Seattle-based Reuben's Brews is making its first foray beyond the Ballard District and into the city's Fremont nabe. Newest taproom will open in former Vif wine/coffee location, and co will begin work to update the space "immediately" with opening date to be announced in coming wks, co announced. It'll feature over a dozen taps with cafe-style indoor seating, an outdoor patio area and a to-go store. Recall, Reuben's Brews recently put its original brewery up for sale after outgrowing the space (see May 5 issue).

A group of 33 brewery, pkging, quality assurance and warehouse workers at Elysian's Georgetown production facility in Seattle voted "overwhelmingly" to join Teamsters Local 117, org announced Wed. It's latest in a string of AB-owned craft employees seeking to unionize, citing desire for equitable wages, job security and favorable working conditions.

Craft dollar sales fell back to flattish (+0.2%) with volume down 3.8% in latest 4-wk Circana MULC scans ended Aug 13. That's 1-pt deceleration across both metrics vs previous 4-wk period thru July 16. But as total beer improved to $$ up 3.4%, vol -1.5%, craft segment dipped below 10 share of $$ and 7 share of volume in latest dataset. Craft dollars dropped -0.3 share to 9.8; volume -0.2 share to 6.95.

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After trying to untangle its operations in Russia over past 18 mos, Heineken sold its operations in country for symbolic sum on 1 euro, or $1.10 to Arnest Group, co announced. "Recent developments demonstrate the significant challenges faced by large manufacturing companies in exiting Russia," said ceo Dolf van den Brink. Arnest, a large household goods and cosmetics maker in Russia paid Ball Corp $530 mil for its biz in country. As part of deal, Arnest will pay $108 mil to repay debt of Russian biz back to the parent company. Even with that, Heineken is still getting hit with a one-time charge of ~$324 mil to cut ties with Russia, tho co said that won't affect its guidance for yr. Arnest gets 7 breweries in deal and has committed to keeping staff of 1,800 on for next 3 yrs. "While it took much longer than we had hoped, this transaction secures the livelihoods of our employees and allows us to exit the country in a responsible manner," added Dolf.

Could this signal a shift in the winds of US alcohol policy? Director of National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Dr George Koob, told Daily Mail he's keeping an eye on Canada's "big experiment" to determine if recommended alcohol consumption guidelines should be lowered in US when USDA review concludes in 2025. Canada's revised alc guidelines recommend people consume no more than 2 drinks per week, well below US rec's of 2 a day for men, 1 a day for women. "If there's health benefits, I think people will start to re-evaluate where we're at" in US, said Dr Koob. Asked in what direction the guidelines could change, he responded: "I mean they're not going to go up, I'm pretty sure." If they go in any direction, "it would be toward Canada."

A bit over 2 months after 9th Circuit Ct of Appeals ruled in Constellation's favor and opened door for it to terminate Olympic Eagle without cause, Olympic officially filed petition for rehearing. The 3-judge panel's decision to vacate preliminary injunction made 2 key errors, in Olympic's view.

NBWA's Beer Purchasers' Index took a step backwards in August, as benchmark fell to 45 following 3 straight months in expansion territory. (Recall, below 50 signals contraction, while above 50 indicates expansion.) Not only that, but at-risk inventory jumped 8 points to 52. Both of these points in August index support many recent reports that the industry remains soft. And Sep sets up to be another potentially challenging mo, with little in way of pricing this fall.