Dear Client: It’s a good thing that “beer” is not in Anheuser-Busch’s name. Because a lot of what they’re making these days isn’t exactly that.  The company’s EAM meeting this week in St. Louis was a full day, with almost 5 hours worth of content, from ’22 strategic plans, to (many) new brands, to supply … Continue reading “A-B Unveils 80 Cal, Zero Carb Bud Light Next: Ten Years in the Making”

Dear Client: Now that the Craft Brewers Convention is over, it’s time to look forward to the another marquee event for our industry, the National Beer Wholesaler’s Association Annual Convention in Las Vegas, October 3-6, the first in-person NBWA annual convention in two years.  BRING YOUR CARD. Yes, there will be some Covid-related restrictions (unlike … Continue reading “Tune-Up With NBWA’s Craig Purser”

Dear Client: A MUCH LIGHTER, QUIETER CBC. At 7,000 attendees – many of them seemingly vendors – and the second day’s keynote speaker Richard Montañez calling in remotely due to COVID exposure, this pandemic-time Craft Brewers Conference was much lighter, and different, than usual. (As a reference, the event saw 14,000 attendees in 2018.) The … Continue reading “Three Takeaways from this Year’s CBC”

Dear Client: Reyes has reached a deal to acquire most of the “legacy” brand rights of Classic Beverages of Southern California, CJ Sanchez’s outfit in east LA. Those suppliers include Molson Coors, HUSA, Boston, Firestone, Mark Anthony, Sierra, and Pabst, among others. As part of the deal, Classic will continue to operate as a craft/specialty/NA … Continue reading “Reyes To Acquire Brands from Classic in East LA”

Dear Client: Release the puns. It’s been a fun ride, but the three-year-running Hot Seltzer Summer is drawing nigh. Nothing drove that home more than when Boston Beer Co. announced they would be withdrawing their 2021 guidance of shipments/depletions of up 25% to +40% and earnings per share of $18 to $22 due to the … Continue reading “Hot Seltzer Summer is Truly Over; Can’t Claw Back; Fizzled Out; Lost its Head; Etc.”

Dear Client: Bev alc platform (and bev alc trend indicator) Drizly just released its results from the Labor Day Weekend, showing the share gainers and losers from the recent holiday. Compared to the long weekend (Friday through Monday) last year, orders on Labor Day Monday were up in 2021, at 19% share versus 17% share … Continue reading “Beer Loses Out to Spirits Over Labor Day on Drizly”

Dear Client: Here at BBD and CBD, we’ve always got our ears peeled for new beverages that are gaining traction.  To that end, we’ve recently been covering a small company that’s been getting a lot of buzz in bev alc — The Finnish Long Drink, which is appropriately named after the actual Long Drink category, … Continue reading “Boston Gets into the Long Drink Game With New Brand, Bevy”

Dear Client: Today Anheuser-Busch announced some key new appointments as well as tweaks to its commercial structure.  New A-B CEO, Brendan Whitworth, says that “the new commercial structure we are announcing today, along with key leadership changes, will make us better partners to our wholesalers and retailers, ultimately accelerating our momentum in the U.S.” Key … Continue reading “A-B Announces New Chief Commercial Officer Post, as well as a New Sales Chief and CMO”

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”