An ownership battle is underway for one of India's highest-profile craft beer companies, whose biggest shareholder happens to be Kirin Holdings. Amid increased financial struggles for Bira 91's parent co B9 Beverages, Kirin (which has invested tens of millions and held a 20.1% share as of Jun) and the company's largest lender, Anicut Capital, took control of its wholly-owned subsidiary The Beer Cafe. But the move is being challenged in India's courts by B9 founder Ankur Jain.

Oregon's Sunriver will close its Bend taproom on Saturday as several buildings on its block "will be undergoing extensive demolition and construction over the next year or so and we will be unable to operate successfully during that time," co announced on Facebook, adding that it "will be looking for the right opportunity to return to west Bend in the future." Sunriver reported 13.1K bbls to BA in 2024 and will continue to operate several taprooms in Central OR, including a recently opened venue in Redmond that's co's first foray into a "counter-plus" model to cut down on labor costs and align with consumer expectations (see Jul 7 issue).

Louisville's Atrium Brewing has changed owners - but the co didn't have to look very far, reports the Courier-Jnl. The co's brewers, Spencer Guy and Max Myers, took helm of the business from Princeton Hurst and Mark Rubenstein after the latter pair announced that they'd be stepping away from the biz. "We're thrilled to take the reins at Atrium," which produced an estimated 141 bbls in 2024 per BA, Mark said, while Max teased some changes. "You see a lot of our passion and energy reflected in the liquid over the last five years," he said. "The stuff that's really fun and goofy and silly, I think that you can expect to see more of that from us."

The recently expanded New England Beverage Co (NEBCO) will release its first-ever 12k of cans, per press release. The Branford, CT-based biz is packing its Sea Hag and Fuzzy Baby Ducks IPAs in 12pks in stores and the brewery in mid-Nov, with NEBCO Lager to follow next yr. Sea Hag and NEBCO Lager's MSRPs will be $18.99, while Fuzzy Baby Ducks will go for $19.99. The expanded offering was made possible by co's $6.1 mil acquisition of the former Stony Creek Brewery on CT's waterside, where it plans to bump production from 20.7 K bbls in 2024 to more than 30K/yr (see Aug 19 issue). "Our customers have been requesting these 12 pack cans for some time now, and we are grateful for our committed and enthusiastic fans and are excited for future launches and debuts coming out of our new space," said NEBCO owner Rob Leonard.

From one private equity ownership group to another. So it goes for HopCat craft beer bar and restaurant chain, which was sold to Chicago-based PE firm Uncommon Equity for an undisclosed price, per MLive and other outlets. The sale comes just ~5 yrs after HopCat filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Jun 2020 and was bought a few mos later by Congruent Investment Partners and Main Street Capital for $17.5 mil, jointly doing biz as Project BarFly.

After aggressively expanding its retail presence in NYC over the last couple yrs, bringing total to 5 locations by late 2024, TALEA's "plan was to spend 2025 not opening anything new, optimize our operation" on the production and taproom side. But that came "at the same time" as "the slowdown in the industry, which we definitely felt," co-founder LeAnn Darland acknowledged in chat with CBN. Much like the rest of the industry, "the first half just killed us," she exclaimed. That said, TALEA's still on track to grow volume and sales this yr, especially after stronger growth in Q3 distribution, primarily in NYC thru Union Dist, expecting 7,500 bbls and a little north of $10 mil in revs for the year. Yet co's taking a step back on profitability, looking to break even this yr after growing profits in 2024. So TALEA's "still trying to navigate the changes that we're seeing with consumer sentiment" and making a couple key strategic adjustments in the process, LeAnn detailed.

Prenetics, which plays in both bitcoin and supplements, said it pulled in $48 mil in new equity with proceeds to be used in part to fuel global expansion of IM8 platform launched with soccer icon David Beckham. Working with Dominari Securities, Hong Kong-based co drew the money from crypto outfits like Kraken, American Ventures and Exodus, along with tennis star Aryna Sabalenka, a previous investor and endorser, and Roman Khan, who operates ecomm player Peak 21.

Energy drinks and coconut waters were only segments that managed to grow volume, but each bev segment sold at higher avg price in 4 wks ended Oct 18 per NielsenIQ data reported by Goldman Sachs.

George Clooney and Rande Gerber, boldface-name motorcycling buddies who parlayed their Casamigos tequila brand into $1 bil exit to Diageo in 2017, now are headed into non-alc beer segment, NY Post's Page Six gossip column reported. No brand name was mentioned, but they're gunning to get it out into market by Mar. Their partner in venture, as in Casamigos, is real estate developer Mike Meldman, who's also been building out Recover 180 sports drink in partnership with bev entrepreneur Lance Collins, as we just updated (BBI, Oct 24). Page Six cited marketing or investment materials that tease, "Rande, George and Mike didn't disappear into retirement — they leaned into the life they've always lived. Between bike trips and late-night laughs, they have been quietly crafting something new: a non-alcoholic beer made for real friends, by real friends and the freedom to wake up ready for whatever comes next." It would be entering increasingly crowded sector that's starting to recruit its first celebs, most notably Tom Holland via his Bero launch. Clooney hasn't disguised that he's had trouble sticking to abstention resolutions, admitting to one outlet that he got "blasted" on Tony night when he failed to bring home an award.