Powdered-hydration gold rush continues, with Cure brand reporting today that it's closed on $5.6 mil Series A round led by prior investor Lerer Hippeau. Also participating were Valedor Partners, Simple Food Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Joyance Partners and Silas Capital, along with tennis star Kim Clijsters. M3 Ventures and Litani Ventures had participated with Lerer Hippeau in $2.6 mil seed round announced in late 2020 (BBI, Nov 25 2020). Individual investors back then had included tennis star Andy Roddick along with Nas, Matthew Dellavedova, Casper cofounder/ceo Philip Krim, Tate's Bake Shop founder Kathleen King, Barkfox founder Carly Strife and Thrive Market ceo Nick Green.

After scoring outsized successes with creator brands Alani Nu and Prime Hydration, Congo Brands was generating some buzz at last fall's NACS c-store show with word its next partnership would be Down South iced tea line undertaken with country crooner Morgan Wallen (BBI, Oct 7). But formal announcement never came and Congo stopped talking about it, maybe in interest of riding its hot hand with Alani and Prime (BBI, Dec 29).

As FTC dials up interest in long-dormant Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), including with investigation into top wine & spirits distrib Southern Glazer's, it's likely to find "a series of state alcohol pricing laws that are like the RPA on steroids," NBWA genl counsel Paul Pisano wrote in column for Alcohol Law Review blog last wk. Recall, the RPA "seeks to curb 'unfair' business practices that prevent smaller retailers from competing with their larger competitors," Paul reminds. And while FTC hasn't enforced that fed law in decades, state alc bev pricing laws are already "doing what the RPA intended," in his view.

Non-alc beer sales continue to outpace total beer by roughly 25% and broader NA bevs by ~15 pts thru Q1 2023, wrote Consumer Edge's Brett Cooper citing IRI data thru Mar 26. But volume spike driven by "getting more products into more stores with velocity continuing to decline," as NA beer is still less than 0.5% the size of all NA bevs and below 1% of tracked beer sales. Growth dynamics remain "positive," Brett notes, as premium offerings "changed the game." And no brand symbolizes that shift more than Athletic.

Convenience stores broadly remain "very positive" about Constellation's growth prospects, according to Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog's Q1 2023 "beverage bytes" survey of respondents representing ~50K locations, ~30% of c-store channel. Half of respondents allocated or plan to allocate more shelf/cooler space to STZ, including Modelo Oro "broadly" getting "incremental cooler/shelf space." Notably, Constellation "appears to be" winning shelf space "at the expense of ABI," Bonnie wrote. Tho TAP could be in for some space losses too, survey suggests. Nearly 40% of respondents plan to reduce both AB and MC shelf space.

STZ growth and AB and SAM's ups and downs were among biggest topics discussed with industry experts/consultants Bump Williams and Mike Mazzoni on recent Evercore ISI webinar that analyst Robert Ottenstein recapped. Modelo Especial growth runway can last "several years out," according to Mike, who noted brand is "beginning to re-accelerate heading into summer," Robert wrote in summary report. And there are "myriad" growth oppys for Pacifico. Tho Mike acknowledged that gaining more shelf space across the portfolio "will be difficult for STZ moving forward."

AB released a new patriotic Bud ad online Fri featuring Clydesdales after ceo Brendan Whitworth's statement on the Dylan Mulvaney controversy failed to quiet the storm. Spot titled "The Shared Spirit" features a Clydesdale trotting past many iconic American sites, small towns, big cities while narrator sez: "This is a story bigger than beer. This is the story of the American spirit." Narrator further adds: "Brewed for those who found opportunity in challenge and hope in tomorrow."

PepsiCo has operated a shop in its birthplace, New Bern, NC, for some time. Now downtown New Bern is about to add a full-fledged museum as a tourist draw. City's Board of Aldermen on Tues unanimously approved a $950K grant application that "will help make the dream museum become a reality," as local outlet WITN reported. PEP has promised to augment the Rural Transformation Grant via NC Dept of Commerce with its own $750K contribution plus 2 collections.