Keurig Dr Pepper has taken a $50 million minority equity stake in Athletic Brewing, the US-based non-alcoholic craft beer brand that has propelled interest in the growing segment. The companies will announce the investment this morning. KDP’s stake is on par with other lead investors in the brand, including TRB Advisors and Alliance Consumer Growth. “We’re thrilled to welcome Keurig Dr Pepper as an investor and strategic partner,” Athletic Co-founder and CEO Bill Shufelt told BD in an email. “...

As you know well as a BD subscriber, we are paying far more attention to the alcohol beverage market. In today’s issue, we write about the friction caused by non-alcohol beverage companies as they find ways to patriciate in ready-to-drink alcohol.

Given that backdrop, we are excited to announce the addition of Anheuser-Busch InBev to our Future Smarts conference program. Our guest will be Fabricio Zonzini, president of ABI’s Beyond Beer business unit in North America. He runs the fastest growing business unit within ABI’s largest geographic zone.

During a fireside chat with me, Zonzini will provide commentary on industry trends in RTD cocktails, seltzers, and low-alcohol packaged beverages, which have been a focus of growth for the world’s largest beer brewer. ABI also plays in traditional non-alcoholic RTD categories including energy

A collection of recent developments from around the industry to keep you up to speed...

I’m a skeptic when it comes to non-alcoholic craft beers, spirits, and wines. How big can this market get without the functional benefits of alcohol, especially when sold at about the same price?

I recently posed the question to Athletic Brewing Co-founder and CEO Bill Shufelt during a panel I moderated for Credit Suisse in New York. His non-alcoholic beer brand has raised more than $70 million since launching in 2018 and accounts for almost half of the still-small US non-alcoholic beer market. Shufelt told me that most of his consumers don’t shun alcohol. Sometimes they just need a break and they like beer. He sees lots

One of the big themes BD will mine this year is the new aggressive approach by non-alcoholic beverage powerhouses to find revenue growth in the alcohol beverage market. What appeared last year to be an experiment is quickly looking like strategy.

Of particular interest now are the divergent paths taken by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Monster Beverage, spurred by the fragmented nature of the US alcohol distribution system.

Coke has quickly expanded its Topo Chico licensing test started a year ago with Molson Coors. That deal now includes Simply, a household name in the chilled juice segment. And Coke has partnered with a second brewer and spirits company, Constellation Brands, to create a canned cocktail headlined by Fresca. In both cases, distribution will be handled by the brewers’ networks.

PepsiCo’s go-to-market strategy couldn’t be more different than Coke’s. The company has opted to build its own alcohol distribution and merchandising network around a flavored malt beverage called Hard Mtn Dew. (Be sure to check out our Blue Cloud map published last month and available only to subscribers.) Boston Beer will develop and produce the drink under license from PepsiCo.

Monster Beverage has chosen yet another path....

Coca-Cola’s Venturing & Emerging Brands unit is experimenting with a new non-alcoholic adult sparkling beverage called Bar None. VEB created the ready-to-drink product for people who don’t wish to indulge during “occasions when alcohol is usually served,” a spokeswoman said. Bar None is essentially a line of bottled premium “mocktails” that mimic popular cocktails, providing temporary or permanent abstainers with a more interesting alternative than club soda or non-alcoholic beer. A website