IRI: New Belgium Accounts for 5 of Top 30 Craft Brands

IRI: New Belgium Accounts for 5 of Top 30 Craft Brands

New Belgium Brewing products account for one sixth of the top 30 craft beer brands, according to market research firm IRI.

The Fort Collins, Colorado-based craft brewery’s top five brands — Fat Tire Amber Ale, Voodoo Ranger IPA, Voodoo Ranger’s rotator (currently Voodoo Ranger 1985 IPA), Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA and Voodoo Ranger Liquid Paradise IPA — account for 74.2% of its dollar sales year-to-date, according to IRI data through August 9. Combined, these beers have sold $127 million of the company’s total $171 million year-to-date.

Year-to-date through early August, New Belgium’s sales have increased 29.6% over the same period last year.

Flagship Fat Tire’s sales increased 4.4%, to $37.9 million, making it the eleventh best-selling craft brand in IRI tracked multi-outlet chain and convenience stores. Voodoo Ranger IPA’s sales increased 14.5%, to $26.9 million. New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger rotational offering’s sales increased 46%, to $26.8 million. Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA’s sales increased 198.8%, to $23.5 million. And Voodoo Ranger Liquid Paradise IPA, the newest release of the quintet, saw its sales increase 88.3%, to $11.9 million.

The price for all five offerings has increased an average of $1.11 per case in the latest four weeks:

  • Fat Tire increased $1 per case;
  • Voodoo Ranger IPA increased $0.65 per case;
  • Voodoo Ranger’s rotator increased $0.88;
  • Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA increased $2.17 per case;
  • Voodoo Ranger Liquid Paradise increased $0.83 per case.

Sales of four of the five brands have decelerated in the latest four-week and 12-week periods. Voodoo Ranger 1985 IPA has accelerated over its year-to-date increase of 46%, with a 52.7% bump in the latest four-week period, slightly down from its 12-week period increase of 54.7%. The rotating series’ current offering, Voodoo Ranger 1985 IPA, was released in May. Voodoo Ranger Starship IPA preceded it, and the release of a third offering is imminent, a New Belgium spokesperson confirmed.

New Belgium’s dollar share in the craft segment has held mostly steady, with an increase of 0.06 share points, to 0.65 share of craft dollars year-to-date.

The company is No. 12 on IRI’s top 25 vendors, but it fell out of IRI’s top 25 brand families in May and has not regained a spot on that list since.

In the most recent IRI scan data, Molson Coors Beverage Company offerings claimed the top two spots on the top 30 craft brands: Blue Moon Belgian White (+11.6% in dollar sales year-to-date) and Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy (+6.2% in dollar sales year-to-date) — improvements for both brands over last year. In 2019, sales of Blue Moon Belgian White were flat, after a 3.4% decline in 2018, while Leinenkugel Shandy declined 11.5%.

New entrant Blue Moon Light Sky Citrus Wheat, launched in early 2020, has attained a 1.28 share of craft dollars in the latest four-week period, a trend that is accelerating, according to IRI. Year-to-date, the brand has earned $26.9 million. Sister brand Belgian White has lost 0.23 share points in the latest four weeks, indicating perhaps some cannibalization.

Other craft dollar share losers in the latest four weeks include Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy (-0.4), Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (-0.12), Samuel Adams Seasonal (-0.27), New Belgium Fat Tire (-0.11), Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Shock Top Belgian White Ale (-0.32), Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA (-0.14), and the New Glarus portfolio (-0.15).

Few craft brands on IRI’s top 30 saw significant dollar sales declines. In fact, dollar sales of the craft beer segment as a whole are up 13.9%, to $3.006 billion year-to-date. Brands with the biggest year-to-date dollar sales declines include Shock Top (-14.2%) and the Samuel Adams variety pack (-10.8%), though the latter’s trends have improved to -2.1% in the latest four weeks.

Other craft brands with year-to-date dollar sales declines include:

  • A-B’s Goose Island IPA — -2.9%;
  • SweetWater 420 Pale Ale — -1.4%;
  • New Glarus portfolio — -0.3%;
  • And Deschutes Fresh Squeezed — -0.1%.

In the latest four weeks, the New Glarus portfolio’s sales have declined 10%. Meanwhile, in the same time period, Goose Island IPA’s dollar sales have increased 1.5%.

Dollar sales of another A-B owned craft brand, Elysian’s Space Dust IPA, have increased 28.1% in the latest four weeks, largely thanks to a discount of $2.88 per case. Space Dust’s year-to-date sales have increased 25.1% with a discount of $0.80 per case. It’s now the fourth best selling craft IPA in multi-outlet chain and convenience stores, with year-to-date sales of $47.8 million, behind No. 1 Lagunitas IPA ($63 million), No. 2 Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA ($54.6 million) and No. 3 Founders All Day IPA ($51 million).

Space Dust has offered the biggest discount in the latest four weeks, but others taking price down include Cigar City Jai Alai IPA (-$0.69 per case), Goose Island IPA (-$0.56 per case), Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale (-$0.50 per case) and Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy (-$0.33 per case).

More craft breweries have increased their per case price than decreased in the latest four weeks, with the largest increase coming from Craft Brew Alliance’s Kona Big Wave Golden Ale, which brought its price per case up by $3.49. Kona’s dollar sales are up 19.6% year-to-date, but its trends have softened in the latest four weeks, to a 7.7% increase over the same period last year.

Boston Beer has increased the per case price of all three of its brands in the top 30 in the latest four weeks: Samuel Adams Seasonal (+$1.07), Samuel Adams Boston Lager (+$1), Samuel Adams Variety Pack (+$1.13). Dollar sales of the brand’s seasonal offering, which transitioned from Summer Ale to OctoberFest in mid-August, were up 11.9% year-to-date, but declined 3.1% in the four weeks ending August 9, as Summer Ale’s time in market came to an end. Boston Lager’s dollar sales have increased 10.8% year-to-date and accelerated in the latest four weeks, to an increase of 15.5% over the same period last year.

The entire Boston Beer portfolio — whose nationally available brands include Samuel Adams, Angry Orchard, Twisted Tea, Truly Hard Seltzer and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery — is up 58.1% in dollar sales year-to-date, for a total of $1.14 billion in sales at IRI-tracked accounts. Truly, which is up 180.7%, to $543 million in sales year-to-date, and Twisted Tea, which is up 31%, to $304 million in sales year-to-date, account for 74.2% of those sales.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to clarify that IRI’s listing of Rampant is actually the Voodoo Ranger rotator.