Beyond Beer

Hard seltzers, a Michelob Ultra challenger and a strong push for cans were among the key takeaways from Heineken USA’s national sales meeting held virtually Thursday across three regions.

Boston Beer Company’s annual Great American Beer Festival brunch this year was, of course, physically distant. It was also less boozy than previous years. The latter point was on purpose. Among Boston Beer’s big innovations for 2021 are Samuel Adams Just the Haze IPA and Dogfish Head Lemon Quest, both non-alcoholic offerings.

Another major brewer is teaming up with a non-alcoholic beverage maker to create a hard seltzer. Heineken USA and AriZona Beverages’ Hornell Brewing Company are working together to launch AriZona Sun Rise Hard Seltzer nationwide in the first quarter of 2021.

Large beer and CPG companies are trading on the equity of their top brands to try to get a piece of the $3.49 billion hard seltzer segment. The latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast brings together industry experts to discuss a slew of new introductions.

After a year of trial and research, Longmont, Colorado-based Bootstrap Brewing will launch its first non-alcoholic offering, Strapless IPA, the company announced yesterday.

The month of August was Boulevard Brewing Company’s “single best month ever,” even with the the company’s on-premise business cut in half, Duvel USA president Jeff Krum told Brewbound. In August, Boulevard shipped 19,000 barrels of product, which Duvel USA VP of sales Bobby Dykstra said was tied for the company’s biggest volume month ever, “but in revenue, blew past any month in our history.”

In a summer plagued with out-of-stock issues, Constellation Brands’ beer depletions still increased 4.7% in the second quarter of the company’s fiscal year, the company shared today.

Anheuser-Busch InBev is cashing in on the popularity of its Michelob Ultra beer brand and launching Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer, expanding its core portfolio to six hard seltzers, the company announced today.

Josh Landan believes he’s found another Saint Archer in the nearly nine-month-old Ashland Hard Seltzer brand. Landan, who co-founded the San Diego craft brewery in 2013 and sold it to Molson Coors in 2015, recalled growing the San Diego craft brewery from 7,200 barrels in Year One, to 17,000 barrels in Year Two and 35,000 barrels in three years. Now, Landan believes he’s found another rocket ship in Ashland.

Just 15 days after announcing a joint venture with Yuengling to distribute the Pennsylvania brewery’s beer west of the Mississippi River, Molson Coors today announced a deal with The Coca-Cola Company to manufacture, market and distribute Topo Chico Hard Seltzer in the U.S.

New Belgium will wade into the increasingly crowded hard seltzer segment next year with Fruit Smash, Brewbound has confirmed. Massachusetts’ Trillium Brewing reopened its popular beer garden on Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway today for its fourth season.

Through the first days of September, year-to-date off-premise beer category dollar sales are up 16.4%, according to market research firm IRI. Total beer sales have reached $30.1 billion in multi-outlet grocery, mass retail and convenience stores, the firm reported.

If Summer 2019 was the season hard seltzer found its footing, Summer 2020 was the year it blasted off. Off-premise dollar sales of hard seltzer between the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends this year reached $1.75 billion — a full $1.1 billion more than the same period last year, according to market research firm Nielsen.