3 Up, 3 Down with 3 Tier Beverages is a quarterly insights series available to Brewbound Insiders, via the Chicago-headquartered, bev-alc-focused consulting and data firm.
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.
Heineken has entered the increasingly crowded hard seltzer segment with two different brands in different parts of the world. And After announcing the end of a tariff exemption for Canadian aluminum last month, President Donald Trump has changed his mind, according to a statement last week from the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Despite out of stock issues from key suppliers, Labor Day weekend beer sales increased over the holiday weekend last year and indicate the beer category’s off-premise sales will finish the year strong, according to a report from Goldman Sachs Equity Research.
After successfully extending the Truly Hard Seltzer brand with Truly Lemonade Seltzer — which has quickly become Truly’s second-best selling SKU — Boston Beer will debut Truly Iced Tea Hard Seltzer nationwide early next year.
Just ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend, Anheuser-Busch today launched its next hard seltzer, Bud Light Platinum Seltzer, nationwide.
Summer is coming to a close for Harpoon Brewery and Polar Beverages’ hard seltzer brand. Initially dubbed Arctic Summer when the brand launched in April 2019, the two Massachusetts-headquartered companies are rechristening the hard seltzer line as Arctic Chill in order “to reinforce year-round enjoyment.”
Anheuser-Busch InBev is “remixing” its Bud Light Seltzer variety pack, adding three new flavors — Cranberry, Grapefruit and Pineapple — that will be featured in a second variety 12-pack with its Strawberry flavor. The new mixed packs are expected to be on store shelves nationwide by Monday, August 31.
The top selling eight beer brand families have all surpassed $1 billion in sales at multi-outlet chain and convenience stores year-to-date, according to data shared by market research firm IRI, which includes sales data through August 9.
Mark Anthony Brands has named former Jimmy John’s CMO John Shea to lead the marketing efforts for the White Claw hard seltzer brand. Shea will assume the role this month, a spokesperson confirmed to Brewbound.
The liquor license of New York City’s oldest beer garden — The Beer Garden at Bohemian Hall in Astoria — has been suspended for violating the state’s COVID-19 guidelines. Meanwhile, Dollar sales of hard seltzers in off-premise retailers will soon surpass craft beer sales, Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson reported recently, citing data from market research firm IRI.
Beer distributors widely anticipate Monster Energy to enter the hard seltzer segment as early as next year, according to a survey conducted by Goldman Sachs Equity Research. Nearly 85% of wholesalers in the “Beverage Bytes” survey, representing feedback from more than 80 distributors and approximately 180,000 retail outlets that sell alcohol, believe that Monster will or potentially could launch a hard seltzer product.
Beer consumers are settling into the “next” normal — and that means increased sales in the convenience channel, according to Nielsen VP of beverage alcohol practice Danelle Kosmal.
