Athletic Brewing is going Hollywood now. Heading onto turf long occupied by major domestic and import brands, Athletic has teamed up with Netflix to offer a trio of brews that take their cues from fantasy drama The Witcher in hope of getting word out to show's tens of millions of fans that non-alc beers are quite quaffable these days. The show's 3d season commences on Jun 29 with Volume 1, followed by Vol 2 on Jul 27.

Over 75% of 2,600 consumers surveyed by Numerator plan to celebrate this coming Memorial Day with 93% of them planning on making purchases, including beer for all those bbq's. Food "tops the shopping list" as survey found 83% planning on making purchases, followed by 46% buying alc bevs and 35% getting non-alc bevs. While beer is top alc bev choice (70%), Numerator noted "spirits and hard seltzers see a jump in survey." Wine is next most popular alc bev choice (40%), while hard seltzers and spirits come in ~30%, which is up 10 pts vs 2022 survey for spirits and up 2 pts for hard seltzers.

Stella Artois' new "Let's Do Dinner" campaign brings together an A-list group of celebs to inspire consumers "to have a conversation over a meal with great food, good friends, and of course Stella Artois, to create lasting memories." New ad that will run from Memorial Day to Labor Day across the US features Matt Damon, Zoe Saldaña, Jeremy Allen White and Ludacris discussing "if you could invite anyone to dinner, who would it be?" Ad invites consumers to join sweepstakes (there will be 15 winners) to attend "The World's Most Fascinating Dinner" this coming Sep. Consumers can enter by checking out all special edition 12-pack bottles and cans featuring Stella's celebrity partners and a QR code for direct entry, or visit www.stellaartois.com/letsdodinner. "We are thrilled to dive into this next step in Stella's journey, reinforcing the brand's role in driving authentic connection and conversation around meals," said Marcela Garcia, vp of mktg for Stella Artois. This campaign is also "a celebration of Stella Artois and Water.org's partnership to empower people in need around the world with access to save water, giving them time back so they can connect over dinner," co noted.

While beer sales continue to lose ground to spirits, beer industry's economic impact remains far greater than either wine or spirits industries in the US, latest bi-annual Beer Serves America study shows (jointly commissioned by Beer Institute and NBWA thru John Dunham & Associates research). Beer generated $409.2 bil in economic impact thru 2.37 mil jobs and paid $63.8 bil in taxes. That's up $78 bil and 400K jobs vs 2020 survey (including pandemic related comps). Beer accounted for about 1.6% of US' annual GDP, which has been consistent for several reports. In comparison, spirits contributed $200 bil in economic impact and 1.7 mil jobs, according to DISCUS. And wine contributed $276 bil and 1.84 mil jobs, per Natl Assn of American Wineries.

After announcing plans for another Truly refresh back in Feb, today Boston Beer is officially launching brand's new campaign while ramping up several new initiatives in effort to course correct this summer. Dubbed "lightly fantastic," campaign looks to celebrate "the joy that Truly gives you and the lighter side of life," co shared, including :15 and :30 ads airing on hi-profile programming such as NHL playoffs, Bravo, US soccer and more. Spots showcase someone playfully dancing across a pool (on top of the water) en route to a cooler full of Truly at a summer party. And brand will "heavy up in always on social and digital (Instagram, Facebook, Snap, Reddit)" with "opportunistic OOH" in key mkts, "turning up the volume on our media investment for the entire summer" to ensure the campaign is "impossible to miss."

Another small AB distrib deal was announced late last week in WA. King Beverage will acquire Midway Beverage Inc of Moses Lake, WA, Paragon Beverage Advisors posted. But deal has unique wrinkle to it. Columbia Dist got Midway's Red Bull biz (about 100K cases) as well as volume that co previously arranged sub-distribution agreement for thru Midway (another ~100K cases). The sub-distribution agreement included brands like Pabst, Novamex, Mac & Jack's, Nestle and 2 Towns Cider among others. So Columbia's adding more of eastern WA thru this deal.

Origlio Beverage bought Nevulus, about 140K cases of assorted craft in Philly, including fast-growing Athletic, under 50K cases, as the big prize in the deal. Origlio will now sell Athletic in 15 PA counties, tho in some counties thru its craft arm, 31st and Wharton. Origlio Beverage sells about 18 mil cases in all. But as part of HOBO (Honickman, Origlio, Bergson), it also owns stake in numerous other distribs, including several acquired recently in MD. With next gen coming on, Origlio getting generally more active in M&A.

"The brewer recently told its wholesalers that it would buy back unsold cases of beer that have gone past their expiration date," WSJ wrote. That could remove or at least diminish big potential bone of contention down road, as present sales trends could lead to plenty of old beer. But AB's latest $15 QR code already leading to some rock-bottom prices and diminished stacks. Berkot's Super Foods chain in Chi suburbs offered 99 cent cases of either Bud or Bud Light.