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Two brewers are adding 3rd locations within their respective home states. AB-owned Devils Backbone will soon open its 3rd spot in VA, coming to Charlottesville this May in space previously operated by Skipping Rock Beer Co. New "Backyard" brewpub joins co's original "Basecamp" in Nelson County and its "Outpost" in Lexington, VA. It'll offer several "Smash" RTD cocktails and a selection of DBB beers, with full-time brewer on site and seating for ~100 guests within walking distance from the University of Virginia, per The Daily Progress.

Molson Coors-owned Leinenkugel's is off to a strong start in 2023, co touted in its Beer & Beyond blog this morn. Recall, Leinie opted to extend flagship Summer Shandy from Jan-Sep this yr. And after total Leinie grew revenue "high single digits" in Q4 2022, "Summer Shandy got off to a quick start" in Jan and "continued to perform," according to the post, boosted by brand's 12pk cans. Sales rose 5% YTD thru Fed 26 in IRI/Circana.

VT's Lawson's Finest Liquids is coming into 2023 "really poised for some renewed growth," fueled by the launch of its new Hazy Rays IPA across its footprint among several other key initiatives, founder Sean Lawson shared with CBN. Recall, Lawson's hinted at the release of this new year-round beer along with the rollout of Sip of Sunshine 19.2oz cans, and 3 new specialty beers set for limited release coming later in 2023 (see Jan 13 issue).

Contract packer/decorate Eastgate Group of Lebanon, Ohio, said it's expanded its bev can sleeving line so it can now produce full heights of pallets, not just half heights. "When we entered the can sleeving market in 2019, most of our customers actually preferred half-height pallets, but as our customers have continued to grow in size and scale, the need for a full-height option became clear," said vp Grady Ludeke, noting that full-height pallets allow customers to produce more efficiently by reducing the number of pallets they need to load into their filling line. The new line at SW Ohio packer will be able to handle wide range of can sizes and shapes, including standard, sleek and slim, while offering options like matte, gloss, metallics and tactile varnish, and shrink sleeves.

Big alc bev distributor Martignetti Cos has "definitive agreement to acquire" Quality Bev Co, the cos announced in press release this morn, after notifying employees and suppliers. As our sibling letter Insights Express noted earlier today, this is a stunning development. Quality is New England's largest Anheuser-Busch house, a bit over 8 mil cases, tho down from closer to 10 mil cases a few yrs back. Other key suppliers include Constellation, Yuengling, New Belgium, Sierra Nevada and Tilray/SweetWater, along with local crafts Harpoon and Wormtown, beyond-beer brands Loverboy and Beatbox, and NAs like Liquid Death and Hop WTR, per its website. It previously acquired at least 2 other A-B distribs in Mass, most recently Williams in late 2019. The Wetterau family, which owns Quality Bev, is also big in foodservice thru Golden State Foods.

Pepsi/Starbucks North American Partnership has debuted a flock of RTDs, including much-anticipated addition of its Instagrammable in-store hit the Pink Drink to Refreshers lineup. Pink Drink, along with sibling new arrival Paradise Drink, melds coconutmilk and fruit juice in 14-oz wrapped bottles that bring a shock of color - pink and yellow, respectively, priced at $3.67. Picking up from in-store showstopper that debuted in 2017, Pink Drink deploys strawberry and acai. Paradise Drink riffs off item intro'd to the cafes last summer and deploys pineapple and passionfruit. "Starbucks Pink Drink began as a customer-created beverage in our Starbucks stores and quickly became a fan favorite and permanent beverage on the menu," recalled Chanda Beppu, svp at SBUX and prexy of its global channel development arm, which manages its CPG items in partnership with Pepsi and Nestle. The effort will get a boost later this spring via partnership with fashion designer whom cos aren't ready to ID yet.

Emil Capital Partners has merged its 2 key bev holdings, Goodbelly probiotic drinks and Cheribundi tart cherry drinks, into a single entity helmed by Emil partner Marcel Bens, who'd been serving as Cheribundi ceo since early 2021. Juan Gluth, former WhiteWave Foods exec who'd been running Goodbelly parent NextFoods since 2020, moves to subordinate role as chief commercial officer at surviving corporate entity, NextFoods. Launched in 2011 to invest Tengelmann (A&P) retail fortune, Emil lists among its past and present holdings such familiar names as Bare Snacks, Tcho Chocolate, Chef's Plate, Base Culture and Kidfresh; not listed are such less successful bev holdings as wildflower-infused Balance Water, which has retreated to its Australia base, and Sipp organic sodas, repositioned as canned camu camu line but not seen much in market over past year. Emil also used its retailer instincts to make a foray into café sector under Two Beans banner (signifying coffee and chocolate offerings) but no locations are believed to have survived pandemic.