Beer category off-premise dollar sales declined -7% during the two weeks surrounding Memorial Day weekend compared to the same period in 2020, according to market research firm NielsenIQ.
The decline was “expected, given the shift back to on-premise establishments,” NielsenIQ vice president of beverage alcohol practice Danelle Kosmal wrote in a report on holiday weekend sales. Memorial Day weekend is the harbinger of the beer industry’s busy summer selling season, but this year the holiday weekend was imbued with extra meaning.
“While Memorial Day is usually an off-premise centric holiday, this year it was the first major holiday to take place after many [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] restrictions were lifted across the country, leading to more on-premise drinking and eating occasions than in prior years,” Kosmal noted.
Last year at this time, much of the on-premise channel was still shut down and social gatherings were strongly discouraged by public health officials. With vaccinations available to all adults and most states having lifted restrictions, more consumers visited bars and restaurants during the long weekend.
On-premise value velocity increased +43% nationwide on Memorial Day compared to the prior Monday, according NielsenIQ’s on-premise partner firm CGA. This indicated a brisker increase in on-premise business than in 2019, when the holiday only saw a +13% bump compared to the prior week.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted most of the state’s restrictions today, including its color-coded tier system for business restrictions by region. Nevertheless, Golden State on-premise establishments, which were operating at reduced capacity, reported a +58% increase in sales on Memorial Day compared to the previous Monday, according to CGA.
Overall, beer category off-premise sales declined -7% for the two-week period ending June 5 compared to the same period last year, slightly outperforming the beverage alcohol category as whole, which declined -7.5%. Spirits outpaced the overall category with a -5% decline compared to last year, but wine declined -11%. Dollar sales of the total fast moving consumer goods category increased +1.4% over the same two-week period last year.
To draw a more equitable comparison, Kosmal compared 2021 Memorial Day weekend off-premise sales to 2019 and found that total alcohol sales in 2021 were +17% higher than in 2019, driven primarily by spirits (+31%). Wine (+14%) and beer (+13%) both outperformed the 2019 Memorial Day weekend period.
Hard seltzers reached 11.7% of total beer category off-premise sales during the two-week period encompassing Memorial Day weekend. Last year, dollar sales of hard seltzers reached 9.8% of the beer category during the long weekend. The segment continues to gain share within the beer category, albeit at a slower pace; in 2019, hard seltzers accounted for just 3.5% of beer category off-premise sales.
“To put this into perspective, this is the same dollar share for craft beer in NielsenIQ off-premise channels for Memorial Day weeks,” Kosmal wrote. “While hard seltzer sales have most certainly slowed over the past few months, it remains one of the few segments to surpass 2020 dollar sales, which is an indicator that hard seltzers will once again be a staple for off-premise drinking occasions this summer.”
Dollar sales of hard seltzer increased +297% compared to 2019 and +10.7% compared to 2020, showing that growth is slowing. The segment got a slight holiday weekend bump — dollar sales for the four weeks ending June 5 increased +8.2% compared to the same period last year. Hard seltzer was the only beer category segment to show dollar sales growth in that time.
New products within the hard seltzer segment appear to be driving growth. Of the top 10 growth brand extensions for the two-week period, nine were hard seltzers and the tenth was Boston Beer’s Twisted Tea (+17.1% for the four weeks ending June 5).
In the four weeks that ended June 5, which includes the two-week holiday period, Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw Variety Pack No. 3 and Boston Beer’s Truly Hard Seltzer Punch Variety Pack were the biggest dollar share gainers, each increasing share by +0.6 sharepoints.
In the spirits category, dollar sales of ready-to-drink canned cocktails increased +496% compared to 2019 and +111% compared to 2020. RTDs gained two sharepoints, reaching 3.7% of the spirits category.
Dollar sales of core beer increased +1.9% compared to 2019, driven by dollar sales growth in Mexican imports (+17.3%), super premiums (+10.7%) and craft (+4.1%).
“For this key beer-drinking holiday, the biggest losses came from below premium (-11.4%), premium light (-5.3%), and premium regular (-4.8%),” Kosmal wrote.
The top five selling beer category brands were:
- Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light
- Constellation Brands’ Modelo Especial
- A-B’s Michelob Ultra
- Molson Coors’ Coors Light
- Constellation’s Corona Extra.
Modelo Especial bumped Michelob Ultra from its No. 2 spot. Year-to-date through June 5, dollar sales of Modelo Especial have increased +8.4% compared to the same period last year, nearly twice the rate of overall imports (+4.4%) for the same period.