Wicked Weed built its name in the craft brewing industry with sour beers, but in recent years under the ownership of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Asheville, North Carolina-based brewery has found commercial success in craft beer’s most popular style space, IPAs.
Pernicious IPA is the 22nd best-selling craft beer brand in off-premise multi-outlet and convenience stores year-to-date through May 15, and the 18th best-selling craft brand in the convenience channel, according to market research firm IRI.
Andy Thomas, president of A-B’s Brewers Collective craft business unit, called Wicked Weed’s success in IPAs “a testimonial to having the patience to actually let the brewery and the brand start to grow in a healthy way” and not “getting caught in where you were yesterday.”
“They’re still an outstanding sour brewery,” he said, noting the “exciting things with mixed fermentation and wines” that Wicked Weed is doing with its Vidl line. “But in the process, they really hit their stride and understood and started to demonstrate that IPAs are another area where they can really demonstrate their craft, and where they can really start to take the brand in an authentic way.”
“It’s a good example of what can happen when you don’t try to run and spread too far too fast, but instead give yourself the time to grow and develop and mature in a market where you can start to reveal more of who you are,” Thomas continued. “And candidly, start to discover more about who you are.”
In 2022, Pernicious IPA has racked up $8.2 million in off-premise scans, a +25.5% increase, the firm reported. More than half of those sales (nearly $4.4 million) were in c-stores, where its dollar sales are up +43% year-to-date through mid-May and +73% over the last 52 weeks.
Pernicious IPA has proven to be a growth story for Wicked Weed over the last year. For the 52-week period ending May 15, dollar sales of the brand are up +41.7%, to more than $20.3 million, IRI reported.
Pernicious is a c-store craft success story for A-B. In the southeast, Pernicious is driven by growth in single-serve 16 oz. cans and 6-packs. Pernicious single-serve cans are the No. 4 dollar growth single-serve package in the southeast, with 6-packs as the No. 2 dollar share growth package in that format, an A-B spokesperson shared, citing IRI.
In Wicked Weed’s home market of North Carolina, Pernicious IPA 16 oz. single-serve cans are the No. 3 dollar share gainer this year, and 6-packs are the No. 1 share gainer in that format, according to IRI data cited by an A-B spokesperson.
Beyond Pernicious, the rest of Wicked Weed’s top-selling packaged products in IRI tracked retailers are IPAs, with its Hop Spectrum variety pack (+154%) second in dollar sales followed by Coastal Love Hazy IPA (+14.4%, to $926,823), Freak of Nature Double IPA, Appalachia Session IPA, a seasonal SKU, and Dr. Dank IPA.
In North Carolina, Freak of Nature is the No. 5 dollar share gainer in single-serves and the No. 5 share gainer in 6-packs, the spokesperson shared, citing IRI data. The growth of both Pernicious and Freak of Nature in North Carolina c-stores is the product of distribution drives in 6-packs and 16 oz. single-serve cans.
“One of the things about Wicked Weed is this just relentless focus on quality,” Thomas said. ”Not only quality in brewing and quality in recipe but quality in distribution too. So some of the trends that you see in c-store, basically, are just a microcosm of the overall trends you’re going to see in the market based on where Pernicious goes and based on where their portfolio plays.”
For 2022, Wicked Weed is building Dr. Dank into a brand family that allows the company to experiment with other IPA styles, terpene influences and fruits. Dr. Dank Daily Haze session IPA (5.4% AV) is the brand’s summer release and features aromas of pineapple, papaya, tropical, and oats.
Overall, Wicked Weed is the No. 7 total dollar sales brewery in southeast c-stores year-to-date, and the No. 3 brewery by dollar share change compared to a year ago, an A-B spokesperson shared, citing IRI. In North Carolina, the brewery is the No. 3 brewery by total dollar sales and No. 2 by dollar share year-to-date, the spokesperson added.
The growth in 2022 follows a 2021 in which Wicked Weed’s volume increased +39%, to 97,000 barrels, according to the Brewers Association.
“It’s not just outstanding branding, which it is, and it’s not just outstanding beer in the bottle or in the keg, which it is, it’s that really powerful combination of both of them,” Thomas said.