Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, March 2, 2024.

Well, it’s finally March everyone! The month where St. Pat’s Day and more sunlight hopefully move beer sales into growth, amirite? (🙏). Because the Super Bowl sure didn’t do it.

The NBWA’s BPI is still under 50 for February (more below), and bev-alc sales dropped -5% WoW for the week of Feb. 18 according to CIRCANA. 

OK, yes, fine 🙄 … Super Bowl week is a tough comp given the increase in alcohol purchases, but beer sales were also -2.2% YoY for that week after the big game, and if BUD LIGHT sales aren’t up by March, we’re still totally blaming the Super Bowl, and only the Super Bowl, right?

OH: Google searches for “Dry February” were +30% for the month vs. 2023 according to Google Trends data. But ya know, I’m sure it’s all just a fad.

AND: Remember – if you’re gonna be out at the California Craft Beer Summit this month from March 12-14, give the BREWBOUND crew a shout! podcast@brewbound.com

Justin & Jess will be out on the summit floor each day doing pod interviews from their booth, and I’m sure having 2 beers after that, then back to their rooms with lights out before 9 p.m. 😴 – so be sure to catch ‘em during daylight hours.

Man, remember when this stock was trading at over $1,200 a share ☝️? Yeah, me neither. 2021 was a crazy time, kids. 

Cue SAM stock almost scraping $300 a share after their Q4 2023 report, which … well, here are the numbers:

• 2023 Shipments (sales to wholesalers): -6%
• Q4 Shipments: -3.5%
• 2023 Depletions (sales to retailers): -6%
• Q4 Depletions: -1%

Describing a sales “slowdown” in the first eight weeks of 2024 on the earnings call also probably didn’t help matters. Thanks, Dry January 🙄 (wait, don’t ya’ll have a few SKUs in NA 🤔 – BTW those were +79% in sales in Q4).

CIRCANA has the 2023 BOSTON BEER off-prem sales split at:

• TWISTED TEA: 49%
• TRULY: 31%
• Other (SAM ADAMS, DOGFISH, ANGRY ORCHARD et al): 20%

AND: Q4 sales for TWISTED TEA were +29%, according to the company.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Dear new hard tea and light lager entrants …

TWISTED TEA came out in 2001, MICH ULTRA in 2002 – if you’re going to try and materially take significant share from either of these two brands here in 2024, and have anything less than a sizable multi-year brand spend commitment at minimum (👋 MODELO Oro), please save everyone the time … and don’t. 

Or at a minimum, know what your realistic goals are/what a specific ‘win’ is for you, and please communicate that publicly at brand launch – otherwise, enjoy the public derision for not doing anything to affect the sales of either of these ‘king’ brands in the respective categories.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Yes, the grand experiment no one really understood in the first place is about to be over, as HARD MTN DEW is expected to move into the BOSTON BEER distributor network “over the coming months as agreements are reached with suppliers and distributors,” and BLUE CLOUD will exit the alcoholic drinks distribution thing.

LIPTON HARD ICED TEA is expected to go through FIFCO’s distribution channels instead of BLUE CLOUD.

Yes, CEO Dave Burwick is retiring from the big job, and the company board on April 1. Alway great to leave on April Fool’s Day.

NIKE exec and BOSTON BEER board member Michael Spillane will replace Dave in the CEO role (so if 26.2 returns in 2025, well, nuff said).

Top BOSTON BEER execs are getting pay bumps in 2024 … except for the big guy, departing CEO Dave Burwick, who insisted on being paid in cases of Utopias. Just kidding, Dave, although he is keeping his 2023 salary of $860K (and $1 million bonus).  

Otherwise here’s what we got:

• Chief supply chain officer Philip Hodges: $633,450 (+3%, bonus: $214K)
• CFO Diego Reynoso: $624K (+4%, bonus: $111K)
• Chief marketing officer Lesya Lysyj: $545,432 (+3%, bonus: $332K)
• Chief accounting officer and VP of finance Matthew Murphy: new base salary of $393K (bonus: $189K)
• AND: Former chief sales officer John Geist, who stepped down on Dec. 31, 2023, and moved into a ‘senior advisory role’ for 2024, will be paid … the same amount as he got when he was doing the job ($608K)

When I asked Justin what my salary would be when I transitioned from this newsletter to a BREWBOUND ‘advisory role,’ he said he thinks I’m gonna actually owe him $65. So, newsletter it is!

Meet the new line of THREE FLOYDS’ RTDs – two 5% ABV vodka sodas, and two 9% ABV vodka splashes (I’ve always been partial to a vodka smidge myself).

The Garbage Pail Kid-inspired cans will be available in 5 Midwest states soon.

SAINT ARNOLD BREWING CO

Brand Manager - Houston, TX

BEACHWOOD BREWING

Cellarperson & Canning Line Operator - Huntington Beach, CA

1911 HARD CIDER & SPIRITS + ARYLOOM THC

Regional Sales Manager - Boston, MA

“In terms of expanding Super Dry, I think the best scenario would be to acquire a relatively large beer company and expand in North America. But we haven’t been able to find that target yet.”

- ASAHI CEO Atsushi Katsuki in a new Bloomberg interview about the brewery’s U.S. aspirations.

The new BPI from the NBWA is out and it’s a bit of a WTF (plus, I just love a sentence that looks like an eye chart). 

Total beer’s 48 is up from January (43), but still below 50, and well below the recorded 54 in February 2023. Thankfully, at-risk inventory was also below 50 at 48 (again, above 50 = good, below 50 = bad … except with at-risk inventory, where you wanna be under 50).

But at least three categories are up YoY (Imports, Premium Light and Premium Regular), and something else besides Imports broke 50.

As for Craft, don’t ask. Seriously. This makes six months straight of a below 30 score … and remember 50 means wholesalers plan to order more of a certain category. #oof😣

How about those global Q4 and 2023 sales, ya’ll! What? The U.S.? Never heard of it, are they new?

Global A-B revenue hit a new all-time high of $59.4 billion (+14% from 2019), with gains from places where Kid Rock is apparently not an influencer. 

Because here’s what ya got for 2023 where he has a fanbase that still listens to him:

• U.S. shipments (sales to wholesalers): -12.7% (2022: -8.6%)
• U.S. depletions (sales to retailers): -11.9% (2022: -7.6%)
• U.S. revenue (money into pocket): -9.5% (2022: +2.3%)
• U.S EBITDA: -23.7%

Q4 numbers … not much better, this about sums it up:

• U.S. revenue: -17.3%
• U.S. EBITDA: -34.2%

I mean, it’s almost like NFL advertising doesn’t work! Here’s where BUD LIGHT came in at for 2023, according to NIQ data:

• Sales: -20.4%
• Volume: -23.4%

As for craft, A-B recorded an approximate $300 million loss in the sale of 8 craft brands to TILRAY for $83 million. 

But global A-B profit for the year still came in at $6.1 billion, up $65 million from 2022, and EBITDA was a smidge under $20 billion, +7%. Zoe also has what A-B is forecasting for 2024 here.

They struck a tentative five-year deal with the Teamsters (membership voting begins tomorrow), with wages increasing $4 per hour in Year One, and $8 per hour over the five-year period, an increase of +23% in total, per the union.

There’s also increased job security, and the tiered healthcare system is dunzo. Oh – and how about a $2,500 ‘ratification bonus’ for each union member to make this voting process as smooth and totally legit as possible? 

Enjoy a BUD NEXT gratis on the way out. No seriously, take two.

The BREWBOUND trio do a special all-news edition in a busy week to round out February, discussing the big changes in the c-suite at BOSTON BEER and at the BLUE CLOUD network, plus the tentative union deal at A-B and more.  

Listen Here!

AND: Check out another new pod episode with Mary Mills and Stephanie Roatis from 3 TIER BEVERAGES, diving into their latest “3 UP, 3 DOWN” report.

• MONSTER has already written off roughly $40 million on their CANARCHY purchase as 2023 ended, just under two years after buying it for $330 million in an all-cash deal.
• NARRAGANSETT was +6% to about 108K BBL in 2023, with the on-prem actually a bright spot (+10%). 
• 3 FLOYDS ended 2023 at +4% in volume to 112K BBL, with the flagship brand +2% and WAR PIGS +14% (hitting over 21K BBL), according to Beer Marketer's Insights.
• FIDDLEHEAD hit 91K BBL in 2023, with 42% of that on draft 👏, and is on track to cross 100K BBL in 2024.
• Georgia’s attempt to reform their still restrictive brewery laws failed to advance from the state Senate committee level #shocker. It would have allowed breweries to self-distro up to 3K BBL a year, removed the to-go sales daily limit that breweries have, along with some other provisions. 
• Troy Aikman’s EIGHT Elite Lager is expanding beyond TX into OK as it enters its third year. Dollar sales and volume were both -22.5% in the last 52-week data period according to NIQ through January 27.
• Denver’s TRVE Brewing is moving their brewing to CO neighbor NEW IMAGE Brewing, with the main culprit being … wait for it, a rent increase. TRVE’s taproom will remain in business, and they’re opening a second location in Denver, as well as one in Asheville, NC.
• The FTC made it official with KROGER/ALBERTSONS, filing a lawsuit against the deal, and issuing a preliminary injunction.
• Bart Watson gave an update on 2023 U.S. hop production, and while it has leveled off/become relatively static, it’s at a level that’s still way above demand – Zoe has your details.
• On-prem spirits sales were -3.3%, and volume -6.5% for the year in 2023, according to NIQ data.

This week’s beer is going out to KEYSTONE salmon! Yes, the prayers of the very specific, but very bougie demo of canned smoked salmon and canned light beer aficionados have been answered, thanks to the “don’t call them Stone” KEYSTONE BEER marketing department.

The folks at MC have created a “Smooth Snackle Pack” (Zoe, is “snackle” a term the kids are using today?), and for just $30 – three cans of canned smoked rainbow trout, a tackle box with an insulated area for beer, and a $25 Uber Eats gift card (presumably to get yourself some KEYSTONE LIGHT) can be all yours.

“Canned fish is having a moment in the press and on plates,” according to Matt Lafferty, marketing manager for KEYSTONE LIGHT, and noted canned fish market tracker.

So get yours today! Free idea for next month MC – a Breath Freshener Pack is something to strongly consider.

Slainté!  

-Sean McNulty 

(you can always reach me here on LinkedIn)