Happy Hour: What next for Brewdog?
THC drinks, fizzy red wine and sake are on the up. Meanwhile the future of the ‘original’ indie craft beer brand looks rocky.
Welcome to Happy Hour, where we review the bev/alc news and views of the last 30 days. (Before we get into that, have you downloaded our 2026 report? It’s 100+ pages, and it features insights from 13 truly exceptional bev/alc brand builders).
Brewdog seeks a buyer, fizzy red, nostalgia reigns
The big news this month? Brewdog is up for sale. Ten or so years back, they were the beer business, but in recent times there’s been a palpable sense that the brand just isn’t landing anymore. It’s a reminder that even the highest flyers aren’t a sure thing.
The story is moving fast (the latest is that Danish brewer Royal Unibrew is interested in acquiring them, among various others), and there’s a lot of opinions on where things went wrong.
Brewdog themselves say it’s down to a “challenging economic climate”, which may be true, but it’s hard to forget about the various controversies they’ve faced over the years (alleged treatment of staff, the solid gold can scandal, the ‘beer for girls’, the departure of its founder and other senior figures, the Equity for Punks scheme).
Our take: it’s not over for them yet, but they’re going to need a smart buyer and probably a smart brand team to think about what the business actually stands for and how it communicates that to people – as well as how it moves beyond lingering bad feeling. Craft beer brands are now a dime a dozen, and finding distinctiveness of any kind is HARD.
In other news, is sparkling red about to have a moment? At the start of this month we chatted with Pizza Wine founder Liz McDonnell (NEWBIES feature coming soon), who’s building a brand that puts fizzy red into the spotlight (it goes great with pizza). We’ve spoken before about brands not knowing what ritual they’re for, but Pizza Wine knows exactly and specifically, and we love that.
Not long after this we saw that model Ashley Graham had set up a sparkling red wine brand, and then spotted Black Girl Magic Wines were also launching a sweet red frizzante.
If you’re not sipping on a sparkling red, you’re longing for the past. Shirley Temple is the recipe of the moment. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are bringing back classic flavors. Carling is reviving Black Label. Nostalgia’s powerful, and never more so than when it comes to food and drink.
Here’s your news scroll:
NEW TO THE WORLD
Sentia – which makes “GABA-enhancing spirits” that stimulate neurotransmitters to make you feel relaxed and sociable – has launched a new alcohol-free cider.
Our take: This ‘not alcohol’ and ‘not THC’ category has huge potential, but the fact that it’s currently being dubbed ‘functional drinks’ is very unsexy. Sentia could be onto something, but their branding and messaging needs a lot of work.
Coinciding with the Winter Olympics, Peroni released limited edition, $100 gold bottles with solid gold caps.
Did you know the founders of this very Substack also have their own rum brand, Esther? Here she is, new to the world and ready to take over the white space that is the rum sector.
CH-CH-CH-CHANGES
Spindrift announced that they are now totally non-UPF.
Our take: think about the ongoing tequila additive wars. We’re going to see more brands flexing around being all-natural/UPF-free/additive-free, sugar-free, and using that as a tool to lure people in.
Is ‘whiskey tourism’ faltering? Off the back of Diageo closing a visitor centre at a Scottish distillery, the BBC reports on the waning fortunes of distillery tours. If you ask us, brands need to do more to show up where people are (rather than waiting for them to turn up).
There’s nothing like an animated graph for visualizing changes in drinking habits. Here’s Matt Rice, founder of Thirsty Insights, pointing out the slow-slow-slow-then-suddenly-fast expansion of wine RTDs.
INVESTORS’ CORNER
Willie’s Remedy+ continues to soar, landing $15m in Series A funding to keep growing the brand. Yahoo reports that it’s sold over 400k bottles since its launch less than a year ago, and it’s coming soon to retail shelves. People love THC.
Gallo just bought Four Roses from Kirin, not long after acquiring Whiny Baby. They’re diversifying. Watch this space.
INTERESTING FLAVORS
In previous Happy Hours, we noticed brands branching out into interesting flavors (Absolut Tabasco being the latest example). Now Heineken has added Lime and Nectarine Juniper to its zero beer range.
Our take: smart. There’s a huge number of alc-free beers, and it makes sense to differentiate yourself by injecting some novelty into the space.
Hendrick’s also just ventured into new flavors with orange blossom and cacao gin.
Apparently flavor is a major part of Surfside’s strategy, with its founders telling Forbes it aims for “familiar and popular” tastes that might seem fairly middle-of-the-road, but keep people coming back to them.
HIGH LOW NO
We’ve said it before: there’s always a contrarian. While everyone loses their minds for low-ABV and alcohol-free, some spirits brands are embracing high strength instead.
And then there’s the middle: the new Jack Daniels & Coke RTD is in a bigger can, but at a lower strength to make it “more sessionable”.
People love alcohol-free wine, people hate alcohol-free wine. Yahoo shares insight into the difficulties this particular sector faces – not least some of the condescension from the trad alc/bev industry.
Our take: the truth is, much de-alcoholized wine is mostly not very good, and that’s a liquid problem that branding can’t fix. As Benchmark Drinks’ MD says: “we’ve disappointed the consumer for many years”. Getting past that legacy is going to be tough.
CHANGING CULTURE
Sake is set for major global growth, says Beverage Daily. We’re currently working on a feature about sake’s expansion in Europe and the USA. Running a sake brand? Have opinions? Tell us. We want to talk to you.
SPONSORSHIP TIME
Cuervo is now the official tequila of NASCAR. NASCAR says its fans are 381.1% more likely to have consumed the brand in the past month, and 40.5% more likely to drink it. Definitely some numbers there.
A GLASS OF SPARKLING RED?
Model Ashley Graham is behind new sparkling red wine brand: Lucci Lambrusco.
THE FUN BIT
Reuters had a story about wine being aged under the sea by Chilean winemakers. According to one sommelier: “the tannins feel smoother, softer, the body feels more elegant”.
AdWeek has an interesting perspective on how brands won drinkers over to light beer. In short: no-one cared until the marketers got involved.
Why do some bartenders insist on importing ice from Japan? A short, but fascinating, answer here. The TLDR: it’s all about the craft and the experience.
Our take: there’s something compelling about the ‘accessories’ that come with drinking (for example Hoste Cocktail’s atomizers) and the potential for these to live as brands of their very own.
“Drinks founders don’t seem to wait around asking if they’re allowed to exist.” The ‘delusion’ of drinks founders is admirable and very necessary, says this Substack from Beholder.
The You, Me & CPG podcast says drinks brands need to loosen up. Have some fun. Be less serious.
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Really sharp breakdown of the Brewdog situation. The deeper issue isn't just the controversies; it's that "anti-establshment craft beer" has become its own establishment, and Brewdog lost the counter-cultural edge that made the brand compelling in the first place. I worked in brand strategy for a few years and watched similar brands struggle once the mainstream caught up. Finding genuinely new distinctions in a now-crowded craft category is harder than most acquirers probaly anticipate.