Quarter Proof Founders Return to Low-Alc With ‘Half-Cocktail’ Strength Demi Vodka
Rohan Radhakrishnan and Fabian Clark’s first attempt at building a mid-proof spirits category didn’t go as planned. Now, they’re trying again.
Spirits Industry News
Verlaine’s Lychee Martini Tests 25 Years Of NYC Bar Cred As It Breaks Into New Markets
Verlaine, the Lower East Side bar synonymous with New York’s lychee martini, is about to see whether two decades of happy hour fame can translate into retail sales.
Gulf Distributing Hires First Spirits Director to Grow Division
One of the Southeast’s largest beer distributors, Gulf Distributing Holdings, is investing in its spirits division, pairing a newly created leadership role with its latest infrastructure investment.
The Death of Traditional ‘Trading Up’: RTDs Lead New Premiumization Wave
Ready-to-drink cocktails (RTD) carry the highest average price per serve of any category, yet are experiencing the most growth – undercutting old assumptions about what ‘trading up’ means to consumers.
Gallup: Total Alcohol Drinkers Unchanged from 2025; Adult Non-Alc Trial Picks Up
Gallup’s highly anticipated report on consumers’ drinking habits was released Thursday, and like most years, the survey results’ underlying trends depend on which angle you’re cutting the data.
RTDs Deliver 38% of Bev-Alc Innovation Dollars from Just 22% of Items
Ready-to-drink (RTD) brands are doing disproportionate work in bev-alc innovation – and the brands investing in innovation are twice as likely to grow their overall business, according to a new NIQ report.
Mission Craft Cocktails Rides The Pickle Wave From Prank To New SKU
Mission Craft Cocktails’ Pickle-Rita, a gag that was supposed to die on April Fools’ Day, is headed to grocery stores in September.
Diageo Cut 1,900+ Jobs in FY26; 90% of Restructuring to Be Completed by September
Diageo CEO Sir Dave Lewis has refused to share publicly the number of jobs the company is cutting as part of its ongoing $1 billion restructuring effort. However, the company’s annual report released Tuesday revealed Diageo cut its workforce by more than 6% in its 2026 fiscal year (ending June 30).
YOSHI Is Betting ‘Matchatinis’ Can Repeat Espresso’s Cocktail Success
YOSHI Matcha Liqueur is moving from a two-state test market to national distribution in under a year, testing its thesis that the popularity of espresso martinis and matcha prove there’s demand for green tea-laced cocktails.
Sazerac Acquires The UK’s Au Vodka, Adds Another RTD to Portfolio
The Fireball owner has signed a binding agreement to acquire Au Vodka, a top-selling UK RTD vodka brand. The deal continues Sazerac's two-year buying spree and marks its largest push yet into the UK market.
Adult Non-Alc In 2026: A $1 Billion Category With a Splitting Playbook
Adult Non-Alc (ANA) beverage sales passed $1.08 billion in U.S. off-premise sales in 2026, with the real number likely higher when counting on-premise and alternative channel sales. But more than halfway through 2026, that growth is slowing as the category matures, splitting into competing brand strategies, and drawing in different buyers from the industry's early assumptions.
High-ABV RTDs Are On The Rise, But They’re More Than Buzz For Your Buck
There were many kinds of party drinks before 2010, but we’d bet none of them came in colorful plastic orb-shaped containers. BuzzBallz, the Sazerac-owned ready-to-drink (RTD) party prop, doesn’t just stand out for its spherical shape, but for what it represents about how people are drinking these days: with entertaining, high-ABV, convenient formats.
Spirits Distribution: Original Southside Hits Major Retailers; SGWS Adds To Its Book
This month's distribution moves are headlined by ready-to-drink (RTD) gin cocktail The Original Southside landing in major retailers, a wave of Southern Glazer's (SGWS) additions spanning vodka, rum, and scotch, and distributors scooping up new territory in the wake of Republic National Distributing Company's (RNDC) collapse.
After Breakthru Walks, KEG 1 Moves on RNDC’s Kentucky Business
KEG 1 River City (K1RC) has signed a letter of intent (LOI) to acquire Republic National Distributing Company's (RNDC) Kentucky assets, the companies announced today. The deal follows news late last week that Breakthru Beverage Group was pulling out of its deals for RNDC’s Kentucky and Indiana operations.
UK Non-Alc Botivo Sells Pleasure, Not Moderation, as Non-Alc Drinks Mature
Founded four years ago, non-alcoholic apéritif UK-based Botivo is up 408% year-over-year in all retail outlets, according to Circana’s tracking of no-and-low spirits value sales over the last 52 weeks ending June 13. The secret? A product and brand strategy built entirely around pleasure rather than moderation.