Non-alcoholic beer brand Big Drop is to call time on licensing the brand to other suppliers, following the collapse of Keystone Brewing Group.
Big Drop founder Rob Fink said the collapse of two licensing partners that had previously handled production, sales and marketing responsibilities for Big Drop meant “it was time to bring it all back in-house”.
“When we first licensed out the brand I had come to the view that it was increasingly difficult to scale beverage brands without significant resources already in place,” Fink told The Grocer. “My view was that Big Drop could sit quite happily in a company that has a portfolio of brands, and act as another string to their bow.
“As it turns out, I was wrong, and I’ve changed my mind and concluded that is not necessarily the case. Fundamentally, nobody loves your brand as much as you do, and so I’ve decided to take back control.”
Big Drop first entered into a licensing agreement with In Good Company in 2023. The deal gave the Magic Rock and Fourpure owner the rights to produce and sell Big Drop’s non-alcoholic beers in the on and off-trade.
When In Good Company shuttered its Fourpure brewery and placed the brand into administration, Big Drop penned a similar deal with Keystone Brewing Group in late 2024.
However, when it became apparent Keystone was also set to collapse less than a year later, Fink terminated Big Drop’s licensing agreement with the brewer.
After fleeing the sinking Keystone ship, Big Drop had “picked ourselves up out of the wreckage, dusted ourselves down and decided to get a team together,” Fink said.
The brewer has re-enlisted Renegade Brewery in west Berkshire and Powderkeg Beer in Devon to make its alcohol-free brews. It will work with brand development agency GHF for sales and marketing, and Essex-based drinks distribution platform Casa Julia to supply its customers.
Big Drop’s priority for 2026 would be to consolidate existing relationships and listings in the hands of its new team, and then look to win back lapsed grocery listings, Fink said.
“Unfortunately the listings we handed over to In Good Company and then Keystone have gone,” he said. “So that’s the job for the first 12 months.”
E-commerce growth platform Infinity Blue Group, meanwhile, has been tasked with rebuilding Big Drop’s Amazon and DTC business, which had also stagnated under Keystone.
Big Drop was established by Fink in 2016 as one of the UK’s first dedicated alcohol-free beer brands. Previously its beers were sold in retailers including Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose. At the time of writing, Ocado is the only major grocer still stocking the brand [Assosia].
No comments yet