Q1 Disaster

Dear Client: At least the first quarter doesn't matter as much in beer as its younger three sisters (Q2-4).. Taxpaid (domestic) shipments numbers are in from the BI, and it is terrible. Domestic shipments were down another 6% in February, making year-to-date shipments down, well, 6% says the Beer Institute, as distributors apparently continue to deplete heavy inventories well into 2022.  Or are they? Scanner data seem to indicate that depletions are -- at least in the off-premise (which we