Weekly Beverage Alcohol Recap | April 10, 2026

**Major M&A & Corporate Moves**

- Sazerac formally approaches Brown-Forman, competing with Pernod Ricard's existing merger-of-equals discussions; BF shares surge ~14%

- E&J Gallo acquires Four Roses Bourbon from Kirin for up to $775M — pivoting away from declining wine

- Molson Coors' Monaco Cocktails acquisition scrutinized as potentially too small to compete with AB InBev's RTD portfolio

- Southern Glazer's acquires Eagle Rock Distributing's Colorado operations; 514 jobs lost across six facilities

- No Sleep Beverage launches with three-brand roll-up: Whiskey Del Bac, Nine Banded Whiskey, Ume Plum Liqueur

- Scarlet Letter Beverage acquires Black Apple Cider brand assets

- Mitchell Wine Group completes ownership succession in Oregon

- Sazerac acquires Dirty Shirley RTD, names AJ Bond Distillery in Tennessee

**Earnings & Financial Performance**

- Constellation Brands beats Q4 estimates (adj. EPS $1.90 vs. $1.72 est.) but withdraws FY2028 guidance; wine & spirits revenue down 58%

- Casella Wines (Yellow Tail) posts first annual loss in 13 years at -$5.5M

- Treasury Wine Estates carries 60%+ share price decline and $649.4M interim net loss

- Penn Brewery files Chapter 11; continues operations

**Market Data & Consumer Trends**

- Q1 off-premise: total bev-alc dollars -1.5% YTD, volume -2.3%; RTDs the only growth category (+6.1% dollars YTD)

- Spirits steepest four-week decline at -5.7% dollars; wine volume worst at -5.6%

- 31% of restaurant operators report "severe" alcohol sales declines; 75% of consumers cite price as primary reason

- US adult drinking rate falls to 54% in 2025 — lowest in ~90 years of Gallup tracking

- Fine dining wine locations down 66%+ since 2017

- $40B e-commerce "discovery-to-purchase gap" identified by DRINKS platform

- Distributors prioritizing spirits (54%) and RTDs (46%) for portfolio additions; 62% cutting beer SKUs, 54% specifically cutting craft

**Category Spotlights**

- Craft beer reverses to negative in March after two months of gains; -0.3% YTD dollars

- Domestic beer reclaims 51% on-premise volume share; craft loses share in all four US regions

- Non-alcoholic beer: +9.5% dollars off-premise, +15.1% in Circana 12-week window

- Athletic Brewing: +20.7% dollars, +25.9% volume in four-week period

- Kentucky bourbon inventories at record 16.1M barrels; MGP idles two distilleries

- PepsiCo's Blue Cloud launches alcoholic Bubly, expands Hard Lipton Zero Sugar

**Regulatory & Legal**

- FTC v. Southern Glazer's tests Robinson-Patman Act enforcement standards

- DTC beer shipping supported by 63% of legal-age adults; legal in only 11 states + D.C.

- Mississippi ABC warehouse backlog at 170,000 cases; emergency legislation fails

- New York wine-in-grocery bills introduced; neither passed

- Tennessee mandates drug-testing strips at all bars; drink spiking now a Class D felony

- Revised metal tariffs restructured to full import value basis; 50% on primary metal goods

- SEC sues Drake's Organic Spirits founder for $2.6M in alleged sham sales

- San Antonio Winery files trademark suit over "Rosa 32" brand

- Molson Coors faces product liability suit over Miller Lite bottle defect

- Limestone Farms Distillery faces foreclosure; co-owner indicted

- Bang Energy founder blocked from selling Florida Keys property in ongoing fraud case