Alcohol
Last updated
November 6, 2025
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To PepsiCo:
As adult consumers’ tastes evolve, PepsiCo identified an opportunity to connect with consumers in a new market: ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages. We are excited to bring customers across the U.S. and Canada the opportunity to enjoy alcoholic versions of PepsiCo brands via a brand licensing model.
To the World:
Responsible marketing and sales of alcoholic beverages can help mitigate potential social harms of alcohol consumption, including impacts to individual health and the safety of the community. We strive to ensure all alcoholic products associated with our brands are marketed to consumers above the legal drinking age in regions where the products are sold.
Approach
In 2021, PepsiCo entered the alcoholic beverage distribution space in select U.S. markets through a trademark licensing deal to a third party. PepsiCo’s distribution arm, Blue Cloud Distribution, Inc. (BCD), acted as a distributor for the PepsiCo-branded alcoholic beverages manufactured and owned by The Boston Beer Company and FIFCO USA. PepsiCo does not produce any alcoholic beverages within company-owned manufacturing plants. Instead, we license our brands to these manufacturers who own the products and formulas.
In 2024, BCD announced a pivot to a brand licensing and flavoring sales model to accelerate growth and fast-track national distribution of new and existing brands. Under this new model, now as Blue Cloud National, the organization licenses select PepsiCo brands to manufacturers to build ready-to-drink alcohol platforms. Distribution rights for Hard Mtn Dew and Lipton Hard Iced Tea were transferred to distributors to continue service to our customers. In addition, we are exploring various paths to sell alcoholic products with our trademarks in countries outside of the U.S. For example, in Canada, we executed a deal licensing the 7-Up trademark to Labatt, a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Marketing
Alcohol consumption carries a unique set of risks, so we work with the manufacturing brand licensees in an effort to ensure responsible marketing practices. We support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all and aim to take action to help ensure alcoholic beverages with our branding are marketed for responsible consumption. We expect the manufacturers to adhere to best marketing practices and industry guidelines around alcoholic beverages. This includes but is not limited to:
- Differentiating the labels from non-alcoholic versions of the product,
- Clearly articulating the alcoholic content of the beverage and
- Labeling each package with the region’s legal drinking age.
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