Latest Scans See Some Hot Brands Backslide — Blame Holiday Timing

Dear Client:  The latest NielsenIQ data for the four months to 11/23 (total off-premise channels) looks kind of bad --  until you realize that there’s a bit of an unfavorable Thanksgiving shift going on (remember, Thanksgiving was the 23rd last year, so this data laps a period which mostly has the holiday in it, while this year’s data largely doesn’t).  That’s likely why perennial growers like Sierra, Pacifico, Michelob Ultra, Modelo Especial decelerated or even went negative in the latest