Craft beer dollar sales are up 18.8% year-to-date through January 24 at multi-outlet retailers and convenience stores tracked by market research firm IRI.
Twelve of IRI’s top 30 craft brands’ off-premise dollar sales gains outpaced the segment last month:
- Blue Moon Light Sky Citrus Wheat — 16,532.3% (Note: Light Sky wasn’t officially on the market until February 2020)
- New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze IPA — +131.3%
- Leinenkugel’s Shandy Seasonal — 98.3%
- New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA — +73.5%
- New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Rotator — +53.3%
- Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA — +45%
- Samuel Adams Variety Pack — +44.1%
- Kona Big Wave Golden Ale — +30%
- Lagunitas A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale– +24.3%
- Samuel Adams Seasonal — +23%
- Bell’s Two Hearted Ale — +20.4%
- Founders All Day IPA — +18.9%
Only four brands on IRI’s list of the top 30 craft brands recorded dollar sales in decline, including Anheuser-Busch’s Shock Top Belgian White Ale (-14.9%), SweetWater 420 Extra Pale Ale (-2.3%) and two Sierra Nevada SKUs, its seasonal portfolio (-13.7%) and Torpedo Extra IPA (-8.2%).
The craft segment’s biggest dollar share gainer was Molson Coors’ Blue Moon Light Sky, which just cycled its February 2020 debut; Light Sky gained 1.05 sharepoints. Meanwhile, its sister brand Blue Moon Belgian White was the segment’s biggest share loser, with dollar share declining 0.59 sharepoints. Nevertheless, Blue Moon Belgian White reamined the best-selling craft beer offering in scans, increasing sales 7.7%, to more than $19.6 million.
Blue Moon Light Sky recorded the steepest decline in price per case year-to-date, dropping $0.80. Stone IPA had the second largest decline, dropping $0.68 per case, which CEO Maria Stipp discussed during a recent episode of Brewbound Frontlines.
“Stone IPA wasn’t able to compete against its closest competitors because our price was sometimes $2-$4 higher,” she said. “It was throwing us way off, so we corrected that in our home market and we actually reversed the trend.”
Year-to-date, Stone IPA’s dollar sales have increased 3.1%, an improvement compared to the 6.7% off-premise dollar sales decline the brand posted for the 52-week period ending January 24. Portfolio-wide Stone dollar sales are up 9.3% year-to-date, making it the industry’s 23rd largest vendor.
Of the top 25 brand families, hard seltzer brands continued to post the strongest increases in dollar sales. Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw (+46.7%), Boston Beer Company’s Truly Hard Seltzer (+119.6%) and Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light Seltzer (+262%) each increased dollar sales year-to-date through January 24. Boston Beer’s Twisted Tea brand family increased dollar sales 52.3% compared to the same period last year.
Dollar sales of the New Belgium brand family are up 44.9% year-to-date, making it the 11th largest beer category vendor, surpassing Sierra Nevada during the first month of the year. In fact, New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA ($8.3 million) leapfrogged Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (nearly $7.7 million) in dollar sales during the month, to become the second-best selling beer brand behind just Blue Moon Belgian White and the top-selling IPA.
Overall, total beer category dollar sales increased 14.9%, to more than $2.9 billion, year-to-date through January 24, compared to the same period last year. Flavored malt beverages (FMBs), which IRI lumps hard seltzers into, increased dollar sales 48.9%, to $453.3 million. Also outpacing the overall beer category were imports (+17.3%), domestic super premiums (+20%), cider (18.9%), and non-alcoholic beer (+33.5%). Only domestic sub-premiums (-2.3%) and assorted packs (-14.4%) posted dollar sales declines.
The growth of the country’s two largest beer manufacturers, A-B (+8.9%) and Molson Coors (+6.2%), lagged behind total category sales year-to-date. Of the 25 largest vendors, Boston Beer (+57.3%) recorded the biggest dollar sales increases, pushing the company past Heineken USA to become the fifth largest producer.
Almost all of the 25 largest vendors achieved at least moderate single-digit dollar sales increases. The exception was SweetWater Brewing, which was roughly flat at +0.4%.