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Kate Bernot

@kbernot.bsky.social
2.1K followers 427 following 2.1K posts

Lead analyst at Feel Goods Insights Bylines in The Washington Post, Craft Beer & Brewing, Bon Appetit, Imbibe, elsewhere @nagbw.bsky.social’s Writer of the Year 2025 University of Montana Law class of 2029 📍Missoula, MT

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Reposted by Kate Bernot
Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 21/09/2026
🚨 5TH PAID-IVERSARY SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE 🚨 Five years ago this week, I turned on paid subscriptions for Fingers. To celebrate, I’m offering 50% off (!!!) on annual subscriptions to the first 50 people to upgrade. Score one before they're gone: www.fingers.email/upgrade?offe...
stonks meme. it reads "🎂 5TH PAID-IVERSARY 🎂 💸 SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE 💸"

instead of "stonks" it says "subscronktions"
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Some personal news: This has been my first week of orientation at the University of Montana's law school. Making this decision has been invigorating, daunting, and thrilling. You'll still see me writing about beverages, though less frequently. (Brace for a 100% increase in Marisa Tomei content.)
A horizontal photo of a brick and glass building that reads Alexander Blewett II School of Law
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oh no @ili.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
en esta economía??????
nyt cooking melissa clark seis leches cake january 21, 2020
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Crow @abbyjane.cloverdalelane.com · 14/08/2026
I think about this a lot.
Tim Henke
@TimHenke9
eat shit, René Magritte
Translate Tweet
Mauv @ThatsMauvelous • 1d the machine refused to recognize my humanity until i professed to believe that a sign painted to look like a traffic light is indeed a traffic light.
Show this thread
Select all squares with traffic lights
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Went on the BBC’s Business Daily podcast to talk about Diageo’s woes, particularly in the US, and how new leadership hopes to turn them around. bbc.com/audio/play/w...
bbc.com
BBC Audio | Business Daily | What's next for Guinness owner Diageo?
Guinness owner Diageo launches a reset after profits fall and shares slide
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whet moser @whetmoser.com · 12/08/2026
finally, i can eat a heatmap graphic
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Jaya Saxena @jayasaxena.com · 07/08/2026
I hate having a memory of things that happened in the media industry
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Reposted by Kate Bernot
Brewbound.com @brewbound.com · 06/08/2026
Ball Corp. CEO Ronald Lewis says beer remains “an important category” for aluminum cans — but no longer the company’s biggest — as CSDs and energy drinks help drive growth. Global packaging shipments rose 4.3% in Q2. 🍺🥤
brewbound.com
Ball CEO: Beer ‘an Important Category’ But ‘Not Our Only Category’
Beer, carbonated soft drinks and energy drinks are “delivering growth” for Ball Corporation, but beer is no longer the largest share of the aluminum can manufacturer’s business, CEO Ronald Lewis shared during the company's Q2 earnings call.
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Reposted by Kate Bernot
Brian Alberts @brewedculture.org · 06/08/2026
More from my Oktoberfest obsession: 1973 article claiming that roughly *half* of Oktoberfest goers that year were from the U.S. (?!?!), and also describing Oktoberfest beer as "golden" by default 🤔🤔🤔 Sharing the second photo mainly for "Demonstration in Litership."
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
In this follow-up newsletter, I explore how Korean wellness drinks are poised to follow K-beauty's U.S. trajectory. feelgoodsinsights.com/analysis/us-...
A photo illustration shows two women in athletic wear drinking from cans
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
The language and aesthetics of beverage are all over the beauty and skincare aisle lately. (Lassi Lips Lip Oil, Seltzer Spritz Hairspray, Espresso ‘Tini Lip Balm ...) This isn't surprising, and I see more overlap ahead. I dig into why, and what's next: feelgoodsinsights.com/analysis/bev...
A photo illustration shows a woman shopping in the skincare aisle of a store
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Reposted by Kate Bernot
Josh Sternberg @joshsternberg.com · 03/08/2026
There are 7 PR people for every journalist in the US. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
chart showing 280k pr specialists to 40k 'news analysts, reporters, and journalists'
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Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 31/07/2026
These stickers are now for sale via The Fingers Shop (just put a note saying you want this design specifically.) All proceeds support more independent journalism about drinking in America: dinfontay.bigcartel.com/product/fing...
sticker that says "DRINKING MALÖRT ISN'T A PERSONALITY"
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Brigit @brigit.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
MISSOULA! MISSOULA WE HAVE A FOOD TRUCK LOCATOR AGAIN!!! www.zootowneats.com
zootowneats.com
ZooTown Eats
Missoula food truck menus, locations, and today's schedule.
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
TIL the American Museum of Tort Law's logo is a flaming Pinto, 10/10 no notes
A screengrab of the logo for the American Museum of Tort Law which shows a cartoon of a light blue Ford Pinto with flames coming out of it
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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 21/07/2026
The writer-editor relationship is so important cc @jduffyrice.bsky.social
a google docs screenshot from Josie Duffy Rice that reads "take this image out before I kill you"
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Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 13/07/2026
SOURCE CALL: If you work or recently worked at Maine Beer Co. and would like to tell me what Dan Kleban is like as a boss, I'm all ears. Email me dave@dinfontay.com or securely text dinfontay.11 on Signal. Anonymity available. (RTs appreciated!)
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Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 13/07/2026
"In terms of rituals and behaviors, at-home shooters are one of the final frontiers." — @kbernot.bsky.social feelgoodsinsights.com/analysis/twi...
Missed Shots — Can RTD Shooters Find Footing Off-Premise?
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Beer pitchers are underrated. For the price of two cold Coors Lights, you can have four lukewarm Coors Lights.
A close up of a pitcher and pint of yellow beer in a dive bar
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Strikes me too that in super-crowded cold cases where it's unclear what half the drinks even *are* (hard tea? lemon vodka RTD? spiked Gatorade?) retro lager branding conveys "beer," plain and simple. You don't even have to read to figure it's a light, yellow, effervescent beer.
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
What's with all the new lager brands wanting to look like they're 50 years old? I dig into the dynamics behind the retro branding boom for WaPo: www.washingtonpost.com/food/2026/07...
washingtonpost.com
New beers are doing everything they can to look old
A fleet of retro-branded light lagers is coming to the beer aisle and tapping into shifting consumer tastes.
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Reposted by Kate Bernot
Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 09/07/2026
"Shooters satisfy a number of priorities for younger LDA on-premise consumers. They’re flavor-led, relatively low-alcohol compared to shots, inexpensive, social, and provide a unique ritual experience that a drinker generally isn’t going to recreate at home." feelgoodsinsights.com/analysis/led...
The ’90s Called — Led by Flavor and Ritual, Cocktail Shooters Are So Back
Kate Bernot — July 6, 2026
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Not pretending I've never written something that required a correction but if an outlet ever saw fit to issue a correction to a retraction of my reporting I would yeet myself into the sun.
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Also worth noting that this range is also where macro lagers (Coors, Miller Lite, Mich Ultra, etc.) have squarely lived forever. And if you want that ABV with a local angle, there are regional versions like Natty Boh, Narragansett, Rainier, etc. Hard for craft to differentiate on the ABV alone.
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Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 26/06/2026
"For years, provocateurs have suggested alcohol is becoming the new tobacco. By this, they mean that alcohol is falling out of favor socially thanks to more widespread understanding of its health risks. We now have years of post-COVID data to indicate this isn’t true." — @kbernot.bsky.social
Ash It — Drinking Was Never “The New Smoking”
Jun 25 
Written By Kate Bernot
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
So say we all. orbooks.com/catalog/we-h...
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Some UM students about to raid this church’s food pantry like raccoons
A screenshot of a Reddit post shows a user posting a photo of the Busch light apple cans that they left in a church’s food pantry refrigerator in Missoula
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
In our latest Feel Goods Insights newsletter: Plenty of data shows a disconnect between what young wine drinkers expect from a wine and what they perceive. Could wine packaging be part of the problem? And why is wine uniquely opposed to visual cues? feelgoodsinsights.com/analysis/you...
A photo illustration shows a young woman staring in disappointment at a glass of red wine
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Reposted by Kate Bernot
EconReporter @econreporter.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
The curious case of why UK and Canada CPI use grocery scanner data but the US can’t A deep dive on why the US's—the world's most important economy—inflation statistics enhancement progress has surprisingly... en.econreporter.com/58106/why-uk-ca…
en.econreporter.com
The curious case of why UK and Canada CPI use grocery scanner data but the US can’t
A deep dive on why the US's—the world's most important economy—inflation statistics enhancement progress has surprisingly lagged compared to the UK and Canada?
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
👀 Florida has surpassed Minnesota as the nation's largest hemp-derived THC beverage market, per @hempbevalliance.bsky.social/VIP data for CY 2025.
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Reposted by Kate Bernot
Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 22/06/2026
Paying subscribers get exclusive access to The Fingers Podcast! It's how I publish longform interviews with interesting people from the wild world of booze—and beyond. Here's a recent episode with @kbernot.bsky.social:
fingers.email
Decoding zoomer/boomer bev-alc doomerism
Feel Goods' Kate Bernot on how demographic and workforce shifts are rocking the booze business
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
A newsletter that’s deeply reported *and* a pleasure to read—if you don’t subscribe already, do yourself a favor and fix that.
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Despite how some in the beer industry refer to the hard seltzer "bubble," malt-based seltzers currently have greater share in U.S. convenience stores than craft beer. *And* they grew sales volume in that channel by ~3% over the past 52W.
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Ken Vogel @kenvogel.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
SCOOP from @by-cjewett.bsky.social & me: Markwayne Mullin urged the Department of Health and Human Service to remove warnings from the FDA website about the health risks of the gas station drug kratom. Mullin owns equity in a leading kratom company called Botanic Tonics that could have benefited.
nytimes.com
How an Addictive Gas Station Drug Found Allies in Trump’s Cabinet
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Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 15/06/2026
For my debut at @newrepublic.com, I compared the performative sobriety of prominent GOP operatives and manosphere podcasters (but I repeat myself) with the more complicated realities reshaping the American right's relationship with alcohol.
newrepublic.com
Are Republicans Really Quitting Booze?
It’s hardly a neo-Prohibition movement, but MAGA personalities and far-right trolls are swearing off drinking—for predictably weird reasons.
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Reposted by Kate Bernot
Meredith Shiner @meredithshiner.com · 10/06/2026
Today we learned there are significant differences in the profanity guidelines of the @chicagotribune.com and @chicago.suntimes.com
Chicago Sun-Times front page

GRAND JUROR CALLED CASE A 'CROCK OF S--Chicago Tribune front page

I thought it was a crock of (expletive'
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Some really crazy cases in here - cop looked up ex-girlfriend and family in Flock 100+ times - cop stalked wife giving "test" as reason - cop searched one plate 395 times in 10 months; was later fired Cops keep getting arrested for using Flock to stalk people www.404media.co/cops-keep-ge...
404media.co
Cops Keep Getting Arrested for Using Flock to Stalk People
There have been more than a dozen cases around the country where police use Flock to obsessively and illegally stalk people.
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Ben Casselman @bencasselman.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I'm interested in talking to workers about how A.I. is affecting their careers, and how they're adapting. Have a story to tell? Share it here: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/10/b...
nytimes.com
Is A.I. affecting your career? We want to hear from you.
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Writing about functional beverages while consuming the GOAT fxbev
My hand holds a can of Diet Coke with my laptop and desk visible in the background
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
What does it mean for US bev-alc that the very wealthy will be the sole drivers of alcohol spending growth in the near future? Listen to my chat with Dave, and read my full analysis for Feel Goods: feelgoodsinsights.com/analysis/alc...
A bar graph shows that projected growth in US at-home alcohol spending will come exclusively from ultra wealthy households between now and 2030
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Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 03/06/2026
Here's @kbernot.bsky.social on the World Data Lab report that virtually all growth in bev-alc spending will soon come from the ultra-wealthy:
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Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 03/06/2026
Today Fingers has a big new interview with @kbernot.bsky.social, longtime bev-alc journalist and lead analyst at Feel Goods Insights, about the booze industry's ticking retirement time bomb, the trade's mostly dismal outreach to Gen Z customers, CPG brands' AI slop obsession, and more.
fingers.email
Decoding zoomer/boomer bev-alc doomerism
Feel Goods' Kate Bernot on how demographic and workforce shifts are rocking the booze business
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
TLDR craft beer production down ~ 4% last year. (Previous data from the Brewers Association trade group had it down -6%)
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Maureen Ogle @maureenogle.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
This fascinating. From @kbernot.bsky.social #beer www.beerandbrewing.com/brewing-ingr...
beerandbrewing.com
Fonio Calls, and Craft Brewers Answer
Breweries big and small are discovering the huge, modern potential of this tiny, ancient grain.
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T Block @tblockrva.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Bucket of beers has a new meaning
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Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 15/05/2026
lol brutal lede: richmondbizsense.com/2026/05/15/t...
Upon announcing last month that it would be closing its Richmond taproom as part of its sale to Belgian brewing giant Duvel Moortgat, Stone Brewing Co. put much of its local onsite merchandise on sale, 50% off.
Plenty of the marked-down merch has since been picked through, but certain prod- ucts remained noticeably well-stocked leading up to shop’s final days: shirts, hoodies and pint glasses marked with “Arrogant Bastard,” Stone’s flagship ale that it markets as an “aggressive beer,” one that “you probably won’t like.”
Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that the seemingly least-desired items from the gift shop are those that most closely represents the brewery’s ethos, at least that of its ear- ly days. Founded in Southern California in the mid-90s, Stone was once known as a fiercely independent pioneer of West Coast-style IPAs, led initially by loquacious co- founder Greg Koch, who often publicly railed against “big beer.”
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Chris Drosner @wibeerbaron.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
OK, not quite official, but I'm calling it: Schlitz is gone. My story on what losing this beer means to Milwaukee, and Kirby Nelson and Wisconsin Brewing Co.'s effort to send it off proper. www.milwaukeemag.com/schlitz-is-g...
milwaukeemag.com
Schlitz Is Gone, But First It’s Getting One Last Hurrah
An icon of Milwaukee’s beer baron era has been discontinued by Pabst Brewing Co., but Wisconsin Brewing is planning one last toast to Schlitz this summer.
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Kate Bernot @kbernot.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
I joined the Business Wars podcast to chat non-alcoholic beer and where it fits into the overall bev-alc landscape: open.spotify.com/episode/7Gfn...
open.spotify.com
Athletic Brewing and the NA Beer Revolution | Is NA Here to Stay? | 3
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Ben Casselman @bencasselman.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
With a killer kicker from Sonu Varghese: Whether at the grocery store or the gas pump, “one person’s inflation,” he said, “is often just someone else’s margin expansion.”
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Ben Casselman @bencasselman.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Tariffs? Inflation? War? For all the turmoil in recent years, nothing has stopped U.S. corporations from earning record profits. There's little reason to think the latest energy shock will be any different. Smart story from @talsmith.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/b...
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