FIFA men’s World Cup season is almost upon us, but the folks at Stella Artois are getting a head start to encourage drinking on the job! It seems 86% of World Cup games will occur during normal working hours in the U.S., so Stella is launching a #WFB promo, or Work From Bar, where it’s setting aside up to $100k to reimburse folks for STELLAs imbibed while ostensibly #WFB during games at bars and restaurants.
If the realities of the 2010s bev-alc business meant that big beer could become craft beer stalwarts, and the early 2020s beer biz realities meant that craft breweries embraced light lagers and hard seltzers – I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised that the realities of the mid-2020s restaurant business mean that HOOTERS is now looking to be … family friendly?
This week’s beer naturally goes out to SCHLITZ, as it seems all of you precious beer history nerds haven’t been drinking your fair share of it. As you likely heard, PABST is putting the brand “on hiatus” like a low-rated ABC drama series, so I guess all of the late 1970s pseudo free sitcom product placement goodwill only goes so far in the end.
We have a tale of 2 bev-alc approaches this week, which may help explain the larger trends afoot in both inflation and beer sales. We’ll start at the PGA Championship outside of Philly this weekend (on the classy side), where all the food and drink are completely free! Uh, unless you want a beer – that’ll be $15.
As we sit on the cusp of Mother’s Day this year, let’s top and tail the newsletter with some love going out to our moms this week.
Good news! George Clooney finally caught a break in life this week … as his CRAZY MOUNTAIN NA beer scored $15M in seed funding led by CAVU CONSUMER PARTNERS – George would love to contribute with some of that sweet NETFLIX money, but ya know, raising twins is expensive.
Let’s start with some good news this week! All of the bev-alc inflation over the past few years combined with other larger American consumer pocketbook pressures ⛽️ is bringing back a time-honored tradition: pre-gaming! (Wait, did that ever really go anywhere?)
Let’s start with a thanks to the folks at on-prem POS software company TOAST for confirming items I often include in this newsletter. Congratulations, NYC – you officially have the country’s most expensive pint! (See Zoe? I toldja!).
If, for some reason, you have a hard time meeting people at a music festival who are um … also into music – HEINEKEN thankfully has you covered! Yes, meet “The Clinker!”
I think we’ve all learned to do a proper whenever we hear TILRAY is done making deals at this point – although this time it’s for … Popsicles. Hmmm, OK, ya got me – do go on.
As we sit in the middle of the best 5-day stretch on the college sports calendar, I hope your attempt to redeem yourself from your men’s March Madness bracket with an intact women’s March Madness bracket yesterday totally paid off. Either way – I’m sure you’re enjoying some new beer ads to cheer you up! Well . . . kinda new.
NA beer is now on the list, with a new crop of celebrities joining Tom Holland, Charlie Sheen and John Mulaney – although I’m trying to figure out why no one brought a beer for Mike Meldman.
Folks often ask me, Sean – what’s it like living the glamorous life of a weekend beer biz columnist in New York City? Is it just like Sex and the City? Well Zoe, some days it is for sure (although with far fewer brunches), but it does come at a price. Thus, I give you this week’s dispatch from a bar in my neighborhood, which may give some insight into the volume issues the industry continues to see.
What happened to GUINNESS 0 in NYC? I haven’t seen it on WHOLE FOODS’ shelves in several weeks in a couple of stores that I’ve checked, and I’ve also struck out finding it at other city food stores. It’s still plentiful in Jersey, but yeah – maybe we get on that as March begins?
