Ain't every day a distributor and a supplier team up to launch market-specific innovations. But Andrews Distributing and Sazerac are adding a new dimension to their partnership, co-creating 3 new RTD offerings set to launch exclusively within the distrib's Texas territory, at least for starters.

For first time in 3 yrs, a spirits co will be running a Super Bowl ad. Sazerac cmo Sara Saunders confirmed to AdAge that they've booked a spot but declined to say which brand/or brands would be featured among its portfolio including Fireball, BuzzBallz (primarily wine-based) and Buffalo Trace bourbon. BuzzBallz is certainly its hottest brand. In fact, it's Sazerac's #1 brand by $$ in Circana multi-outlet + convenience data, posting the largest $$ gain of any alc bev brand thruout the year. "Sazerac's in-house agency, known as 'The Shop,' will play a significant role in the creative, though the ad won't be handled entirely in house," shared Saunders. Since AB gave up its exclusive alcohol ad rights for the Super Bowl back in 2022, Crown Royal and Rémy Martin ran big game ads in 2023, but none the last 2 yrs. MC ran an ad primarily featuring Coors Light each of the last 3 yrs. Recall, NBCUniversal announced in early Sep that they already sold out of Super Bowl ad slots, which AdAge pegged to be in $7-9 mil range per 30 seconds.

AB InBev is expected to show "weakness in all major markets/regions" in Q3 2025 vs yr ago, Bernstein analysts Trevor Stirling and Nadine Sarwat headlined in latest report after holding a call with ABI. Co "conveyed very similar messages" reflected in another recent report on European Beer, bracing for "weak set-up for 3Q volumes" with "2026 input cost outlook still improving," analysts noted.

This was indeed "the summer that got away" for US beer biz, as Jefferies analyst Kaumil Gajrawala headlined in latest report. Combo of "poor weather (heavy June rain/less sunshine) and money concerns hindered consumption," he wrote. And "this leads us to lower numbers across the board ahead of C3Q results, including taking our estimates below-consensus" on both Constellation ("incrementally weaker consumption") and Molson Coors ("Americas softness"), favoring beverage cos like Celsius, Coke, Monster and Vita Coco instead.

Heineken 0.0 is doin' something differently with pricing in tracked off-prem channels for the mo of Sep. And it appears to be generating short-term growth. Heineken NA brand family $$ sales jumped 14% with volume up 28% for latest week thru Sep 21 in Circana multi-outlet + convenience data. That's the 3d consecutive week where Heineken NA $$ growth was half the rate (or less) of its volume growth following $$ up 5%, volume up 11.8% for 1 wk thru Sep 14 and $$ up 1.9% volume up 4.7% for 1 wk thru Sep 7. So Heineken NA fam volume is up mid teens for the 3 wks thru Sep 21 vs yr ago in MULC channels with avg price/case down nearly $3, -7% to $39.72. For the latest wk, avg price dropped 11% to under $38/case. Unfortunately for HUSA, recent uptick on NAs hasn't provided a halo effect for the alcoholic Heineken brand fam, which slipped mid-teens vs yr ago since start of Sep.

Tilray Brands was a surprise name among top supplier $$ growth rates in natl Circana multi-outlet + convenience data for the latest week thru Sep 21. It posted 2d fastest trend overall among top vendors with $$ up 4.1%, behind only Athletic (+20%) and ahead of Geloso (+3.6%), Diageo (+1.6%) and Sierra (-0.1%), among others. Tilray's beer portfolio has been down double digits in these channels all yr; $$ down 15% and volume down 14% YTD thru Sep 7. It's just one week, but somethin' flipped for period, at least.

The plot thickened last wk in eye-popping series of fed criminal cases claiming a conspiracy to hide illegal payments by alc bev suppliers thru their distrib to retailers in exchange for better treatment. Fed prosecutors charged Patrick Briones, an asst sales mgr since at least 2015 at an unnamed "large national grocery chain," owned by bigger Idaho-based retailer, with 2 criminal charges: conspiracy to defraud the govt, a felony, and commercial bribery under fed alc bev laws, a misdemeanor. The first charge alone can carry a 5-yr prison sentence, 3 yrs of supervised release and a $250K fine. Conduct in question is linked to claims made against two sales leaders for a CA-based wine and spirits supplier, filed early this yr in NorCal fed ct. Each of those employees, Matthew Adler and Bryan Barnes, are named in these charging documents. They each pled guilty in April to criminal charges brought by fed prosecutors early this yr. They both appear in the charging documents filed against Briones, alongside 5 employees of the same unnamed distributor in the earlier cases, 2 other suppliers, at least 1 other supplier employee and the suggestion of many more involved individuals and companies.

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 including Delta-9's perhaps hanging in the balance.

Phorm Energy, the collab between Anheuser-Busch, 1st Phorm and UFC honcho 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 3-time MMA lightweight champ Michael Chandler, co announced. This expands on Phorm Energy mktg moves including multi-yr deal with Hendricks Motorsports along with its first NIL deal with college football brothers Whit and West Weeks, who play ball for LSU. Co also shared that A-B invested an additional $1 mil to ramp up production for Phorm Energy at its LA brewery. Phorm Energy is now in over 13K c-stores, including recent partnership with 7-Eleven, co shared.