During fireside chat at Bernstein's annual Strategic Decisions Conference, analyst Nadine Sarwat asked Constellation Brands ceo Bill Newlands: How does he currently view the cannabis space? Co's "trying to view it as little as humanly possible," Bill quipped, calling its stake in Canopy "a horrible investment." He still believes cannabis is "going to be big at some point in time" and there's still some "upside" in Canopy via exchangeable shares "should Canopy prove to be a winner" in the space.

Under new ownership team in recent years, Perfect Game youth baseball org has made forays into doing its own bats & gloves in partnership with Rawlings and apparel via tie to Dick's Sporting Goods. Now it's spurning sponsorship overtures from major sports drink brands in order to do its own line under Launch Hydration brand, devised by Austin-based entrepreneurs to boast robust electrolyte bill and such unusual ancillary ingredients as Cognizin and L-alanyl-L-glutamine. For now, the Launch team is foregoing the hurly-burly of fighting for retail shelf space against the big boys in favor of working Perfect Game's sprawling national network of 20 facilities, with retail push not anticipated before next year, as one of its principals, Dillon Houstoun, told us in interview this week. Launch occurred last weekend at Perfect Game's 12-field megaplex in East Cobb, Ga, near Marietta, whose concessions brand will work thru Jul, as well as nearby HS and other baseball nexuses via hub-&-spoke strategy. All told, Perfect Game reaches audience of 4 mil players and coaches, Dillon pointed out. Beyond RTD sports drink, team has ambitions of entering range of ancillary segments such as powdered version and maybe nutrition bars.

The bev biz lost one of its more energetic indie distributors last month with the passing at age 81 of Larry Shanker, who took over the family biz, Canada Dry Bottling Co of Lansing (Mich), not long after graduating college and built it into diverse house that's played key role in incubating new brands as they enter Midwest. His son Randy, who operates biz now, told us his dad succumbed to cancer just a month after it was diagnosed. He died peacefully on Apr 5, surrounded by family, per an obit that Randy shared with us. Larry had survived his wife Margie, whom he supported thru long battle with Alzheimer's Disease.

In another sign of unsettled regulatory status of CBD in US, Cronos Group said it's "winding down and exiting" its US hemp-derived CBD-focused ops by end of Q2. "Cronos has made this decision to improve its cash flow in the near term and position itself to directly enter the US THC market when the necessary changes in US regulatory conditions occur," per announcement this morning. Toronto-based co will take charge of $1.8 mil in inventory writeoffs, severance costs and asset impairment charges. In US, Cronos has played in CBD under Lord Jones and Happy Dance brands, tho in formats other than bevs. Lord Jones will be repurposed as adult-use brand in Canada.

It took some finagling with partner Mondelez, but Ghost is bringing back its licensed Bubblicious energy drink this summer, this time as a national launch in Strawberry Splash flavor as well as in Cotton Candy flavor being offered exclusively to Kroger and GNC retailers. Kroger will have entry for 90 days before it's made available to Ghost's other conventional retail partners. Cofounder/ceo Dan Lourenco told us today the venture is bit of a feat considering that Bubblicious doesn't even sell gum any more but brain trust at Ghost deemed it perfect for nostalgic twist they often seek with their licensed entries, one that resonated with Lourenco himself as self-styled child of the 1980s. Ghost team asked partner for full in-your-face graphic treatment from 1990s only to learn that Mondelez no longer could track down those graphic files. So it recreated look itself, Dan said. Like rest of canned line, the entries are zero sugar with 200 mg of naturally derived caffeine.

Creator brand Chamberlain Coffee has bookended its $7 mil Series A round of last Aug with another $7 mil mainly from existing investors as it continues to build out empire that now extends to matcha, chai, pods and RTDs. "Growth and innovation is at the core of everything we do and this fundraise will allow us to continue creating new products and grow our brand awareness," per statement from ceo Chris Gallant. "We're extremely grateful to our returning investors for continuing to believe in the brand and the new ones who are coming on board, sharing in our vision for this next chapter at Chamberlain Coffee." Among key investors ponying up again are Blazar Capital, Emma Chamberlain herself and United Talent Agency. New to the cap table are PE house Volition Capital, Post Malone's venture arm Electric Feel Ventures, bev accelerator LA Libations, which has been helping with RTDs' buildout, and PLTFRM founder Noah Bremen. Earlier round included familiar bev figures Ken Sadowsky and Nik Sharma (BBI, Aug 16). Chamberlain, of course, is popular YouTuber and now podcaster with strong pull over young female consumers.

Two top tech providers building digital platforms for the beer and bev-biz linked up today to integrate existing tools designed to enhance ordering and inventory management. Encompass and BeerBoard announced strategic partnership to roll out unified platform to connect retailers, distribs and suppliers. It'll combine BeerBoard's SmartOrders and SmartBar products, focused on draft and on-premise ordering and data-tracking, with Encompass software including its DSDLinks e-commerce app, per release.

After divesting from China yrs ago due to lack of premiumization, Japan's "largest brewer" Asahi is once again setting its sights on the "world's largest beer market" by volume, CNBC reported late yesterday. "The premium segment in China is now really taking off and growing substantially" with entry of international brands and craft beer, said ceo Atsushi Katsuki. Asahi Super Dry also "has the largest sales already from the China market now and it's growing double digits every year, so we want to continue to really invest into this premium market," he added.