Blue Triton has assigned beer houses to manage its Poland Spring biz at 7-Eleven chain in its core Northeast market, we hear. It had been moving thru McLane. One house that picked up brand said margins aren't very strong but as an add-on with solid volumes, brand was worth onboarding for that channel. Query to Blue Triton on Tues hasn't drawn any response so far . . . Wine & spirits house Johnson Brothers has expanded its partnership with Chicago-based mixer brand Zing Zang to add its Bloody Mary and other mixers and its RTDs to Virginia, ND and SD operations, augmenting earlier presence of mixers in W Va and NC and of mixers/RTDs in Johnson Bros' home state of Minn .

Federal Trade Commission has wrapped up proceeding vs The Bountiful Co that accused marketer of Nature's Bounty and other supplement brands of "hijacking" consumer reviews to falsely imply that some of its products were best sellers or had earned Amazon Choice badge. Recall that enforcement action had opened up new front in agency's efforts to rein in false advertising (BBI, Feb 16). Since then, FTC has hosted a public comment period and now it's unanimously approved final consent order that requires "that Bountiful pay $600,000 as monetary relief for consumers" while also prohibiting co from making similar types of misrepresentations and barring it from using "deceptive review tactics that distort what consumers think about its products or services."

With deregulation stalled at the federal level, Tilray chmn/ceo Irwin Simon has been clear about the current strategic plan for cannabis giant: to build out profitable alcohol and wellness platforms so that, "when federal cannabis legalization does occur, we will leverage these US businesses and their distribution and marketing networks to capture new expansive opportunities across the US and through the creation of a broad set of cannabis-infused CPG brands."

Drink Monday, which has been knocking off one spirits category after another with NA alternatives, has embarked on crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine that cites $9 mil in total sales since brand's launch on ecomm-only in Mar 2020, just as pandemic roared in. Recall we'd profiled them back then, when they started with Monday Gin entry (BBI, Aug 14 2020). Early this year the marketer of NA gin, whiskey and mezcal (and counting) brought in Anchor Brewing and Campari vet Ken Young as ceo as it laid groundwork for raise, with cofounder Chris Boyd serving as chmn and his cofounder Marcelo Kertesz also retaining board seat (BBI, Jan 4). Carlsbad, Calif-based co is seeking to raise $1.5 mil in preferred equity at pre-money valuation of $23 mil. It's going up vs players like Seedlip, Lyre's and Ritual. Tho figure being sought is modest, raise offers window into inner workings of highly visible player in alc-alternatives.

Pabst distribs were "irate" and "distressed" this week in 1985 when Pabst owner Paul Kalmanovitz raised prices 30 cents per case on every brand, reported INSIGHTS. That was on heels of recent 12, 15 and 25-cent price increases, along with word distribs were going to have to kick in more for POS materials too. To break even, many distribs estimated they'd have to hike prices 45-50 cents per case. "Kalmanovitz is destroying the Pabst wholesaler network… there's a way to make money without destroying these people who worked so many years to build the Pabst brand," commented one wholesaler. While all were angry, many were not surprised, and some understood, as a former distrib, Neal Kaye Jr, who had moved on to Dixie Brewing said: "I have the greatest respect for Paul Kalmanovitz. He has demonstrated he can survive in an environment that favors the giants." INSIGHTS estimated that by putting squeeze on distrib tier, that hefty price hike could yield $40 mil for Mr K in its first yr, even with a 15% estimated volume decline, already making back more than half the $63 mil he spent purchasing Pabst.

Tho Major League Baseball doesn't dictate how long beer can be sold in stadiums, a majority of teams have stopped sales after the seventh inning for years. Now that league is using a pitch clock, which has sped up pace of game anywhere from 20-30 mins, several teams will allow beer to be served til after 8th inning to make up for potential lost sales, per CNN, ESPN and other news outlets. "This is reflective of the fact that the games are shorter," Milwaukee Brewers prexy of biz operations Rich Schlesinger told MLB.com. "Obviously, the safety and conduct of our fans has primacy. We've had no issues, but it's a small sample size and we're going to continue to test it and see if it makes sense," he added. So far, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins are also pushing beer sales thru 8th inning.

Just over one in three Americans (34%) said they're "trying to drink less alcohol in 2023," according to a recent NC Solutions survey of 1,082 consumers. Commissioned in Jan, survey asked participants about drinking preferences and habits, with 1/4 of respondents from each of 4 generational cohorts (Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers). While only a qtr of consumers had heard of the "sober curious movement," 36% said they'd already tried nonalc beer, with an additional 22% saying they want to try it. Just 6% tried NA spirits and 12% tried NA wine, with another 32% interested in each.

After filing a federal complaint in IL in Jan claiming Sazerac's malt-based version of Fireball misleads drinkers, the same plaintiff's atty doubled and then tripled down in 2 separate fed suits in NY. One, filed in Feb, targets the malt-based version of Southern Comfort. The 2nd, filed just last wk, again takes Fireball to task with the same basic assertions and lots of the same language, which isn't always carefully edited. In fact, firing back against the initial IL complaint, Sazerac pointed out that it's never sold Fireball FMBs in the state, including at the specific store named by plaintiff. An amended complaint opens a whole other can of worms, alleging sales at an IL gas station near the IN border, likely brought in from out of state, a familiar cross-border no-no.