Consolidation in food retail is a critical factor in the evolution of the American booze business. In the modern era, it's usually taken one of two shapes: outside interlopers buying their way into the sector, as Amazon famously did in 2017 with its purchase of Whole Foods, or brick-and-mortar incumbents trying to buy each other, as Kroger most recently attempted with its pitch to acquire Albertsons, which fell apart in 2024.

But since the pandemic, the war for grocery share has been increasingly waged online, and the future of a key piece of beverage alcohol’s retail tier hangs in the balance. Which is why when DoorDash proposed in late October to purchase InstaCart for $17 billion, uniting the largest restaurant-delivery platform and grocery-delivery platform under the former’s big red banner, I immediately wanted a closer look.