Wherehouse Beverage, which makes Wynk and Countdown THC lines, has snared a pair of former Canopy Growth execs for key roles. Aboard as chief commercial officer is Sol Clahane, a former Pernod-Ricard exec who'd gone on to oversee all of Canopy's commercial ops in US and served on board of its Storz & Bickel brand. And recruited as gm for THC bevs is Phil McFarland, a former Half Acre Beer gm who'd served as vpof strategic business transition at Canopy. Wherehouse was launched this year and is run by ceo Malini Patel, a former Miller Coors and Beam Suntory exec .

WaNu, the fiber-rich nutritional line launched by former dentist with experience in developing world, has hit pause. "We are very sorry for the inconvenience, but we are currently out of stock and are in the middle of upgrading our manufacturing to keep up with product demand," homepage of website informs visitors.For shoppers who provide their email address, "as soon as we have product back in stock, we will send you a promo code for 15% off your next purchase," it promises. Recall that line was launched by Todd O'Gara and over past decade has sought to carve out positioning as truly efficacious functional line. Reached this morning, Todd assured us brand will be back.

NA beer represents not just an opportunity but a "category reimagined," assesses Consumer Edge Research's Brett Cooper in report earlier this week. Segment is being driven by "elevation in image," with premium-priced NAs up 50%+ in recent periods and accounting for all the growth. That's "reflective of new consumers coming into the category as opposed to trade-up within the category," he wrote. And we're talkin' beer here. "Non-alcoholic beer accounts for 90%+ of the alcohol alternatives market with non-alcoholic beer growing 25 points more than the beer category and about 20 points better than the total non-alcoholic beverage category." Another bright spot: hop waters, Brett noted.

After devising range of non-alc extensions of other beer and spirits brands, Diageo is ready to venture into forbidding realm of dark spirits with Captain Morgan Spiced Gold 0.0%, the product of 2 years of experimentation with 400+ recipes. Recipe takes layering approach to capture "caramel, molasses, vanilla and warm brown spices" associated with core alcoholic version of drink. Drunk neat, a 50-ml serving contains just 1 calorie. New brand is launching next month in UK, followed by Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia later this year and additional European markets in 2024. (No initial word on when it hits N Amer.) In UK it will go out with SRP of £15. It's already received commitments from major retailers like Waitrose, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco. It enters broader Diageo portfolio already brimming with Guinness 0.0%, Tanqueray 0.0% and Gordons 0.0%, tho beer and gin have been considered less of a formulation challenge than darker spirits like dark rum and whisky.

Riding high off successful sale of Aviation Gin to Diageo for $610 mil, actor Ryan Reynolds is gonna take a stab at the beer biz. Ryan's new beer brand, Wrexham Beer, is named after the Welsh soccer club he co-owns with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia writer/actor Rob McElhenney, which recently got promoted to English Football League after a 15-yr absence, article from The Blast points out. Brews will be inspired by soccer with "Wrexham-oriented names trademarked both in the UK and the US," The Blast added.

After striking for the past month and change, "a few dozen" Leinenkugel's union workers reached an agreement with Molson Coors that ends the strike, reported The Chippewa Herald. New agreement is a 3-yr deal that includes the workers getting back to the brewery next week, chief comms officer Adam Collins told paper. And "we're going to go back with more than we struck for," union secretary-treasurer Tom Strickland said, noting that union membership already voted on and passed the new agreement. Workers were initially striking for "substandard" contracts, reportedly. MC's "proud to have reached an agreement that is fair to our valued team members and ensures that jobs in our Leinenkugel's brewery remain competitive in the market so we can make world class beer for our customers, our distributor network and our community," Adam stated.

Gallo continues to add to flurry of M&A and brand partnership activity this summer. In just the last two days, Gallo announced it'll bring boxer Canelo Alvarez's VMC tequila-based canned cocktail brand to US and it acquired Rombauer Vineyards winery. That's after Gallo announced acquisitions of Fishers Island Lemonade RTDs, Bev canned wines and Hahn Family Wines between May 1 and Jun 20, 2023.

Certainly ain't all wine and roses for spirits cos these days either. While total Brown-Forman net sales up 3% to $1 bil in its fiscal first qtr thru July 31, its operating income down 4% (revs up 2% organic and oper inc down 6%). And in crucial US mkt, B-F sales fell 8% (-9% organic), "driven by lower volumes reflecting an estimated net decrease in distributor inventories, partially offset by higher prices across the portfolio." What about RTDs? Growth driven by New Mix, up 52%, but "reported net sales of Jack Daniel's RTD/RTP portfolio was flat…due to lower volume of Jack Daniel's & Cola as we launched the Jack Daniel's & Coca-Cola RTD."