Mega M&A Madness with Fingers' Dave Infante

In the wake of major shakeups in the middle-tier that will see the largest distributors getting even bigger and major manufacturers adding brands to their portfolios, Fingers newsletter author Dave Infante joins the Brewbound Podcast to recap a wild couple of weeks in the bev-alc industry.   The Brewbound team and Infante cover recent distributor consolidations by the Reyes Beverage Group and Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits and whether this signals a new era of mega distributors. They also discuss the effect these deals could have on small producers, especially brewers who are now competing with a variety of products outside of traditional beer in their wholesalers' books.   The crew also dissect recent brand acquisitions among suppliers, including Firestone Walker's Trumer Pils pick up in the U.S. from Gambrinus and the potential fallout; Constellation Brands' deal for HOPWTR; Molson Coors' addition of Monaco; Pernod Ricard and Brown Forman's flirtation; and Phusion Project's purported interest in selling Four Loko.    The show wraps with a discussion of the upcoming Craft Brewers Conference and why everyone will be vibe-checking attendees later this month.