Circana Weekly Scans: 2nd Week of Bev-Alc Growth Implies Summer Boost Arriving ‘Better Late … Than Never’

The proverbial sun may be parting the bev-alc clouds in the back half of a lackluster summer, with nearly all categories posting positive or flat dollar sales in Circana-tracked off-premise channels in the market research firm’s latest weekly report.

“Last week we questioned if beer was getting better and perhaps signs of a turn,” Circana bev-alc EVP Scott Scanlon wrote. “While this week is not tremendous growth within the category, it is certainly better trend data than we have been seeing.”

Total bev-alc dollars were flat year-over-year (YoY), but increased 2% week-over-week (WoW) for the week ending July 27. Beer category dollars were flat WoW, and spirits grew 5% YoY. Wine was the only category to decline (-5% YoY).

Ready-to-drink (RTD) offerings, which include products across all three mega categories, posted a 4% YoY dollar sales gain, continuing “explosive growth fueling spirits growth for another week,” Scanlon wrote.

Despite bev-alc losses easing for the second week in a row, Scanlon hesitated to declare the industry’s summer slump over.

“Upcoming, would like to say all is clear and upward from here, but this year has been far too choppy for that prediction,” Scanlon wrote. “Ideally, we see the momentum continue taking it week by week, as we have a distance to go prior to Labor Day holiday. Away from beer, one cannot ignore the RTD category.”

Beer dollar sales reached $931.7 million (+0.1% YoY) in the latest week, while volume declined 1.8%. Six of beer’s top10 brand families were in the black:

No. 1 Constellation Brands’ Modelo, dollars +1.9%, volume -0.6%;
No. 3 Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (A-B) Michelob, dollars +8.2%, volume +7.6%;
No. 4 Constellation’s Corona, dollars +4.3%, volume +2.4%;
No. 5 Molson Coors’ Coors dollars +0.5%, volume -1.7%;
No. 7 Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw, dollars +1.4%, volume -1.2%;
And No. 8 A-B’s Busch, dollars +2.7%, volume +1.9%.

Brand families beyond the top 10 with double-digit gains include:

No. 15 Constellation’s Pacifico, dollars +15.3%, volume +12.2%;
No. 29 Geloso’s ClubTails, dollars +17.3%, volume +16.8%;
No. 37 Constellation’s Victoria, dollars +59.9%, volume +57%;
No. 43 Athletic, dollars +19.7%, volume +20.3%;
No. 46 A-B’s Goose Island, dollars +14.7%, volume +6.2%;
No. 49 A-B’s Kona, dollars +17.3%, volume +28.6%.

Spirits-based RTDs continued to buoy the category, though No. 1 RTD brand Gallo’s High Noon Sun Sips posted an 8% volume decline (+1.7% dollars). Key RTD brand performances included: