Dear Client:  One of the major themes that emerged during the BWS Summit was the idea of discipline and focus — summed up neatly by Whole Foods’ Mary Guiver who proclaimed: “If you’re chasing after the innovation that’s coming and going at a crazy rapid pace, and you don’t have something as your port in … Continue reading “Constellation’s Jim Sabia on Growing Through Discipline and Focus”

Dear Client:  Monster executives are betting on their Beast beverage alcohol line getting expanded presence on shelf this year, as they gear up for their second alcoholic offering – Nasty Beast hard tea – to hit shelves in Q1.  (Indeed, c-store retailers polled late last year by Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog indicated Monster’s bev … Continue reading “Monster Aiming for “Presence on the Shelf” with Beast Line in 2024″

Dear Client:  While we’ve paid a great deal of attention to beer’s poor year in 2023, it’s important to note that beer wasn’t alone in its struggle.  Looking across bev alc, “it really was just not a good year,” industry consultant Danny Brager shared on stage at our Summit yesterday. “WORST YEAR” FOR BEV ALC … Continue reading “2023: A Bad Year All Around for Bev Alc”

Dear Client:  The Beer, Wine and Spirits Summit kicked off this week at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego. We’ve been on the ground working hard, but not too hard that we can’t bring you some of the high-level highlights:  MARY ON THE “EXHAUSTING” PACE OF FLAVOR INNOVATION One of the highlights from Beer, … Continue reading “Highlights from the Beer, Wine and Spirits Summit “

Dear Client:  Tilray brass shared some news about big, new-to-world innovation on the Beernet Radio podcast, after the company reported Q2 results last week.  Notably, they’re launching a hard tea extension of their recent A-B acquisition, Shock Top, in the next month or so. New Shock Top “Lit” is a non-carbonated hard tea at 9% … Continue reading “New to World Tilray Plays Include Shock Top Hard Tea “Lit,” and More”

Dear Client:  Anheuser-Busch’s chief sales officer, Simon Wuestenberg, sent notice to wholesaler partners yesterday, informing them of “several updates” to A-B’s sales team structure. The updates, which went into effect yesterday, include: Additionally, Simon shared that they are making changes to the High End and Beyond Beer Field Sales team structure. For instance: All in, … Continue reading “A-B Tweaks Sales Team Structure”

Dear Client:  Last week, we previewed some spirits RTD trends via Nielsen IQ scandata and Bump Williams Consulting president, Dave Williams. As covered, A-B’s top spirits RTDs – particularly NUTRL, which jumped a spot to become the no. 4 brand in spirits RTDs the latest 12 weeks to December 23 — have been accelerating.  Now … Continue reading “What’s Moving (And Cooling) Among Spirits-Based RTDs”

Dear Client:  On Monday, D.G. Yuengling & Sons Inc. VP of sales and marketing Colin Callahan sent a note to their wholesalers, expressing concerns about some aspects of A-B’s digital B2B platform, BEES (and other such platforms).  Ultimately, he says, wholesalers selling DGY products through the BEES platform (“or other supplier provided digital sales platforms”)  … Continue reading “Buzz Off from BEES, Yuengling Asks Distributors”

Dear Client:  NIQ scans for the period ending December 30 are in, giving us our first initial read on beer’s full year performance in the off-premise during 2023. DOLLARS UP 1.4% FOR THE YEAR, VOLUME DOWN 3%. Looking across total NIQ channels, the category saw another year of modest dollar growth (up 1.4% YTD thru … Continue reading “A Rundown of Year End Results from NIQ”

Dear Client:  It was a tale of two businesses again for Constellation FYQ3. Beer did better than expected in many regards, with depletions strong (+8%), operating margins hitting 38.5% and operating income growth revised upward for fiscal ’24 (up 7%-8% vs. 6%-7%).  But the wine and spirits business was down 10% in depletions and 8% … Continue reading “Constellation Teases FYQ4 Drivers and Their “Outstanding” November Beer Trends”

Dear Client:  Constellation Beer’s FYQ3 had yet another great showing for depletions, which were up 8.2% in the quarter. Shipments were “only” up 3.4%, and net sales up 4%, though that was somewhat to be expected considering Constellation chief Bill Newlands comments on the last earnings call, about back half and Q3 dynamics.  BBD readers … Continue reading “Constellation Posts Strong Beer Depletions Again, Up More Than 8%”

Dear Client:  It took a little longer than expected, but it appears everyone has officially gotten on (or off) board to close one of the biggest distributor deals in the past year. Top wine and spirits distributor out of New England, Martignetti Companies, shared yesterday that it has completed its acquisition of Massachusetts-based Quality Beverage … Continue reading “Quality-Martignetti Deal Closes as Constellation Goes to Atlas, Burke”

Dear Client:  While year-end holidays are typically wine and spirits’ time to shine, beer was no slouch in 2023 festivities. After posting solid off-premise tallies around Thanksgiving [see BBD 11-29-2023], beer came through with commendable Christmas results too, per latest Circana scans. Indeed, in the latest batch of weekly data from Circana’s Scott Scanlon (who … Continue reading “Beer the Only Bev Alc Category to Grow Dollars in Christmas Scans”

Plus, Bud Light Breaks the Seal Dear Client:  Distributor deals are already hot out of the gate in 2024. A-B Bay Area wholesaler Matagrano is buying fellow A-B wholesaler Bottomley, BBD has learned. Longtime wholesaler Bottomley was one of the distributors who lost Constellation a few years ago, then Diageo and Sierra Nevada.  Recall that … Continue reading “Matagrano to Acquire Bottomley in Bay Area”

Dear Client:  In its ongoing negotiations with the Teamsters Union, A-B told its distributor network in a memo yesterday that “Union leadership chose not to attend” a planned negotiation session in Florida earlier in the week.  Since “reopening a dialogue” is paramount to avoid a strike, A-B offered a “substantial package proposal” yesterday which addresses … Continue reading “A-B Offers “Substantial Package” to Teamsters”