The Beer Institute (BI) is forecasting U.S. beer shipments to decline between one and three percent in 2018, chief economist Michael Uhrich shared during the national trade association’s “State of the Industry” webinar today.
With more than 6,300 breweries competing for consumer mindshare in today’s crowded beer environment, standing out is a “constant battle.” That’s how Neal Stewart, vice president of marketing for Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, described the difficulty of differentiating a craft brand in 2018 during last week’s Brew Talks meetup, held during the annual Craft Brewers Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) today reported its first quarter 2018 earnings, which were highlighted by a 9 percent increase in shipments, to 167,000 barrels, on soft comps from a year ago. In a press release, the company – which makes and markets the Kona, Widmer Brothers, Redhook, Omission, and Square Mile Cider brands – said net sales increased 7 percent, to $47.5 million, while gross profit increased 19 percent, to $15.1 million, during the quarter.
Calagione — along with Brooklyn Brewery VP Dave Duffy, The BWC Company director of analytics Dave Williams and Lowes Foods senior category manager Charles Slezak — discussed the evolving craft landscape and more during a panel discussion on “Retail Strategies for Craft Brewers.
Anheuser-Busch InBev today reported global revenue growth of 4.7 percent in the first quarter of 2018 even as the company’s domestic shipments and depletions decreased due to continued declines of the its flagship lager brands. A-B, the world’s largest beer manufacturer, recorded global revenue of more than $13 billion during the quarter and a gross profit of more than $8 billion. The company’s revenue per hectoliter increased 4.9 percent.
More than a month after Sonoma Beverage Works lost its investor funding and abruptly ceased operations, the assets of the Northern California cider and wine company are being liquidated. According to an April 17 notice to creditors, Sonoma Beverage Works, whose brands include Sonoma Cider and Ahoy Wines, transferred ownership of the company’s physical assets and intellectual property to Structured Solutions, a California-based liquidator, on April 7 in order to recoup creditors’ money.
Pete Coors, the chairman of Molson Coors’ board of directors, didn’t appreciate some of the comments that were made about large brewing companies during last week’s Craft Brewers Conference. The annual event — which was hosted by the Brewers Association (BA) and drew nearly 14,000 attendees from across the beer industry to Nashville, Tennessee, for a week of learning and socializing – began with a familiar refrain: “Big beer” is bad.
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s new menu labeling rules took effect today, ushering in a new wave of requirements for chain retailers. Going forward, chain restaurants, grocery outlets, and convenience stores with more than 20 locations will be required to post caloric and nutritional information for beer as well as other food and drinks sold on-premise that are considered “standard menu items.”
In the latest edition of People Moves: Worthy Brewing hires a new CEO; Heineken shuffles its executives; and David Coors takes over at AC Golden Brewing.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: Shipyard Brewing looks to pivot in Portland; the TTB collects record offer for alleged trade practice violations; Molson Coors reports Q2 earnings; and more.
Anheuser-Busch is making yet another sustainability-minded investment. The world’s largest beer company today announced plans to purchase upwards of 800 hydrogen-electric powered semi-trucks from Nikola Motor Company.
One week after being named the Brewers Association’s new diversity ambassador, Dr. J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham presented to hundreds of Craft Brewers Conference attendees about the challenges of diversifying the brewing industry. “We all want to diversify craft beer,” she said, “but why is doing this so hard?”
In today’s craft beer environment, it pays to be a startup. According to Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson, breweries founded after 2014 are driving the majority of segment growth. Those breweries collectively added 916,000 barrels to the category in 2017, which represents growth of 52.6 percent versus 2016. Breweries founded before 2014, however, added 285,000 barrels to the craft segment and collectively grew just 1.3 percent.
Craft Brew Alliance has inked another sports sponsorship. After striking a “multi-year” deal to become the “official craft beer” of Major League Soccer’s LA Galaxy in March, CBA today announced that its Kona brand would become the “official craft beer” of the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP).
