Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) announced Friday that it will no longer be producing Cacti Agave Spiked Seltzer, less than a year after the hard seltzer’s launch.
“After careful evaluation, we have decided to stop all production and brand development of CACTI Agave Spiked Seltzer,” an A-B spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Brewbound. “We believe brand fans will understand and respect this decision.”
TMZ reported that the brand hasn’t been “technically discontinued,” but rather “the two sides had an agreement that was to end November 30,” and the Cacti brand has been placed on hold. Cacti’s social media accounts have been deactivated, and A-B’s initial announcement of the collaboration has been taken down.
A-B launched Cacti with musician and music producer Travis Scott in March. The initial launch sold out online within 12 hours and in many brick-and-mortar stores within 24 hours, and in its first week claimed a 3.2% share of hard seltzer, according to the market research firm IRI. Year-to-date, its share of the segment has dropped to 0.6%, according to the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) and Fintech data presented by NBWA chief economist Lester Jones earlier this month.
With more than $33 million in off-premise sales, Cacti’s variety pack was A-B’s 31st best selling SKU in multi-outlet and convenience year-to-date through November 28, according to IRI.
Year-to-date through week 47 of 2021, A-B’s hard seltzer brands have a 10.2% share of the segment – making the world’s largest beer manufacturer the third biggest player behind White Claw maker Mark Anthony Brands (35.4%) and Truly Hard Seltzer producer the Boston Beer Company (26.9%), according to Fintech and NBWA. Bud Light Seltzer is A-B’s leading hard seltzer brand with a 8.5% share of the segment, behind White Claw (38.4%) and Truly (28.9%).
A-B has not commented on whether any of Cacti or Scott’s legal embroilments are the cause of the brand’s discontinuation.
In September, a class action complaint was filed against Cacti claiming the brand misled consumers to believe Cacti contained agave spirits, rather than agave sweetener. The complaint alleges that Cacti was able to sell more of its product and sell it at a higher price point due to the misrepresentation of the beverage alcohol content.
In its initial product announcement, A-B said that Cacti is “made with 100% premium blue agave from Mexico,” and emphasized Scott’s love for tequila. The brand also lists the statement in its product details. However, a March press release clarified that Cacti is made with agave syrup, and “does not contain tequila.”
Scott himself is facing millions of dollars in lawsuits after 10 people died and dozens were injured during the first day of the musician’s Astroworld music festival in Houston on November 5. Concertgoers have claimed the festival had insufficient security measures, which created a crowd surge, and there were not enough medical staff at the location.
More than 300 lawsuits related to the festival have been filed, all of which will be handled by one judge, AP News reported Wednesday.
Scott spoke in detail about the incident for the first time Thursday in a nearly one hour long video interview with radio host Charlamagne Tha God.
“I’ve been doing this for such a long time and nothing like this ever happened,” Scott said. “At the end of the day these fans are your family so you just feel like you lost something.”
In response to the decision to stop Cacti production, a representative for Scott told Rolling Stone: “Travis was clear in his interview that he is not focused on business right now and his priority is helping his community and fans heal. CACTI asked A-B InBev to inform their wholesalers there will not be product at this time.”
As the hard seltzer segment’s previously meteoric growth slows, industry experts have been predicting a shakeout, but thus far in 2021, Cacti and Molson Coors’ Coors Seltzer have been the most major discontinuations.