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While hard seltzers are stealing the show in beer (and total alc bev) biz by virtually every other measure, IPAs and ales are the fastest growing beer styles on Drizly’s platform for ordering beer online since COVID-19 hit, Drizly CEO Cory Rellas shared on webinar hosted by Evercore ISI analyst Robert Ottenstein. Lookin’ at yr-over-yr sales trends on Drizly (bolstered lately by influx of new users and retail accounts), IPAs accelerated from +333% on Mar 16 to +823% on Apr 13. And pale ales accelerated from +342% to +870% in that time. Liquor, Cordials, and Schnapps catch-all segment was the only other segment among all alc bevs that grew faster in that time, pickin’ up to +953% on Apr 13. Hard seltzers accelerated to “just” +555% on Apr 13. Indeed, “our consumer over-indexes craft” by 2X, Cory noted. Suggests craft has over 20 share of Drizly beer sales. “Higher price point beers” are “taking further and further share from the macros,” he added.Recall, Drizly is a software co that serves as 3d party mkt place aggregator for consumers to order alc bevs online for delivery. More rapid adoption of online sales following on-premise shutdowns helped drive Drizly’s biz to a…
Publishing Info
- Year 2020
- Volume 11
- Issue # 39
Lagunitas had its tuffest qtr yet in US since acquired by Heineken. Volume slipped “high-single digit,” parent co Heineken noted in its Q1 release. That follows low-single digit declines in US each of the last 2 yrs tho co continued to grow overall thanks to big increases internationally. But in Q1, Lagunitas US sales were softer than separately run Heineken USA unit (down mid-singles) for first time. So total Heineken sales in US took another tuff hit altogether, even as Heineken brand family grew low-singles driven by Heineken 0.0.Of course, COVID-19 played its part in impacting Q1 numbers, including some of Lagunitas’ largest mkts (i.e. NorCal) among earliest to shelter in place. Globally, Heineken anticipates performance across all biz units “to worsen in the second quarter” and be “impacted” thruout 2d half of the year. But Lagunitas had been on a tuff track outside of coronavirus impacts as well. Recall, several key leadership members have been replaced recently, including CEO, CMO, VP of sales, as co also went thru sizable rounds of layoffs over last couple yrs. Sales of flagship Lagunitas IPA noticeably picked up off-premise since introduction of 12pk cans, flyin’ nearly +40% in latest pantry-loading periods. But several…
Publishing Info
- Year 2020
- Volume 11
- Issue # 38
“This is the most difficult thing we’ve had to deal with in our 40-year history,” Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman told CBN late last week. “We’ve had fires, we’ve actually had floods,” but nothing compares to effects of COVID-19. Yet Sierra Nevada has not had one COVID-positive employee. And Sierra Nevada never laid off employees previously and “we haven’t laid anyone off as of now,” said Ken. But Sierra Nevada did “shut down all customer facing parts of our operations” about 1 month ago and “everyone received full paychecks through” Apr 3. Now the approximately 400 folks that work in restaurants, tours and gift shops have 3 options, said Ken. They can either stay on as Sierra employees, deployed in other areas of the co, given as many hours as possible or they could take personal leave for a period, but still get full benefits, or they could “part ways” with Sierra to get enhanced unemployment benefits. “Nearly everyone took option one and two.” Sierra Nevada has about 1100 total employees. Many working in areas like repacking variety packs, additional cleaning, food-to-go, selling vintage beers, etc. Shipments Up Almost 10% in Q1; Not Highly Leveraged; Both Breweries “Full Speed Ahead”…
Publishing Info
- Year 2020
- Volume 11
- Issue # 34
Large and In Charge: Off-Premise Boom Favors Big Brands, Pack Sizes Across Biz Been hearing it for a while and makes tons of sense from consumer sentiment point of view. When loading up the pantry, folks seek out larger pack sizes (value) and larger brands (familiarity). Across total beer biz, canned 12-pks, 24-pks and 30-pks were top-gaining pack sizes in IRI multi-outlet + convenience data for 1 wk thru 3/22, BW Consulting reported. Every top-15 beer brand up for the wk, just like every top-15 craft brand (as we wrote last issue). Amazingly, 6-pk bottles still down for the wk, -3.3% by $$, per BWC report. That pack dominated by craft, natch. And 6-pk cans nowhere near as hard hit, +39%. So pantry loading perhaps accelerating shift to cans in craft. But popular craft can pack, 4-pk of 16oz cans, not seeing quite the same pop as larger pack sizes. Up just 8.5% for 1 wk. Comments from top craft suppliers track those trends. Craft Brew Alliance, Firestone Walker and New Belgium all reporting shift to large format. In fact, some of CBA large formats flying in Nielsen all outlet off-premise data for week ending 3/21, sr comms director Jenny…
Publishing Info
- Year 2020
- Volume 11
- Issue # 30
Shifting fates of large US craft players don’t get much more stunning than what’s happened with New Belgium over last couple yrs. Building out a portfolio of IPAs under umbrella Voodoo Ranger brand proved incredibly fruitful for co. Looks like its 5 major IPA brands now over 60% of NBB’s volume in scans, we estimate based on latest IRI and glimpse at Nielsen data co shared with CBN. In time of major shift toward lower-ABV beers across craft and total beer biz, incredibly NBB’s Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA easily leading the pack for the co. Up in realm of 75-80%, over a quarter of NBB’s scan volume on its own. Compare to co’s longtime flagship Fat Tire, down near 10% in IRI MULC for 4 wks to 1/26 and just under a quarter of co’s scan biz. Base Voodoo Ranger up high single digits in Nielsen all outlet + convenience and liquor, NBB shared. Also likely north of 20% of NBB’s volume in scan. Then there’s Rotator Series and Juicy Haze, both launched last yr, each around 6% of NBB’s biz. Tho Rotator almost tripling so far this yr, Juicy Haze down mid-singles. But that’s in part due to recent…
Publishing Info
- Year 2020
- Volume 11
- Issue # 13
Not the best beginning for a new year in off-premise scan data. Craft volume down 1% with dollars off 0.4% thru 1st 4 wks of 2020 (to 1/25) in Nielsen all outlet + convenience data. Segment lost share of $$ and cases for same reason it did in 2019. In a word, seltzers. FMB segment up by over 50% in Jan, bigger than craft $$ by a full share pt. Only 2 other high-end segments up so far, import $$ +5.5% and superpremium +9%. Notably, total distribution points (TDPs) for craft down about 1% for 4 wks compared to this time last yr. Distribution for FMBs? Up by 25%. Launch of Bud Light Seltzer big, but not really slowing down White Claw or Truly. Welcome to 2020. But peek underneath craft hood and trends not so dour. In fact, with total Blue Moon franchise off 3.6% by $$ and both Shock Top and Leinenkugel shandies off by over 25% each, craft looks a lot brighter without those big brewer brands. Rest of segment $$ grew 0.7%. Still not enough to gain share, but not down either. Both Sierra Nevada and New Belgium carried gains of late 2019 into early 2020.…
Publishing Info
- Year 2020
- Volume 11
- Issue # 11
More...
Heading into Super Bowl weekend and prepping for so-called “Seltzer Wars of 2020,” various corners of craft universe ramp up pressure on mainstream beer brands. Part of that pressure is a stylistic shift, with growing group of craft entrants in comparatively “light” styles. In 2020, those launches (and increased focus) go beyond classic pale lagers or blonde and golden ales, with many low calorie, low ABV (often hazy) IPAs hitting shelves, including 15 separate takes on that emerging sub-sub-style from top craft players with national or super-regional reach. Ratcheted up attacks on mainstream beer also include slew of new sponsorship deals. Yet biggest player in major league sports deals with craft brands is of course AB, co with both biggest wallet and most to lose by shifting marketing $$ and attention from core brands to smaller high-end entries. Both AB and top US competitor Molson Coors now use acquired craft brands to offer growing number of segment-crossing entries that have one foot in craft and the other decidedly out: more blurring of segment lines. And in many cases, plans and approaches for those brands not only raise the ante of craft marketing, but put pressure on craft pricing too. MC…
Publishing Info
- Year 2020
- Volume 11
- Issue # 10
Over 3 yrs since its last US craft acquisition, Molson Coors’ Tenth & Blake outfit stepped up to the plate, announcing deal to acquire Detroit-based Atwater Brewing today. The 4th largest Michigan craft brewer grew single digits last yr, owner Mark Reith told Craft Brew News, putting co a bit below 40K bbls total, we estimate, based on Brewers Assn stats from 2018. Atwater joins MC’s small group of 4 acquired craft brands, each generally focused on building strength in home markets, T&B veep Paul Verdu explained. Volume for combo of Terrapin, Saint Archer, Hop Valley and Revolver collectively up 16% in scans, co reported. Total MC acquired craft portfolio expected to hit 4 mil CEs, around 290K bbls in 2019, co shared last fall. Addition of Atwater puts MC craft closer to 325K bbls last yr, easily passing Deschutes. A 23-yr old brewery, Atwater operates 3 separate facilities, including primary brewery in Detroit with around 20K bbls of annual capacity, Mark noted. Co produces most of the rest of its beer at Brew Detroit contract-focused facility thru alternating proprietorship. It also operates 2 small ‘biergarten and taphouses,’ one 8 miles from main facility in Grosse Pointe Park and one…
Publishing Info
- Year 2020
- Volume 11
- Issue # 8
Aiming to “make our brand more prominent out there,” Colorado’s Left Hand Brewing just launched a total brand refresh and has more tricks up its sleeve for 2020, co-founder/prexy Eric Wallace explained to Craft Brew News. The 26-yr old co embarked on over a yr of research, including discussions with drinkers and distrib partners and plenty of internal talks, marketing director Jill Preston told us. It’s been about a decade since co’s last branding update. “We’re in a different time now,” she said. That’s both the brewery and the craft biz, natch. Left Hand reached 83K bbls in 2015 before slipping to around 64K bbls by 2018, according to Brewers Assn stats. Its soft shipments trends didn’t quite turn around last yr. And co kept conservative outlook for 2020. It “budgeted” ending yr “down a couple points,” Eric shared. But over last few months, “year over year results, we’re starting to go up consistently,” he said. Then too, co has “super low leverage and we’re sitting on cash.” Left Hand “could do a lot more barrels,” but is “more focused on margin and cash flow,” he reported. In 2020, the co plans to focus on its Nitro lineup and new…
Publishing Info
- Year 2020
- Volume 11
- Issue # 5
Early reports of top craft brewer shipments trends in 2019 show many of ’em ended yr up, but only by a couple-few points. Of dozen or so trends for top-50 craft players, shared with Craft Brew News this wk, around half of them grew at pace slower than +5%. And notably, in ultra-competitive segment, no one’s complaining about that. This group includes a couple of largest players, including New Belgium, up just a couple thousand bbls last yr, around +0.3%, and Bell’s, up closer to 5% and just shy of 500K bbls (see below). New Glarus also continues its steady gains all in home state of Wisc, up near 2% last yr, co told CBN. Odell finished yr up near 5%, Troegs between 2 and 3%. And recall CANarchy’s beer portfolio netted out up around 4.5% (see last issue). All those players over 100K bbls in both 2018 and 2019. But a couple more New England-based brewers cracked 100K bbls for first time with trends in mid-high single-digit range. That includes Allagash, posting stronger 8% gain in year it launched flagship White in cans and ending yr at about 104K bbls. Narragansett edged past 100K-bbl milestone, up 5.5%. Among those…
Publishing Info
- Year 2020
- Volume 11
- Issue # 3
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