Dear Client: Pete Marino describes Zoa as “a whirlwind.”  We caught up with the director of emerging brands at Molson Coors Beverage Co. before the holiday.  The company has a handful of bets in beyond beer, some of which are making notable progress — both in distribution penetration, and driving overall awareness. That’s certainly the … Continue reading “Molson Coors Making Progress in Energy, Coffee and CBD”

Dear Client: With all the recent headlines about seltzer’s slowdown – from very recent low-single digit declines in Nielsen, to its slowed rate of ordering in summertime Beer Purchasers Index reports – we sought wholesalers’ direct impression of how the seltzer/beyond beer segment is faring, and whether its contributing to their overall growth. In our … Continue reading “Distributors on Hot Topics, From Seltzer to Delta”

Dear Client: Back in spring, we published a mostly “rosy” survey of distributors, who foresaw a “sunny skies” outlook for the season based on the return of on-premise and robust RTD/seltzer sales. That was tempered a bit by staffing and supply issues [see BBD 03-26-2021]. Now that we’re three-quarters through the year, we executed another … Continue reading “Wholesalers Outlook Beset with Some Clouds Lately, Though Many Doing Better Than Expected”

Dear Client: Remember Grupo Modelo’s February suit against Constellation for the latter’s use of the Corona brand as a seltzer, which the former says violates their 2013 sublicense agreement to use the hallowed global brand strictly as a Mexican cerveza?  Now there’s more. This week, A-B owned Mexican brewer Grupo filed suit in New York … Continue reading “Grupo Modelo Seeks Injunction Against Constellation’s Modelo Reserva Brands”

Dear Client: After Ida slammed into New Orleans and other coastal towns in Louisiana this weekend, hundreds of thousands of Louisianans have no electricity, no tap water, very little gasoline and no idea when it will get better. We checked in with New Orleans blue-silver distributor Crescent Crown chief Bubba Moffett on the conditions on … Continue reading “New Orleans: Update From the Ground”

Dear Client: News broke yesterday that Constellation is putting the fastest growing beer brand in America, Modelo Especial’s “creative and social workstreams” into agency review. But its current agency, Cavalry, “is not expected to participate,” declares Ad Age, without indication if this was Cavalry founder Marty Stock’s decision or Constellation chief marketer Jim Sabia’s — … Continue reading “Modelo Under Review: What Happened?”

Dear Client: With all the talk of seltzers and functional beers and Mexican imports, there’s an old workhorse that is quietly racking up market share against all odds as its brand intrinsics rub against all the trends:  fruit flavors, better-for-you, and upscale.  That brand, of course, is Busch Light.  In our latest distributor survey we … Continue reading “The Budget Beer Brand That Could”

Dear Client: Multi-state operator Glazer’s Beer and Beverages announced yesterday that it will purchase two North Texas distributors and merge them together to create a new entity, called Jumbo Beverages, reports Fort Worth Business Press. The two houses Glazer’s will acquire as part of the deal are KC Distributing of Aubrey, TX, whose website states … Continue reading “Glazer’s Beer to Create New Entity in North Texas, Jumbo Beverages”

Dear Client: Earlier this year we broke news that fast food icon out of Oklahoma, SONIC Drive-In, was partnering up with local craft brewer COOP Ale Works to deliver Sonic Hard Seltzers to the masses. The line, which hit exclusively in Oklahoma, this spring, hasn’t reached the masses just yet, but COOP Ale Works chief, … Continue reading “Sonic Seltzer Expanding Markets”

Dear Client: Michelob Ultra has extended quite the nod to female athletes on Women’s Equality Day today. Indeed, the brand announced news today that it will continue its efforts to “elevate female athletes” by kicking things up a notch with a $100 million commitment to women’s sports over the next 5 years. The commitment, which … Continue reading “Mich Ultra Commits Big Money to Level the Playing Field in Sports”

Dear Client: If you’ve heard any Anheuser-Busch exec speak over the past few years, then you’ve probably heard common remarks of this desire to put consumers first, become more consumer-centric, and get even closer to consumers. But how exactly do they get closer to consumers? Are they really going to observe all walks of life … Continue reading “A Look into A-B’s Not-So-Secret Weapon: Consumer Insights”

Dear Client: The slowdown continues for hard seltzer. The segment, while still posting strong trends YTD in IRI scan data through August 8, is showing some massive deceleration in more recent time frames. In fact, the segment’s deceleration has turned into a decline during the latest four weeks in IRI’s food channel. Indeed, hard seltzer … Continue reading “Seltzer Declines in Latest Four Weeks of Food Scans”

Dear Client: This week, one of the nation’s most decorated (and its oldest) breweries, D. G. Yuengling & Son, rolls out package beer in one of the nation’s biggest beer states: Texas. Recall, this is part of the brewer’s westward expansion via a JV with Molson Coors Beverage Co.  We caught up with Pat Pikunas, … Continue reading “Grokking the Highly Anticipated Yuengling Texas Launch”

Dear Client: This week, all three major beer trade organizations wrote the TTB’s Regulations and Rulings Division Director, Amy Greenberg, weighing in on the White House’s Executive Order on Competition [see BBD 07-14-2021]. All responded to the Order’s Request for Information (RFI) on competition in the bev alc marketplace this week, with some focused comments … Continue reading “Curious Bedfellows: Trade Orgs Comment on White House Executive Order”

Dear Client: How’s it going for Zoa, the energy drink from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, which is distributed mostly through the Molson Coors network?  Molson Coors emerging growth chief Pete Marino outlined early successes for the brand, in which the company has a minority stake.  He told CNBC this week that it’s “the number one … Continue reading “A Fast Start for Zoa?”