What's attracting the attention of BeverageDaily readers? Here's a round-up of our most-read articles from June.
The ‘sober curious’ lifestyle is inching into the mainstream as, according to new Mintel research, nearly four in 10 US consumers closely (22%) or occasionally (16%) follow a sober curious lifestyle.
The market intelligence agency sees consumers turning to alcohol alternatives for their health and to save money.
But that doesn’t mean they’re turning their backs on alcohol entirely, with the majority of sober curious consumers focused on limiting their alcohol consumption but not eliminating it.
Coca-Cola HBC AG has reached an agreement to acquire the Finlandia vodka brand from Brown-Forman for $220m.
Finlandia was established in 1970 and is a leading vodka brand in Central and Eastern Europe with annual volumes of 2.7 million 9L cases globally, of which more than 60% is being generated within Coca-Cola HBC's geographic footprint.
The brand has already been distributed by Coca-Cola HBC for more than 17 years and the company says the acquisition will now allow it to grow the brand further.
All of AB InBev’s beer products - totaling some 500 items - now include alcohol guidance labels: including markets where there is no legal mandate to do so. That makes it the largest voluntary guidance initiative every undertaken by a beer, wine or spirits company, says the beer giant.
Many consumers are used to seeing smart drinking messages on bottles, because they are legally required or strongly encouraged under industry initiatives. But that’s not always the case – AB InBev’s commitment covers 26 markets where there is no legal mandate for label warnings, which in fact represents 50% of its global market.
The company’s chief legal & corporate affairs officer tells us how the company reached its goal, and its other smart drinking initiatives.
Non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits are growing in popularity in the US, reports Drizly: drawing on both consumer surveys and its own data. ‘Consumers are more than just sober curious, they’re going all in on the non-alcoholic category,” says the US alcohol-ecommerce platform.
The platform now carries 80% more non-alcoholic brands than last year: seeing both retailers and consumers becoming increasingly interested in the category.
What’s trending in the US spirits scene this summer? Sean Eckhardt, Senior Vice President of US Sales at Bacardi, tells us how the company is tracking continued growth in tequila, RTDs and rum.
