European canning player Bevcraft has planted its flag in US with acquisition of Kenilworth, NJ-based Tripod Canning, which serves East Coast bev/beer makers from Conn south to Maryland. This is 3d M&A deal completed by Bevcraft in past 18 months, as announcement noted, following last year's pickups of Them That Can's UK mobile canning biz and merger with Norway's Heidrun Tapperi, which left it with bases in Ireland, Norway, UK and Netherlands. All told, Bevcraft employs about 40 people across 8 European locations serving 500+ craft bev clients in 20+ countries, per website. It handles about 100 mil cans annually. Tripod, like Bevcraft, also performs can decorating services. Terms weren't disclosed, tho deal was facilitated by Enterprise Ireland and Choose New Jersey orgs. Integration will be led by Tripod's Henry Reilly and Conor Bowden, the latter elevated to Bevcraft's US commercial dir. Based in Mullingar, Ireland, Bevcraft Group was founded in 2016 by Ciarán Gorman and Darren Fenton and styles itself Europe's leading craft can specialist. Tripod was founded by Jay Kurz in 2016.

"Portfolio optimization" may be a buzzword these days, but not every innovation brand is following that playbook. Case in point: 7-year-old Brain Juice, which is planning an explosion of sku's from 6 to 20 this year, with 10 more to follow next year, BrainJuice LLC founder Lisa Ellis told us at busy Fancy Food Show booth. At show, Austin-based co was unveiling some new sku's and teasing others for planned launch at Expo East this fall. On RTD side, the latter included aluminum-bottle line of teas and coffees that layer co's brain blend, including proprietary choline complex, atop either coffee or tea base in flavors House Brew, Mocha Latte, Vanilla Latte, Chai Latte and Lavender Tea, with a Peppermint Mocha planned for holiday season. The creamed entries all use oatmilk option. Packed in 8-oz resealable aluminum bottles, they'll likely go out at $5.99, Lisa told us. They were on display in mini-cooler but samples are all out at receptive-seeming array of retailers. Brand moves via broadliners UNFI and KeHe. Outside RTD realm, co was sampling 3 new immunity 2.5-oz shots, 1 of them aimed at kids, as well as range of its powdered drink mixes. By now brain-boosting lineup is available at retailers like Whole Foods, Sprouts, CVS, HEB, Fresh Thyme, King Soopers and Fred Meyer.

So headlined Biz Week editorial a few weeks back, accompanying cover article on “why most big deals don’t pay off.”  Analyzed 302 deals over $500 mil across many industries from 96 to 01 and found that 61% “destroyed shareholder wealth.”  The reasons: companies “wildly overpaid,” “failed to integrate operations and systems quickly” and “overestimated the gains of the cost-cutting and synergies the mergers would bring.”  Is this a cautionary tale for brewers and distribs?

Lots happening at Yuengling (see yesterday's issue) these days. Now brewer has agreed to a sponsorship deal with MLS team Austin FC, co announced today. As official partner of Austin FC, Yuengling's first-ever MLS sponsorship, fans at its state-of-art stadium "will find a Yuengling branded grab-and-go market concession," where they can make quick purchases of Yuengling Lager and Flight.

Constellation appointed Initiative as its new agency of record (AOR) for its US media planning, buying and analytics, effective this Oct. Tho separate from co's creative/PR agencies, Initiative is an IPG Mediabrands company selected to "help amplify and execute" STZ's media efforts thru "data-fueled" solutions, per announcement. Initiative will replace Horizon Media, Constellation's media AOR for over a decade. But Horizon will continue to support the co until official transition this fall.

After temporarily pausing keg shipments last wk out of an "abundance of caution," Constellation released some of its kegs for distribution by the weekend. "Some additional kegs have been identified for destruction," co wrote in communication to distribs on Fri, highlighting specific code dates. But "we are pleased to say our analysis found no evidence of quality issues on a number of kegs" that were cleared for distribution to retail.

After a hot and heavy few months and amidst the ongoing sales decline of the industry's biggest brand, both linked to Bud Light's partnership with a transgender influencer, June's Pride Month celebrations have largely come and gone without incident. LGBTQ+ advocacy groups note a sharp uptick in threats of violence, but most coverage of Pride events across the country focused on celebration and the events' roots in protest for, not against, the LGBTQ+ community. And despite the potential for further backlash, many of those events ran on large corporate sponsorships, including from major beer brands and distribs, chief among 'em Bud Light.

At least, AB is trying some different moves. Without a lot of fanfare, Bud Light reintroduced the Bud Light Knight on Twitter today, according to Ad Age. "Since inception the Bud Light Knight has shown up to remind fans that the best moments are much better when celebrated with a Bud Light," said Bud Light veep Todd Allen in a statement. "The reintroduction intermingles advertising from Bud Light's past and present," said Ad Age. But as with new ad that debuted last week, naysayers quickly chimed in. "Bud Knight's first post was met with derision from Bud Light's detractors, who seem determined to abandon the brand and not just boycott it," article noted.

Interesting twist in sale of Sheehan Family Cos' Legends Ltd in MD and DC. AB network was buyer, as INSIGHTS wrote, but Chesapeake Bev went beyond its 9-county AB footprint and ultimately bought close to half of 1.1-1.2-mil-case deal. It will sell Legends portfolio in DC (where Narragansett is surprisingly lead brand) and Montgomery County.