Total beverage-alcohol sales have declined -7.7% year-over-year (YoY) for the week ending November 17, according to market research firm Circana.
“As expected, the post Halloween retracement is playing out,” Circana EVP of bev-alc Scott Scanlon wrote in his weekly off-premise data report. “But despite some large numbers, it is too early to panic.”
Off-premise bev-alc dollar sales recorded +4% YoY growth for the week ending November 3, which included Halloween. That increase was sustained for the following week, with +1% YoY growth during the week ending November 10.
All major categories were also in the red for the week ending November 17. Beer posted the smallest decline at -3.6% YoY, followed by spirits (-7.1%) and wine (-18.2%). The ready-to-drink (RTD) segment, which includes offerings that have malt, wine and spirits bases, was the only portion of the industry to record dollar sales growth at +1.7%.
Volume was in the red across the board for the week, with total bev-alc declining -6.9%. RTDs (-1.9%), beer (-6%) and spirits (-4.3%) outpaced the category, while wine lagged behind (-16.3%).
Mexican imports and some flavor-forward offerings drove the beer category in the week, as the only brands to record double-digit dollar sales growth included Constellation Brands’ Pacifico (+18.8%), Mark Anthony Brands’ Cayman Jack flavored malt beverage (+14.9%), Geloso’s ClubTails (+14.2%), Molson Coors’ shandy-centric Leinenkugel’s (+12.7%), and Constellation’s Victoria (+40.8%).
Constellation’s Modelo remained the No. 1 brand family with +3% dollar sales growth and +0.8% volume growth.
Anheuser-Busch (A-B) InBev’s two largest brand families, No. 2 Bud and No. 3 Michelob, continued to record divergent trends. Dollar sales of the Bud brand families declined -6.4% and volume declined -8.5%, while Michelob posted gains of +3.6% in dollars and +2.5% in volume.
Overall, imports were flat and domestic super premium, driven by Michelob Ultra, posted +1% growth, Scanlon noted.
Of the 10 largest beer category brand families, only Boston Beer-owned Twisted Tea (No. 9) also recorded growth in both dollars (+4.3%) and volume (+2.2%) during the period.
Thirteen of the top 50 brand families in the beer category recorded double-digit declines in both dollars and volume:
- No. 12 Boston Beer’s Truly Hard Seltzer, -16.1% in dollars and -18.1% in volume;
- No. 21 Yuengling, -15.5% in dollars and -16.5% in volume;
- No. 22 A-B’s Stella Artois, -14% in dollars and -16.5% in volume;
- No. 25 Molson Coors’ Blue Moon, -11.1% in dollars and -14.6% in volume;
- No. 26 Mark Anthony’s Mike’s Hard Lemonade, -18.4% in dollars and -20.2% in volume;
- No. 29 Boston Beer’s Samuel Adams, -21.5% in dollars and -23.7% in volume;
- No. 31 Molson Coors’ Simply Spiked, -11.3% in dollars and -10.9% in volume;
- No. 34 Molson Coors’ Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, -16.4% in dollars and -19.2% in volume;
- No. 35 FIFCO USA’s Seagram’s Escapes, -17.4% in dollars and -20.4% in volume;
- No. 39 Heineken’s Lagunitas, -13.2% in dollars and -17.4% in volume;
- No. 46 Kirin’s Bell’s Brewery, -11.1% in dollars and -11% in volume;
- And No. 47 Monster Brewing, -21.8% in dollars and -20.6% in volume.
In the spirits category, RTD offerings continued to drive growth, led by No. 2 Gallo’s High Noon Sun Sips (+9.7% in dollars, +8.2% in volume), No. 8 Sazerac’s BuzzBallz (+38.5% in dollars, +40.7% in volume) and No. 10 BeatBox (+69.6% in dollars, +68% in volume).
The tequila segment (-3% in dollars YoY) outperformed other spirits segments.
The wine category has a new leader in Josh Cellars, which recorded “a rare negative” at -8% YoY but overtook Barefoot.
While off-premise sales for the week ending November 17 are largely negative, the 52-week period (L52W) ending November 17 tells a different story. Overall bev-alc is roughly flat at -0.2% YoY for the L52W, driven by RTDs (+4.5%) and spirits (+2.8%). Beer is also about flat (-0.3%), and wine dollar sales declined -2.1%.