Dear Client:
It’s going to take days to unpack all of the content from our 20th annual Beer Summit at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida. But here are a few interesting sound bites “by the numbers” that stood out to your editors:
90,000 OPEN LINES = THE TOP NATIONAL BRAND ON DRAFT. Jennifer Hauke, founder of DraftLine Technologies, which tracks more than 1 million draft lines in 40 states, revealed a shocking stat: In their own data set, the no. 1 post-COVID draft brand nationwide is open lines.
To be precise: there were 55,000 open lines (6% of the total) pre-COVID, and about 90,000, or 11% of open lines post-COVID, in their data set. (As for single brands: “Bud Light for us has almost 50,000 taps and that is larger than any other following brewery,” said Jen.)
“Keep in mind this is just adding up tap handles — this isn’t volume numbers,” said Jen. (For reference, 19% of overall lines are claimed by ABI in this data, and 10% of the real estate goes to Molson Coors.)
She also pointed to a proliferation of lines in recent decades. The number of draft lines has skyrocketed from about 400,000 in the 1980s to about 1.5 million today.
The lesson? “We really, really need to focus on things that are going to stick.”
A few other interesting take aways: The top brands gaining taps the fastest in this data set over the last 6 months include Mich Ultra, Miller Lite and Kona Big Wave, in that order. And breweries gaining share the fastest in the last six months include Constellation Brands, Molson Coors, Boston Beer (thanks to their seasonal program), New Belgium and Yuengling (perhaps in part due to new markets).
COLUMBIA NOW THE #1 RED BULL DISTRIB IN U.S. Columbia chief Chris Steffanci shared on our distributor panel at the Summit yesterday that the large Pacific Northwest distributor is now the single largest Red Bull distributor in the United States.
He called the energy drink brand a top five supplier for them, and said it was a “hugely meaningful” part of their business, despite having no contract.
And while having no contract might seem a little concerning, the good news for Chris and co. is the “unique state” of their market. As Chris tells it, they have Seattle and Portland and then a hundred thousand square miles they gotta cover; and because of the scale within its beer business, Columbia can do that. “So, traditionally it’s a hard territory to replicate,” Chris said.
Nevertheless, the way they look at it, Chris said, is if they’re the top-performing distributor for Red Bull in the country every year (or one of the top), then “that’s all we can do as a distributor.”
“Do your best to perform. We work a lot of that relationship. We invest heavily behind the portfolio. We’ve grown it aggressively” – recently doubling the biz over a three-and-a-half-year time period, Chris noted.
So with Red Bull “we’re fully exposed, but we love the relationship, we love the brand and we’ve been selling it now for [over a decade] and it’s been a really good partnership,” he said.
INCREASING BLACK OWNERSHIP OF CRAFT BREWERIES: 13% – That’s the number of Black-owned craft breweries Crowns & Hops co-founder Teo Hunter says he and business partner Beny Ashburn want represented in the industry, especially following years of industry talk about how few Black-owned breweries there are.
“For generations, it’s been ‘there’s less than 1%, there’s less than, there’s less than,’” Teo said. “It’s about refocusing that conversation to a goal. A path to 13% Black-owned breweries is the conversation we want to have,” Teo said, noting the number is representative of the percentage of Black people in the United States.
To reach that goal, Teo said he and Beny – who’ve been brewing craft beer for 7 years (including their first brew called BPLB or “Black People Love Beer”) – created a beer called 8 Trill Pils, a 5% ABV pilsner inspired by The W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s “The Business Case for Racial Equity” which Teo said “states that if we start focusing on racial equity today, our country stands to see an impact of $8 trillion to the national GDP.”
“That’s an investment strategy. It’s not that someone has to lose for someone to win,” Teo said.
Toward that end, Crowns & Hops started a nonprofit called the 8 Trill Initiative “collaborating with other people in the brewing industry that are aligned with these philosophies” on a development fund and mentorship program to support other Black-owned craft breweries.
MOLSON COORS ROLLS “ROXIE,” A ZERO-PROOF CANNED COCKTAIL
Amid Dry January, Molson Coors has unveiled its latest launch in the beyond beer space, Roxie, a zero-proof canned cocktail line.
The brand, which was “executed in partnership with LA Libations,” marks the company’s “first-ever direct-to-consumer line of zero-proof cocktails,” and will be sold “exclusively online” for now.
Indeed, we understand that this is largely a test for Molson Coors to determine scalability.
“Designed for the next generation of drinkers who are redefining what it means to drink in social settings,” Roxie hits in three flavors – Ripe with Passionfruit, Forbidden Pineapple and Lost in Mango.
Shoppers on the brand site are able to purchase 4-packs of individual flavors for $18, and 12-count packs for $43.
“Roxie is the brand that empowers people to be a part of the moment, celebrating the choice to drink and not drink alcohol,” MC’s VP of innovation, Jamie Wideman, shared in the release. “That’s where Roxie shines, it packs layers of flavorful complexity, delivering a line of zero-proof cocktails built for those who want to moderate their drinking, abstain or simply sip on something fantastic.”
Until tomorrow,
Harry, Jenn, Jordan & Bianca
“The trouble with normal is it always gets worse.”
– Bruce Cockburn
———- Sell Day Calendar ———-
Today’s Sell Day: 7
Sell days this month: 22
Sell days this month last year: 21
This month ends on a: Tues.
This month last year ended on a: Mon.
YTD sell days Over/Under: n/a
