Even as suppliers rush to produce hard seltzers, ready-to-drink canned cocktails and other so-called “fourth category” offerings, traditional beer remains a priority for Whole Foods Markets, according to Mary Guiver, the natural food chain’s global senior category merchant for beer and spirits.
Hard seltzers will be receiving more shelf space in convenience stores, according to Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog’s latest “Beverage Bytes” survey of convenience store beverage buyers (representing 30,000 retail locations, or about 20% of the c-store channel).
The Brewers Association (BA) ended 2020 with an operational net loss of $3.5 million, according to its 2020 stewardship report, which the organization released today. “No one was immune to hardship in 2020, including the Brewers Association,” president and CEO Bob Pease wrote in a note opening the report.
Molson Coors Beverage Company announced today that it will make an equity investment in TRU Colors Brewery, a Wilmington, North Carolina-based craft brewery with a mission to end street violence.
Michigan’s Short’s Brewing is on the verge of its 17th anniversary — one that will go without an in-person celebration for the second consecutive year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amid rising competition in the ever-expanding hard seltzer segment, Mark Anthony Brands is adding two line extensions and one new variety pack to its White Claw franchise ahead of peak summer seltzer selling season. The company has finally announced the launch of long-rumored White Claw Surge, the 8% ABV version of the best selling hard seltzer, as well as a third variety pack.
Sales velocities at bars and restaurants have more than tripled year-over-year (+325%) now that the calendar is cycling the strictest lockdown period in 2020, according to Nielsen CGA, market research firm NielsenIQ’s on-premise arm. “Across all states, value velocity remains strongly positive compared to last year, when on-premise decline was at its height,” Nielsen CGA reported.
Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson this week delivered his annual state of the industry report virtually for the second time, due to the 2020 cancellation and 2021 postponement of the Craft Brewers Conference, now slated to take place this fall. In 2020, the nation’s 8,764 craft breweries posted a 9% decline in beer volume, so Watson delved into the market forces and consumer trends that led to the first volume decline recorded in BA history during a webinar for members.
Boston Beer Company founder Jim Koch is urging the leaders of the beer industry’s three major trade groups — the Brewers Association (BA), the Beer Institute (BI) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) — to work together to beat back efforts by spirits groups to bring taxes on spirits-based, lower-alcohol, ready-to-drink offerings in line with beer, hard seltzers and FMBs.
Atlantic Beverage Distributors’ fight to keep Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers from terminating their wholesaler relationship hit a roadblock this week when a judge denied the distributor’s motion for a preliminary injunction against a pending arbitration hearing.
Net sales of Constellation Brands’ beer portfolio — including Mexican import labels Corona, Modelo and Pacifico — topped $6 billion, an 8% increase, in fiscal year 2021, the company shared today while reporting its full-year earnings.
The first Brew Talks of 2021 will take place on Thursday, May 13 and reconvene several panelists from its April 2020 discussion to gain perspective on how these businesses are faring one year later and what the path forward is for the industry.
The COVID-19 pandemic created a lot of hardships for craft brewers in 2020. Those challenges are evident in the Brewers Association’s (BA) annual production report, which revealed a 9% decline in brewery volumes, as well as declines in volume share, craft retail dollar value, craft dollar share, and the number of craft brewing jobs.
Continuing to cycle the tough comps of 2020’s pandemic stock-up period, off-premise dollar sales of alcoholic beverages declined 1.3% for the week ending March 27, compared to the same week last year, according to market research firm NielsenIQ.
