Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, July 13, 2024.

Some say there’s no such thing as bad publicity … but I feel rather confident in saying this wasn’t a July 4 holiday product placement spend from COORS.

ACROSS THE POND: As Wimbledon wraps up this weekend, the Brits certainly did their best to rival America on the beverage pricing front … with $10 pints of GUINNESS (of course, their pints are proper at 20 oz.), and nearly $11 pints of STELLA. So, not quite what we pay at an average baseball game … and hey, I doubt anything as classy as this 👇broke out in the stands there either. USA! USA!

2024 REPORT CARD: Total ‘24 off-prem beer sales through June 16, according to CIRCANA:

• Sales: -0.5%
• Volume: -2.5%

Only categories showing growth this year (sales/volume):

• Non-alc beer: +29.4% / +23.4%
• FMB: +9.6% / +8.1%
• Imports: +5.3% / +4%

Uh, as for craft: -3.2% / -4.8%.

A-B has had one of the steepest declines among brands through June 16, with sales at -7.3%. Zoe has your breakdown of sales trends for the big players in the L4W period ending June 16 here.

OH: Come to the beach 🏖️ with BREWBOUND in mid-December! (Jess says don’t worry – she’ll make sure there is plenty of SURFSIDE available).

Confirmed speakers include:

• Mary Mills, consultant for 3 Tier Beverages;
• Arthur Moye, owner and CEO of FULL CIRCLE Brewing;
• Kaleigh Theriault, director of thought leadership, beverage alcohol vertical at NIQ;
• Brian “BK” Krueger, VP of business development and portfolio strategies at BWC;
• Natalie Cilurzo, RUSSIAN RIVER co-owner;
• Peter Skrbek, CEO Deschutes Brewery;
• Lester Jones, NBWA chief economist and VP of analytics 
• Jennifer Hauke, DRAFTLINE TECHNOLOGIES founder and president 
• Rebecca Maisel, GULF DISTRIBUTING SVP of legal and government affairs 

PLUS: Beer and beverage-alcohol brands can participate in retailer one-to-ones. Leaders from WHOLE FOODS and other businesses will be available for private, pre-scheduled meetings. Brands will be selected at each retailer’s discretion. REGISTER HERE.

I’m seconding Jess’ SURFSIDE RTD prevalence sentiment on the East Coast – folks, you know it’s getting real when you open your own branded bar on a beach in Long Branch, NJ.

As Jess pointed out, while it began in the greater NJ/Philly area, SURFSIDE is expanding quickly to a near nationwide footprint, and YTD sales for its ‘starter pack’ format are +881% thru June 15, according to NIQ data shared by BWC.

For the record, there was a fair share of folks drinking CORONA and MILLER LITE at the bar too … but the only other alcohol brand I saw having any kind of branded presence along the boardwalk bars on July 4 was HIGH NOON. #BeerWho? 

Just gonna copy and paste this from Jess, as it says it all, really:

• The number of craft beer drinkers who are drinking less craft beer than they were a year ago has surpassed the number of those who are drinking more for the first time since the BA started asking this question in its annual poll in 2015, which polled 2100 LDA Americans this year.

Other 👎 numbers:

• Folks who drink craft “several times a year” went from 85% in 2020 to 77% in 2024;
• Weekly craft drinkers fell from 50% in 2021 to 44% this year.

But, the % of folks who drink craft “several times a year” as part of their alcohol intake mix during the year is still increasing, now at 48% of respondents.

However ... craft’s white male drinker profile still has not changed, especially compared to all other alcohol categories. By a margin. 🧔

Not a bad deal if you can get it … this $50 million investment round is led by private equity firm GENERAL ATLANTIC, who will also get a seat on the company’s board – although previous investors also participated in this round. 

The $50 million also matches the size of the KDP investment back in late 2022 (the Series D round).

This raises ATHLETIC’s outside investment to $225 million through six rounds total to date.

The WSJ reported that ATHLETIC’s sales cleared $90 million last year. CEO Bill Schufelt is gonna use the money to buy a Ferrari. No wait, he’s gonna make more beer. Hey, your call, Bill.

THREES BREWING

Area Sales Representative – Brooklyn, NY

FIRESTONE WALKER

Manager of Shopper Marketing – Marina Del Rey, CA

CRAFT COLLECTIVE

RI Sales Representative – Warwick, RI

🤝 GOT A JOB

Former ANGRY ORCHARD head cider maker Ryan Burk has joined BLAKE’S BEVERAGE COMPANY as VP of quality and innovation. He’s been advising the business for the past couple of years, while co-founding the marketing & innovation studio at the FEEL GOODS Co., parent company of Good Beer Hunting. 

👋 LEAVING A JOB

BA president and CEO Bob Pease announced he’s retiring in about 6 months, in early 2025, after over three decades at the organization. An executive search is thus beginning.

😞 AXED A JOB

ABV, home of VICTORY, SIXPOINT, BOLD ROCK and SOUTHERN TIER, cut reportedly anywhere from two to four dozen jobs, mostly in sales.

The company did about 394K BBL last year, according to BA numbers, down from its 2020 peak of 436K BBL.

Instead of having A-B contract brew its KIRIN ICHIBAN and KIRIN LIGHT for U.S. distribution, KIRIN is gonna outsource it to NEW BELGIUM come 2025 (did you know they had their own brewery here? Two of ‘em actually!).

So, at least the risk of “confusing the KIRIN beer with the STELLA beer” can be crossed off the list for the A-B production logistics department whiteboard next year, because nothing says authenticity like a classic Japanese lager, brewed in Colorado and North Carolina.

The two KIRIN brands have sold about $3.5 million worth of beer in the U.S. in the off-prem this year, according to CIRCANA data through June 15.

I mean, it’s almost like all of those “Year of the Craft Lager” tweets were for nothing!

Craft went from a 38 last June to … 27 this June, and when cider has a 4-point lead on you in the basement, that about says it all. Heck, even all of those WHITE CLAW-drinking Central Park Gen Zers are putting FMB/Seltzer up to a 38.

Otherwise, total beer was up a nice 4 points to 58, the biggest June reading since 2021.

As always, any score above 50 indicates wholesalers intend to order more of a segment in the month ahead – under 50 means less, and a 27 means things are not looking good for your business.

At-risk inventory was also down to a pretty comfortable 42.

Add a strong FYQ1 ‘25 to the ledger, with revenues +6% to $2.66 billion, according to the earnings report delivered on … July 3. 

Um, isn’t “Find Your Beach” the tagline for one of this company’s biggest sellers? I guess just find it after you sit there listening to corporate PR speak, followed by burying your nose in a financial spreadsheet for an hour or two before a major beach and beer holiday. Thanks, CONSTELLATION.

Most of that FYQ1 growth is of course from beer, whose revenue was actually +7.6% to $2.27 billion, with depletions (sales to retailers) +6.4%.

Unfortunately …  that means the other parts of its business, wine and spirits, are dropping the ball. Ugh, come on wine 🙄, as analysts noted a continued weakness in those businesses (shipments -5.1%, and depletions -12.7%). 

The BREWBOUND trio run the show this week:

• Jess reports on her latest Jersey Shore retail experiences, including an over-purchase at the corner liquor store;
• Zoe gives us her latest darty FMB focus group report (Zoe, you expense these purchases, right?);
• Justin enlightens us just how much the heartland of America loves fireworks;
• Plus, the gang dives into the new ATHLETIC money, TIKTOK and booze and more.

Listen Here!

• YUENGLING is trading markets with its MC JV – the brewery is giving AR, MS and LA to the JV, and taking Michigan for itself, which has yet to get YUENGLING beer.
• May tax-paid beer imports increased +9.2% YoY, putting the total over 4 million BBL for the first time ever (4.04 million BBL), according to the BI. Domestic tax-paid beer shipments rose +5.8% to about 13.5 million BBL. Both March and April had sales declines (-16.4% and -4.2% respectively).

This week’s beer is going out to the most popular app on Justin’s phone, TIKTOK (OK, fine, next to the WWE app). 

Yes, it seems enough #okboomers have joined the platform to finally make TIKTOK street legal for alcohol advertising according to alcohol industry trade group regulations, which have a standard that 73.8% of an advertising platform’s audience must be above Legal Drinking Age (LDA).

Never mind that TIKTOK’s U.S. revenue is also significantly slowing in 2024, which I’m sure is totally a coincidence. I mean, what are the odds that the timing works out?

Hey – perhaps it’s time to bring back Icing people as a thing to do, or … well, given craft’s BPI numbers, I’m sure they’re open to pretty much any ideas if ya got ‘em too. 

Although I’m sorry, homebrewers, your shot at finally trending on social media seems just as unlikely as before, since “homemade alcoholic beverages” are still on the TIKTOK banned advertising list. I know, you grew that fancy new mustache for nothing – but thinking there’s gotta be at least a shot for you on #stacheTok.

Also, no promotion of things like excessive drinking or “bottomless” drink offers, and I’m guessing that also goes for any posts that are bottomless in a different way.

Either way – #drunkTok is about to get a lot more interesting. And sponsored.

Slainté!  

-Sean McNulty 

(you can always reach me here on LinkedIn)