spirits and beer distributor networks are phenomenal…but most are just starting to figure out NA, while Boisson brings years of 100% dedication to the category,” said Jill Sites, brought on in October as the company’s VP of wholesale, in a press release statement. “We know that we are small, but we are mighty and we see this as the perfect moment to give NA a seat at the big table of industry wholesale distribution.”

When it comes to innovation, it’s back to basics for Oatly. After focusing much of its U.S. R&D over the past few years in the food sector, the Swedish company is introducing two new varieties to its flagship oat milk line: Unsweetened and Super Basic.

🆕 Both SKUs serve as better-for-you alternatives to the company’s existing oat milks. Unsweetened contains zero grams of sugar and 40 calories per serving, while Super Basic contains just four ingredients with water, oats, sea salt and citrus fiber, dropping all oils and emulsifiers from the recipe.

🛒 The new oat milks are available in 64 oz. cartons and will be priced in line with the rest of the brand’s portfolio at $5.99. They are launching nationwide this month in retailers including Albertsons, Publix, Sprouts, Target and more.

▶️ The big takeaway: Although innovation has long centered on food, oat milk remains the brand’s top growth driver. Oatly president, North America Mike Messersmith called the food lines a “down payment on the future,” but new beverage launches will help the brand in its top performing category.

Read the full story on BevNET

After nearly 15 years with the business, Bolthouse Farms president and COO Bill Levisay announced on LinkedIn Friday that he will be stepping down from his position at the carrot, juice and smoothie producer. His successors will run the company as two separate businesses.

🙋 Bolthouse president Tim Escamilla will run the “Ag-Centric farming” operation Bolthouse Fresh Foods, while Steve Cornell will operate the “CPG-Centric Beverage and Salad Dressing” business under the name Generous Brands, Levisay said in his post.

“These two ‘sister-companies’ will create unique value and drive growth in their respective markets,” Levisay wrote.

🛗 Levisay first joined Bolthouse as its Chief Customer Officer in 2009. He was named president in 2019 following the brand’s sale to Butterfly Equity and later took the dual role of president and Chief Operating Officer in 2022.

🤝 While he is retiring from day-to-day management, Levisay said he will continue to hold board roles at companies and serve as an advisor to “CEOs, foundations, and non-profit organizations.”

With American Whiskey on the rise, distillers are hoping a new standard definition from the TTB will propel one style of the spirit forward. 

In 2022, distillers of American single malt rejoiced at the TTB’s proposal to create a designation for the category. With Scotland historically dominating single malts, Americans were late to hop on the bandwagon. Now, with the standard semi-official, we checked in with the top American single malt distillers about what comes next. 

🌍  Producers are eyeing global and domestic opportunities by peeing single malt Scotch consumers away with a similar palate and premium experience. 

🤔  But consumer awareness is still a challenge– American single malt doesn’t roll off the tongue quite like bourbon or rye, meaning brands are hopeful the new standard will continue to generate media buzz and serve as a template for education. 

🆕  Meanwhile, expect to see more innovation and distillers hoping on the trend. Major brands have already begun to offer the style, using it to broaden their portfolios in the growing higher end American whiskey category.

Constellation Brands is on the hunt for a new leader for its wine and spirits business, amidst weak quarterly results for the division. 

🚪 Robert Hanson, Constellation Brands’ executive vice-president and president of the company’s wine and spirits division, will depart from the company in February, the company announced Friday. Hanson became EVP in 2019 after sitting on the board since 2013.

🔎  The company has begun its search for a replacement, with Bill Newlands, president and CEO, assuming responsibility for the division in the meantime.

📉  The news came as Constellation Brands reported its Q3 fiscal 2024 financial results: wine and spirits fell 8% due to a “slowing in the market and U.S. wholesale underperformance.” The company projects an organic net sales decline for wine and spirits of 7% to 9% and operating income drop of 6% to 8%.

The hosts discussed the retailer’s new curated endcaps of non-alcoholic RTD cocktails and wine, and why a fast-growing hydration brand has taken a bigger-is-better approach to its packaging. We also spoke with master distiller Will Fabry about his stewardship of CraftCo’s acclaimed spirit brands. Read the story.