Welcome in, today is Friday, July thirty-first, and we begin with AB InBev's second quarter, per the company's own release. AB InBev's organic revenue rose five point six percent in the second quarter, on total volume growth of nine tenths of a percent and revenue per hectolitre up four point two percent, according to that release. Reported revenue was sixteen point six six billion dollars. Beer volumes grew one point one percent, with record second-quarter volumes in Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador, and a return to growth in Brazil. Normalized EBITDA rose five point eight percent, with margins roughly flat at thirty-five point six percent, and underlying earnings per share climbed twenty-three point four percent to one dollar twenty-one. The same release puts net debt to EBITDA at two point eight six times, improved from three point two seven a year earlier. Corona, Stella Artois and Michelob Ultra grew revenue outside their home markets by seventeen, nineteen and twenty-one percent respectively. No-alcohol beer revenue was up twenty-seven percent, Beyond Beer up forty-four percent. As the category's largest print, it sets the benchmark the rest of this week's results get read against. Industry reaction leans toward reading the quarter through marketing efficiency, noting a modest volume uptick against a sizeable step-up in first-half sales and marketing spend, which that release puts at four point one billion dollars, up nine percent. Staying with the brewers. Ambev beat on profit and missed on revenue, posting earnings of four point two eight cents a share against a three point seven cent forecast, on revenue of three point nine two billion dollars versus expectations near four point zero four billion, per an Investing dot com account of the earnings call. That same reporting has net revenue up six percent, normalized EBITDA up nine percent with eighty basis points of margin expansion, and normalized earnings per share up twenty-four percent. Beer volumes rose one point four percent, and in Brazil volumes were up five percent with a fourth consecutive quarter of beer share gains. The split matters for how operators read regional exposure at the parent: margin is doing the work, volume is not. Management gave no quantitative guidance for the balance of the year, and shares closed down one point seven seven percent. Away from company results, the off-premise picture stayed soft. Brewbound, citing NIQ's latest weekly scans, reports that beverage-alcohol's year-over-year declines continued as the summer event calendar cooled. That follows our earlier report on NIQ data showing off-premise sales down two point eight percent through the first half, with domestic premiums and flavored malt beverages driving beer's losses. These are measured off-premise scans rather than a total-market read, so they land as a directional demand signal. Industry reaction leans toward reading the topline as bifurcation rather than a uniform slump, with some in the trade framing spirits-based RTDs, prepared cocktails and non-alc as taking share, and a recurring caution that the winner-loser spread inside those growth pockets is widening. A contrarian thread pushes back on the idea that younger drinkers have returned, attributing the softness instead to constrained spending power and changed socializing habits. Upstream, MGP Ingredients reported results for the second quarter ended June thirtieth, per the company's release. What we have of that release describes execution against its strategic roadmap and continued work to strengthen its sales, marketing and supply chain functions, and adds capabilities against new and existing growth opportunities, without detailing the figures. The numbers themselves sit in the filing, and they are worth pulling: a distilling and ingredient supplier's print is one of the earlier reads on brown-goods inventory and contract distilling demand, ahead of the restocking calls brand owners make later. Chatter around the quarter is sparse, though the more analytical reactions lean toward treating an adjusted-earnings beat and reaffirmed guidance as the headline, while pointing to the underlying volume and demand picture as the more telling signal for the spirits supply chain. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. AB InBev chief executive Michel Doukeris said on the quarterly call that Cutwater is on track for one billion dollars, per BevNET and Brewbound. Brewbound reports the company's US depletions fell one point nine percent in the quarter and shipments zero point six percent, with Cutwater the second largest contributor to revenue growth. Alcohol consumption in Ireland fell thirty-six percent last year against the two thousand one average, according to a new report cited by The Spirits Business. A University of Sheffield study reported by Mail Online finds average drink strength in Britain down about one percentage point since twenty twenty-two, with beer under three point five percent now roughly eighteen percent of the market. And finally, Radico Khaitan posted a twenty-seven point seven percent jump in first-quarter profit, a record quarter led by its premium brands, per The Spirits Business.