Labor Day weekend provided a needed boost in sales for the bev-alc industry, but was yet another occasion where 2025 trends fell below 2024 comps, according to the latest weekly scans report from Circana and the market research firm’s EVP of BevAl, Scott Scanlon.
In the week ending August 31, total bev-alc dollar sales in Circana-tracked off-premise channels increased 7% compared to the previous week. However, dollar sales (-3.4%) and volume (-5.2%) were both in the red compared to the same period in 2024.
Those year-over-year (YoY) declines marked an acceleration compared to losses in the last four weeks [L4W] (dollar sales -2%, volume -3.7%), L12W (dollar sales -2.3%, volume -3.9%) and L52W (dollar sales -1.2%, volume -2.8%).
Note, the latest figures do not include Labor Day itself (Monday, September 1), which will be included in next week’s data report.
Wine continued to lead YoY declines among bev-alc categories, but beer was not far beyond, with a significantly smaller gap between the two categories’ performances compared to recent weeks. Beer dollar sales were down 4.4% in the latest week, while volume declined 6%, compared to 2.9% and 4.4% YoY losses, respectively, in the previous week. Wine dollar sales declined 4.7% YoY, while volume was down 5.8% (previous week dollar sales -5%, volume -6.2%).
Meanwhile, spirits stayed in the black, despite slowed growth, with dollar sales increasing 1.9% and volume up 8.7%. In the previous week, spirits dollar sales increased 3.6% YoY, while volume was up 11.2%.
Within beer, three segments posted YoY growth: non-alcoholic (NA) beer (dollar sales +22.8%, volume +23.9%); hard cider (dollar sales +5%, volume +5.3%); and domestic super premium (dollar sales +1.8%, volume +1%).
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (A-B) Michelob Ultra was the only top 10 beer brand family to post growth over the holiday weekend compared to 2024 (dollar sales +2.7%, volume +1.7%). The offering’s trends were subdued compared to the previous three weeks: week-ending August 24, dollar sales +3.5%, volume +3%; week-ending August 17, dollar sales +4.3%, volume +3.6%; week-ending August 10, dollar sales +5.2%, volume +4.2%.
Meanwhile, Michelob Ultra’s sibling brand Busch fell into the red after several weeks of slowed growth, with dollar sales down 0.6% and volume down 2.7%. Similarly, Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw Hard Seltzer posted dollar sales (-2.3%) and volume (-5.6%) declines in a notable downward shift.
Beyond the top 10, significant YoY growth was still recorded by:
- Constellation Brands’ Pacifico, dollar sales +15.7%, volume +11.9%;
- Geloso Beverage Group’s Clubtails, dollar sales +7%, volume +4.9%:
- Boston Beer Company’s Angry Orchard, dollar sales +12.1%, volume +11.7%:
- Constellation’s Victoria, dollar sales +25%, volume +23.1%;
- Athletic Brewing, dollar sales +16.9%, volume +19.1%;
- And A-B’s Goose Island, dollar sales +8.7%, volume +4.9%.
Goose Island was one of only a handful of brand families to improve trends compared to the previous week (dollar sales +4.9%, volume -3.1%). Heineken 0.0 and Diageo’s Guinness were also able to turn trends after a negative prior week:
- Heineken 0.0 dollar sales +0.4%, volume -0.3%; previous week dollar sales -1.7%, volume -3.2%;
- Guinness dollar sales +2.8%, volume +0.9%; previous week dollar sales flat, volume -0.7%.
Nearly every other top 50 beer brand family recorded accelerated declines or slowed growth compared to the previous week.
“Upcoming, there is good and bad news for the next couple of months,” Scanlon wrote. “The good news is the upcoming 2024 comps are not very strong, but the bad news is this is a historical soft period outside of potential Halloween slight lift ahead of more predictable Thanksgiving surge.
“Recent Halloween data has seen canned cocktail outperformance and would not expect that trend to break this year, along with the beer growth leaders,” he continued. “Thanksgiving will provide [the] greatest opportunity for wine as a broader category to outperform but that is also a bit in the distance. Let’s hope we see the categories pick up strength over next month prior to [the] year-end holiday season.”
Beer-, wine- and spirits-based ready-to-drink beverages (RTDs) recorded nearly flat dollar sales growth (+0.8%) and negative volume trends (-3.9%) in the latest week. The category failed to improve trends despite holiday expectations, with stronger dollar sales (+3.4%) and volume (-1.6%) trends in the previous week.
However, spirits-based offerings were able to maintain notable trends and continue to lead growth over the L52W, including:
- Large-sized ready-to-serve (RTS) premixed cocktails, dollar sales +42.2%, volume +53.2%;
- Single-serve RTS premixed cocktails, dollar sales +34.6%, volume +34.6%;
- And spirits-based hard seltzer, dollar sales +1.9%, volume +1.5%.
Additionally, some top spirits-based brands also continued to record significant growth, including:
- Sazerac’s BuzzBallz, dollar sales +73.2%, volume +77.3% (previous week dollar sales +71.6%, volume +76.5%);
- BeatBox, dollar sales +13.6%, volume +11.5% (previous week dollar sales +14.3%, volume +12.1%);
- A-B’s Cutwater Spirits, dollar sales +78.1%, volume +77.9% (previous week dollar sales +89.5%, volume +90.7%);
- Stateside’s Surfside, dollar sales +346.1%, volume +363.6% (previous week dollar sales +409.2%, volume +431.9%);
- Boston Beer’s Sun Cruiser, dollar sales +334.9%, volume +354.1% (previous week dollar sales +411.3%, volume +426.3%);
- Atomic Brands’ Monaco Cocktails, dollar sales +23.8%, volume +24.7% (previous week dollar sales +26.9%, volume +27.9%);
- Carbliss, dollar sales +32.3%, volume +35.4% (previous week dollar sales +48.5%, volume +51.6%);
- And The Long Drink, dollar sales +27.5%, volume +33.9% (previous week dollar sales +32.4%, volume +30.5%).