The 31st annual Beer Insights Seminar is just over 1 month away! Sign up now to reserve your spot at this premier industry event, packed with exclusive insights and unparalleled networking Nov 9-10 in New York City. Our program pinpoints what's working for several of the hottest brands in the industry, including Surfside, Guinness and Garage Beer.

The King of Monsters, Godzilla will be featured on 60 mil cans (2.5 mil cases) of PBR this fall to mark the iconic character's 70th anniversary, Pabst shared this morning. The Godzilla designs will feature artistry of "official Godzilla artist, AttackPeter, to create four original images using his signature hard-carved linoleum block print technique," per announcement. The newest cans in Pabst's long-running art series will roll out in Oct and will cover PBR cans and packaging except 25-oz single serve cans. The 25-oz, will "go even bigger by featuring three additional Kaiju designs from AttackPeter." Also, a limited number of the PBR Godzilla cans will have "a special blue atomic breath effect, which turns the can blue when it reaches the perfect frosty temperature."

Asahi is reeling from a cyberattack on its home soil, leaving the Japanese giant unable to brew beer in its home country more than a day later, Reuters reports. While co's American and European brewing ops are unaffected, Asahi has suspended its ordering, shipments and customer service ops in Japan due to a "systems failure" caused by the attack. Recall, co is brewing in America with Octopi in Wisconsin.

Peroni ain't the only Italian lager brand in growth mode here in the US. Birra Moretti's sales have been up for 36 straight months, "35 of which have been double digit," since US Beverage began importing the brand back in Sep 2022, co shared with INSIGHTS. That includes big yr-to-date volume growth both on premise (+49.8%) and off premise (+30.4%), driven by distribution gains. And while its growth in America is off a much smaller base, the brand's now begun branching out beyond traditional Italian retailers and into an increasing footprint of natl chains such as Total Wine, Whole Foods, Wegmans, Bevmo and Safeway, announcement notes. Total chain volume up 48% YTD, outpacing its 38% distribution gains. Co also re-launched 20L kegs in the US last yr.

Just as it looks like there's plenty more to come in ongoing investigation into pay-to-play scheme in CA and attempts to cover it up, there's plenty more to say about criminal charges filed last wk against a buyer at major grocery chain, a story we broke in yesterday's issue. But first a quick correction: the new charging documents only reference one of the two individuals previously charged in related cases, not both. Filings concerning the retail buyer, Patrick Briones, mention Bryan Barnes, a sales leader for a wine & spirits supplier charged with bribing a retailer to stock more of the supplier's products at the exclusion of others. In fact, last wk's filing clarifies that Briones is the buyer referred to as "individual 1" in documents related to Barnes.

If money talks, then Millennials and Gen Z are actually quite quiet compared to their older generational counterparts. But the scales of influence are beginning to tip for all-important consumer spending, Numerator's Generations Hub showed in a newly published report, driven by demographics as destiny.

Another complaint claiming a state law unconstitutionally restricts interstate commerce bit the dust last wk. One more in lengthy string of strikingly similar lawsuits failed to convince a fed judge that states can't block wine shipments from out-of-state retailers to in-state consumers. This time, the state in question was Illinois. But most other elements of the case fit the same basic parameters of over a half-dozen others wending their ways thru various district and appellate cts for the better part of a decade.

Phorm Energy, collab between AB, 1st Phorm and Dana White, continues to build on its recent launch with new mktg and production moves. Phorm Energy "has entered the battleground of champions" by partnering with three-time MMA lightweight champ Michael Chandler, co announced. This expands on Phorm Energy mktg moves including multi-yr deal with Hendricks Motorsports, its first NIL deal with college football brothers Whit and West Weeks, who play ball for LSU. Co also shared that AB invested an additional $1 mil to ramp up production for Phorm Energy at its Los Angeles brewery. Phorm Energy is now in over 13K c-stores, including recent partnership with 7-Eleven, co shared.

Even hemp advocates were likely surprised over the weekend as President Trump posted a video suggesting that moving CBD under Medicare coverage would be "the most important senior health initiative of the century." The nearly 3-minute clip follows comments from Trump last mo that his administration is considering reclassifying cannabis. It also comes amid contentious debate in Congress about upending or further codifying federal hemp laws, with the fate of both CBD and hemp THC bevs perhaps hanging in the balance.