Welcome in, today is Monday, September seventh, and we begin with Beer Institute data showing July beer supply still in the red. Industry beer supply fell four point nine percent year on year in July, and imports were the drag. That is the finding in the Beer Institute's latest economic reports, as reported by Brewbound. July carries the season's biggest occasions, and per that account, they were not enough to pull supply back out of the red. Supply sits upstream of retail depletions, so a decline of that size reads first into inventory positions and import planning for the back half of the year. That reporting does not carry a fuller category split beyond the call-out on imports. Now to India. Following our earlier coverage of Old Monk's label rework, the regulator has widened its position. Mint reports FSSAI told the Bombay High Court on Thursday that Old Monk cannot be sold as rum at all, because it is made with neutral spirit and added rum flavouring. Per that account, its counsel said the objection goes to the nature of the product, not only the label, and that it could instead be sold as a rum-flavoured spirit. The regulator cited India's twenty eighteen alcoholic beverage rules, which require standardised categories to keep their characteristic taste and aroma. The bench asked FSSAI to specify what the packaging must show, and set the next hearing for September eleventh. Industry commentary leans corrective, with several practitioners reading the action as scoped to specific variants and one bottler in one state, and no ruling yet. The Indian Express reports McDowell's Number One and Gold Reserve are under the same scrutiny, so what is being set here is a category labelling standard, not one brand's problem. Also today, a read on Africa. Locally made products account for ninety-seven percent of beer volumes in Sub-Saharan Africa, eighty percent of spirits and eighty-seven percent of RTDs, according to a new IWSR report covered by The Drinks Business. Total beverage alcohol volumes grew one percent last year, with a two percent compound annual rate forecast to twenty thirty-five. Per that data, RTDs led at plus eleven percent and spirits at plus six, while wine fell three percent. IWSR's research director for the region describes downtrading, not premiumisation, as the dominant consumer behaviour, with smaller, cheaper packs growing fastest. The detail cuts differently by country. Cognac and Armagnac volumes rose eighteen percent in South Africa, while Kenya saw Irish whiskey up thirty-five percent and tequila up sixty-five. For anyone sequencing entry, the hard part in that data is not demand, it is displacing entrenched local supply. Separately, in California craft. Firestone Walker has begun brewing Stone Brewing beers at its Paso Robles brewery, with Stone IPA and Buenaveza among the mainstays produced there in recent months. Chief executive Nick Firestone told The Tribune output will ramp through the fall at a site running roughly five hundred thousand barrels a year, and that more than two hundred Stone employees have been onboarded. Two rivals founded in the same year now sharing a brewhouse marks contract capacity between name brands as a live option. Industry reaction leans cautionary, with some in the trade reading the outcome as a warning to breweries weighing a similar sale. One clarification from that reporting. Sapporo USA's Escondido layoff notices carry the Stone Brewing name as a legacy legal entity, and its chief executive says those staff are Sapporo employees, not part of the business now under Firestone Walker. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. Material and the Wine Market Council have released a national study, Wine Reframed, on making the category more relevant to today's consumers. More on India's beer swing. The Economic Times reports spirits volumes grew two percent in the June quarter while beer jumped seventeen, per excise data, as state tax rises made spirits dearer. Gothamist reports All Points West Distillery is leaving Newark for Kingston, New York, as New Jersey craft distillers press the state for shipping and tasting-room reform. And finally, Just Drinks reports Australian Vintage's management calls the wine group a stronger, more agile business, despite continued pressure on profits.