Control state spirits dipped back into decline in Aug. Volume fell 2.2% with $$ down 1.9% vs yr ago, driven by 4 fewer sell days for the month. The control state seesaw continues after cases slipped 6.3% in Jun and climbed 4.5% in July.

On premise and draft beer got center-stage attention at NBWA convention Monday as industry members addressed key issues since Covid and key oppys ahead. There's been a "tremendous surge" in spending away from home, NBWA chief economist Lester Jones highlighted. Consumer spending on food and beverage away from home "came back with a vengeance" to now make up over half (53-54%) of total spend by Jul 2024, according to different stats from Census of Retail Trade and Bureau of Labor Statistics. "A dollar spent at a bar and restaurant is nothing like" $$ spent at grocery or convenience stores, Lester noted, pointing to "very different volume impacts."

As Gulf Distributing's Rebecca Maisel took the stage to address distribs and industry members for the first time as new NBWA chair of the board yesterday, it marked a new chapter in the next generation of distributor leadership. Indeed, "we should all be particularly proud that one of our former Next Gen chairs...is about to take the helm," said current NBWA Next Gen chair Aaron Caffey of Caffey Distributing. The Next Generation distribs are becoming the "now" generation, Matesich Dist's Jim Matesich noted separately.

Depletions trends improved across the board in July, with combo of Beer Inst and SipSource data showing a clear inflection in 12-mo trends early in the summer. Total beer STRs off about 3% for 12 mos, BI data shows, while total spirits down 2.9% same period in SipSource, Danelle Kosmal of 3 Tier Beverages showed during seminar at NBWA yesterday. And RTDs improve the trend for spirits by over a point, so core spirits still softer than beer, she pointed out. But with total spirits now on par with beer, the gap with core spirits widened heading into August. Wine depletions remain toughest of all, down 7.7% for 12 mos thru July. Of course, super slow August ain't likely to have helped any of these trends.

Saint James Iced Tea, the carton-packed brand created by AriZona cofounder John Ferolito, has entered all Juice Press locations, including its cafes in Equinox gym chain . . . Lemon Perfect has gone chainwide at Pure Green juice chain with its Original Lemon, Peach Raspberry and Dragon Fruit Mango flavors. To generate trial among customers of chain, it's offering free bottle tomorrow with purchase of any acai bowl. As we recently reported, Pure Green is on a drive to nearly triple its store count (BBI, Sep 13) .

The 15-year Monster Bev vet Gui Weaver has dropped the green can in order to bleed yellow now via role as chief sales officer at Lemon Perfect. After spending a decade as a store mgr at Stater Bros, Gui had headed to supplier side with run at Nissin Foods and then varied series of roles at MNST, running club channel, incubating True North brand and in most recent stop, managing Reyes Coca-Cola partner with vp/gm title . . . Malk Organics has recruited branding vet Barrett Brynestad to serve as its senior dir of creative with view to managing "brand, design and storytelling." He's coming nearly 3 years in similar role at Jot, the coffee concentrate line created by Palo Hawken. Malk's already been riding a creative streak, including recent stunt where it put up a billboard in NY's Times Square of sales exec Heather Seiler after she won bet with prexy Ryan Rouse by landing Wegmans as new acct. Riding consumers' vogue for minimalist plantmilks as highlighted by #turnitaround campaign, Malk has been growing fast, from $12 mil in 2021 fiscal year to anticipated $70 mil this year, per LinkedIn profile of one senior exec there . . . Oliver Shuttlesworth, who cofounded agave-based Mayawell prebiotic pop with a traditional Mexican spin 6 years ago, said he's moving on to points yet unknown. "Mayawell is a special brand and I look forward to supporting the team in an advisory role moving forward," he posted on LinkedIn. "That said, I'm officially a free agent for the first time in 12 years" . . . Christopher Ustick, who almost made it to 20 years working at Red Bull house The Beverage Works in NY/NJ before it was terminated last fall, has landed as GM of Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages, the unit that took over Coca-Cola's NY/NJ and Philadelphia territories in that co's refranchising effort a few years ago. After a year working for Red Bull N America introducing that brand to on-premise accts in NY's so-called outer boroughs including Brooklyn, Ustick had joined Beverage Works in 2005 as on-prem sales mgr, then successively rose thru ranks to evp from 2014 until house's termination.

Capital Dist in OKC, a 7+ mil-case Molson Coors operation, has a deal to sell to Glazer's Beer & Bev. Deal announced to employees, pending supplier approval, is expected to close by year end. Recall, Glazer's bought 3.5 mil Premier-Midwest Bev Co in neighboring Omaha, Neb, just last yr. So Glazer's made 2 of 5 MC distrib deals tracked in 2023-24 by our sibling letter, Insights Express and quietly become one of nation's very largest beer distribs. Once Capital deal closes, it will be bigger than Andrews in Dallas or Manhattan in NY, but across multiple states in Midwest and Southwest. Last yr as it announced Premier-Midwest deal Glazer's was 40+ mil cases and over $1 bil in revs. When this deal is done, Glazer's Beer & Bev will be around 50 mil cases. Recall that co also undertook ambitious NA-only expansion in Texas with pickup of pair of longtime players there but had trouble garnering critical mass of substantial brands and ended up unwinding it early this year (BBI, Jan 15).

Austin-based Lucky Beverage, energy play from successfully exited Kate Farms founder Richard Laver, has pulled in another $11.75 mil in oversubscribed Series A round it says was led by Brand Foundry Ventures with participation from Imaginary Ventures, Sapphire Sport and Sugar Capital, per announcement yesterday. It said this brings total funding so far to $26.5 mil. The brand, which notoriously launched as Lucky F*** last year before backlash made it back off, has brought entry reinforced by maca, ginseng and beta-alanine into crowded market but claims to be making headway, entering 8,000 store doors including 7-Eleven by now. It's been augmenting its team with hires like ex-Liquid Death exec Hamid Saify as CMO, C4 vet Aaron Sorelle as chief growth officer and flock of other Liquid Death alums, Tyler Larkin, Rudra Persaud and Matt Rickert. Saify's already been hard at work plying his penchant for in-your-face marketing campaigns (BBI, Jun 27).