Dear Client: Could Constellation pass Molson Coors in the off-premise this year? It would be tough, but the gap between the number two brewer in the off-premise (Molson Coors) and the number three player (Constellation) is getting a little thin in the latest IRI scans, particularly in convenience. Molson Coors still has a decent leg … Continue reading “Could Constellation Pass Molson Coors in the Off-Premise This Year?”

Dear Client: The first week results are in for Anheuser-Busch’s latest hard seltzer play, CACTI, and it’s already shaping up to be one of the brewer’s most successful hard seltzer launches yet. Indeed, when it comes to first week rate of sale for an A-B seltzer variety pack – CACTI is the best yet. The … Continue reading “CACTI a Top 5 Seltzer Brand After One Week of Sales”

Dear Client: The impact of last year’s pantry loading comps are apparent in the latest cut of Nielsen scans. Trends for the latest four weeks to March 20 in Nielsen’s all outlet scans are, for the most part, an absolute shell of YTD trends.  For instance, total beer volumes are up 4% YTD through March … Continue reading “Beer Runs Into a Comp-crete Wall”

Dear Client: The latest big brewer to acknowledge they might have an issue heading into peak selling season? Diageo Beer Company. In a note to distributors over the weekend, DBC chief Nuno Teles said the company continues “to experience out of stocks on [its] FMB portfolio.” And despite all the steps they’re taking to correct … Continue reading “Diageo Beer Sets Expectations For Supply of Smirnoff FMBs over Summer”

Dear Client: On Friday, right after the market closed, Molson Coors disclosed the “impacts to its business” from both the recent cybersecurity outages as well as the 11-day closure of its brewery in Fort Worth due to February’s debilitating Texas snowstorm.  The latest? Globally, it says, all breweries are “ramping up to near normal operating … Continue reading “Molson Coors: 2 Million Hectoliters of Q1 Shipments Will Shift”

Dear Client: No, that’s not my lisp. I believe I outgrew that a long time ago. Rather, the start of our spring distributor “gut check” has yielded a few themes, and they all happen to start with “S.”  You see, we’ve reached out to many distributors so far, many (but not all) of them among … Continue reading “Sunny Skies, Seltzer, Supply, Staffing”

Dear Client: We glaze over so many press releases about new RTD brands we’ve never heard of, that inevitably, some of them have to actually be blazing some trails in their core markets.  Missing these fast-running newcomers keeps us up at night.  Another conundrum of this brave, new, anything-goes RTD world: We sort of assume … Continue reading “Who is Making Headway Across the Entire RTD World?”

Dear Client: Well folks, the time has finally come to lap last year’s “load up” comps.  Yep, Nielsen has provided us with our first official read at how we are cycling the beginning of the pandemic last year with a fresh cut of data for the week ending March 13, 2021, and while this cut … Continue reading “The Cycling of Crazy Comps Begins”

Dear Client: Brand Heineken is starting the year with some momentum in the U.S. Flagship Heineken has seen double-digit growth in scans YTD (up almost 12% YTD to 2/21, in IRI MULC), with roughly flat share of beer. That’s after a decade of declines.  We got on the phone with Borja Manso Salinas, VP Marketing … Continue reading “Heineken USA Launching Big “Back to the Bars” Campaign”

Dear Client: Shock Top has certainly seen better days. The brand, which was as big as 800,000 barrels in 2015 shrunk to less than half of that volume in just a few short years – putting out 320,000 barrels in 2019, per New Brewer Stats. 2020 didn’t appear to stop the bleeding either, as Shock … Continue reading “A-B Piloting Shock Top Zest to take on Blue Moon LightSky”

Dear Client: Molson Coors hasn’t really had a deep lineup in the hard seltzer segment, but that’s about to change, in a hurry. “We’ve got big ambitions for seltzer and it all starts now,” Molson Coors CMO Michelle St. Jacques told BBD this week. Indeed, by the end of this month, Molson Coors will have … Continue reading “Molson Coors’ “Big Ambitions” For Seltzer “Start Now””

Dear Client: We told readers that CACTI, A-B’s agave seltzer with megastar Travis Scott, would likely have a historically fast start. So far, it appears we were right, particularly for markets like California and Texas.   An A-B spokesperson let BBD in on some very early stats.  “CACTI Agave Spiked Seltzer hit shelves nationwide on Monday … Continue reading “More on CACTI’s Fast Early Start”

Dear Client: The summer seltzer wars are about to get even hotter.  No, really: Add to all the new lemonades, iced teas, higher-octane offerings and superstar seltzer players another big splash into the party bowl: Truly Punch.  Yep, Truly Punch Hard Seltzer will debut in May, in a colorful 12-pack variety config (see brewpic below)  … Continue reading “Can Boston Do it Yet Again? Truly Punch is a Big Bet for Summer”

Dear Client: We’ve got a boatload of huge announcements to bring you from leading U.S. co-packer City Brewing.  Chief among them…  The company has announced an “equity investment,” which will result in City Brewing being 100% owned by a consortium of investors, including Pabst owner Blue Ribbon Partners, which holds “a significant ownership interest in … Continue reading “Blue Ribbon Partners Part of Consortium Buying City Brewing; City Buying Irwindale, Too”

Dear Client: After yesterday’s story of Anheuser-Busch rolling a Natural Light Vodka, you might be wondering: “What in the world will that company get into next?” Well, we have your answer and while it’s not beverage-related, it’s still fairly shocking.  The brewer is getting into ShowBiz. Yes, A-B has partnered with Panay Films (think Wedding … Continue reading “A-B Getting into ShowBiz”