Welcome to Brewbound’s Inside Look at the Beer Business for the week that was … Saturday, March 16, 2024.

Hope your St. Pat’s Day celebrations are off to a fine start given the calendar timing this year! 

Sean 2004 would likely already be a couple of pints in alongside ya at this time of day … but Sean 2024 is more likely just getting back from a yoga class. Listen – times change, people. Pretty sure we’re already getting close to Jess’ Saturday nap time.

ALTHOUGH: You can now pour a proper pint at home, with what I think we call a new doohickey – ah wait, the GUINNESS folks call it a NITROSURGE device. Eh, dealer’s choice.

The device attaches to the top of special GUINNESS cans (which are sadly only available in Europe at the moment, just like baguettes), and pours out a perfectly nitrogenated pint for your enjoyment at home. So, good news for Justin – he can stop looking for my birthday gift!

AND: Look! Good news! Well, as good as it gets in 2024… Domestic tax paid beer shipments were +1.8% for January 2024 according to the BI, the first time we’ve had a “+” sign there since Feb. 2023. 🤯 

Granted … it’s vs. a January 2023 comp (and we all remember January 2023), but – here’s to some optimism for finding one’s bottom! Wait, why are you all laughing? Ah, now I see it. Yeah my bad. 😬🍑

NEW BELGIUM’s VOODOO RANGER has created a new IPA – I know right? 🤯– in partnership with TOMBSTONE frozen pizzas, called IP(izza)A.

Now, the beer “delivers the flavors” of a pizza 🤷, with a “finishing pepperoni kick of heat." Or ya know, if you’re in the mood for that, you could, and I’m just thinking out loud here, get a pizza . . . or hey – get 3. This 4-pack is priced at a WTF $49.99.

Parent company MONSTER is laying off 12 folks at the brewery, as they shift the brewery to “a cross-category innovation center,” which #funfact is also what I call my refrigerator after a trip to the supermarket.

Original CIGAR CITY brewmaster Wayne Wambles was also laid off about a month ago, and the Florida brand’s beer will likely be made in the OSKAR BLUES NC facility (who wants to tell Florida Man 😳). 

The brewery’s own-premise locations will stay open and operate business as usual.

NODA BREWING

Director of Marketing - Charlotte, NC

DESTIHL BREWING

Brewery Operations Mgr - Normal, IL

SUNTORY GROUP

The MAINE BREWERS GUILD has a new executive director in Sarah Bryan, who is replacing Shea Cusick after less than a year in the role. 

Hope the suspense there wasn’t too much to handle. This time the sales decline is -2.7% in CIRCANA data for the four-week period ending February 25. 

Sales are -2% for 2024 thus far, or about -$12 million. 

What’s that? How about volume? You don’t wanna know about volume … that’s -4.4% in the last four-weeks, and -3.7% YTD, with the grocery channel mainly to blame. Well, at least we know the NBWA BPI is pretty spot on? 🤷

Beer overall is -0.6% in sales and -2.4% in volume YTD so far.

OK, yeah, I got no good news for ya this week folks. Beer at home was +3% vs. a year ago, a number that’s higher than both January and December increases. But hey, at least it’s not the +7% we had in Feb. 2023 👍.

Beer at home was at least slightly below the overall +3.2% CPI for February, but it was above total alcohol’s +2.4%.

Sorry NFL stars, the other kind of football players seem to be the new go-to for beer companies to move product in 2024. First we had Messi for MICH ULTRA, and now David Beckham is the new “official ambassador” for STELLA – new commercial here.

This week’s pod guest is BPE Law Group associate attorney Melanie De Marco, who gives plenty of valuable insights into leases and real estate contracts, which many breweries seem to be increasingly dealing with in 2024.

Plus, Justin and Zoe break down the Mexican import performance of CONSTELLATION, plus the latest news at STONE-SAPPORO, and share thoughts on some new FMB entrants.

Listen Here!

• The House of Representatives introduced a new CHEERS bill to give tax deductions to bars and restaurants with draft beer systems.
• Non-alc water biz LIQUID DEATH is now valued at $1.4 billion, after a new $67 million investment, including money from several distributors. Hmm, I probably don’t need the "non-alc" there, huh? Eh, give it a year or two. 
• The Teamsters are calling for a boycott of MOLSON COORS products due to their TX brewery strike, and yes that includes you ICEHOUSE. 
• ALTRIA GROUP is reducing their stake in A-B InBev from 10% to 8% (selling roughly 35 million shares), with A-B buying about $200 million-worth of them. 
• Add NC’s GIZMO BEER WORKS to the list of breweries declaring bankruptcy in 2024.

We’re gonna pour this week’s beer out for uh, well, the wine industry! While the beer biz may have more unused steel sitting around than the Boeing R&D department (sorry guys), more Australian and European wineries are literally burning their grapes and vines because it’s a more economical choice than actually, ya know, making wine with them, according to Bloomberg.

Yes, it seems the good ol’ GenZ teetotalers are to blame for at least a good portion of this decline, especially when it comes to red wine … whose consumption last year fell down to levels not seen since 2001 🫣.

The news is somewhat better for white wine, but other factors such as increased tariffs, insurance and production costs are also affecting the trends, as well as the industry leaning a bit too much into the premium market & pricing, instead of focusing on wines that are more accessible to younger demos whose wallets … err, VENMO accounts may be a bit thinner. Wait, where have I heard this narrative before? 🤔

So, drink it while ya got it ya’ll … although these shifts have also left an excess of red wine in the market as a result, so that certainly bodes well for my weekend dinners. #ThinkPositive!

Slainté!  

-Sean McNulty