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

Of course, if you want the full Masters “Map & Flag” hospitality experience for the tournament, including premium dining, access to an outdoor garden and exclusive merch shop, that’ll be $17,000 (and yeah, it sold out).

Ya know, I think I’m good with the $5 beers – especially as that is how much 4 oz. tasters of beer often cost in NYC.

AND: Yeah, this can’t be helping draft beer sales – takeout business at B-DUBS has gone from 15% of their business pre-pandemic, to 33% of their sales just four years later, and they plan to increase their number of takeout-only “Go” locations by 50 this year. 

They also have about 600 commitments to open more Go locations. Hope they put them all near liquor stores!

PLUS: Going to CBC later this month? The BREWBOUND team will be having no bad blood in booth #1989 on the convention floor, doing a new series of podcasts from the floor Monday, April 22, through Wednesday, April 24.

First, TILRAY’s Q3 is Dec. 2023 thru Feb. 2024 because, well, they’re those people. But, the A-B brands popped TILRAY’s bev-alc sales YoY, as one would imagine, to the tune of +165% YoY (going from $20.6 million to $54.7 million).

However, TILRAY’s margin in the division fell from 53% in Q3 ‘23 to 38% in Q3 ‘24, which TILRAY attributed to “underutilization” of the A-B breweries.

“Declining wholesale volume, slow foot traffic in their taprooms, limited distribution opportunities, confusion about what products to make, and feeling stuck in their marketing efforts.”

LAGUNITAS BREWING CO

Head of Chains, On Premise - Anywhere, USA

DESCHUTES BREWING CO

Territory Sales Manager - Boise, ID

ATHLETIC BREWING CO

QA Lab Technician - San Diego, CA

A REST IN PEACE

+7.9%

The increase in domestic tax paid beer shipments in February 2024 YoY, according to the BI. That’s the biggest monthly YoY increase since May 2021, and goes up to +8.2% if imports are included.

HOWEVER: This is “shipped” beer, not sold beer, as all scan data in Q1 showed nowhere near this size of a total U.S. beer sales boom.

CIRCANA data for total beer sales in the 4-week period ending March 24 in the grocery channel shows dollar sales just +0.5%, and volume -1.2%.

As noted in the latest GOLDMAN SACHS Beverage Bytes report, both A-B and MC increased production in February in anticipation of staving off potential strike effects in advance, in case the strikes came to fruition (A-B’s did not, MC’s is still somehow still going on), which is likely playing a key factor here in the February BI numbers.

This week, they dropped their FY24 numbers ... which actually ended at the end of February (i.e. the TILRAY school of economic accounting).

#BeerBiz numbers:

• Net sales: +9% to $8.16 billion
• Shipments (sales to wholesalers): +7.4%
• Depletions  (sales to retailers): +7.5%
• Increase in Eli Manning’s profile: priceless (take that, Peyton!)

Their beer brands gained +2 points in dollar share in the U.S. #thanksBL, although obviously MODELO is driving the truck here (depletions +10% YoY).

Q4 ‘24 numbers (again, this ended on … Feb. 29)

• Net sales: +7%
• Shipments (sales to wholesalers): +10.5%
• Depletions  (sales to retailers): +8.9%

Beer is still getting pricier, although beer at home (+2.6%) is at least pacing below overall inflation in March (+3.5%). However, it is higher than the comp numbers for wine (+0.9%) and liquor (+1.7%).

Away from home, spirits was the uh, “winner” 🏆:

• Spirits: +5%
• Beer: +4.1%
• Wine: +3.8%

As always, beer in Justin’s garage is gratis.

This week’s pod is a three-fer! I hope Justin kept hydrated 😬 – here’s who we got:

• TOPA TOPA founder and CEO Jack Dyer
• MATCH POINT Brewing co-founder Simon Chen
• That’s Delicious Financials founder Drew Kearns

PLUS: Justin, Jess & Zoe talk about something called “positive beer category trends” 🤷 and TILRAY’s Q3 earnings report. 

Listen Here!

• A-B and TILRAY are being sued by NY-based export company CraftCanTravel (CCT) for allegedly breaching their contract to export KONA to “most of the world.” A-B says the lawsuit is “without merit.”
• Craft sales are -1.6% YTD, and volume is -3% this year in the off-prem, according to YTD CIRCANA data through March 24. Avg. case price is +$0.63 to $43.40 so far. C-store sales are still up though, +1.2% YoY, with volume -0.3%.
• Craft brands that are increasing their case prices in 2024 are seeing sales declines, while some of those cutting price are seeing sales increases. Go figure. Zoe has all of the numbers to 👀in the link.
• In-store displays for bev-alc products are falling, according to a new "State of the CPG Beverage Alcohol Industry" report from CIRCANA. 
• Iowa’s BACKPOCKET Brewing and SINGLESPEED Brewing are joining forces in a collective called PARALLEL BREWERY COLLECTIVE, and will have a share sales team, as well as share in resource procurement together, although equity will not be exchanged. When talks began, they discovered 80% of their respective sales accounts overlapped. Jess – what’s the appropriate animal analogy for a shared-resource brewery collective? 🤔

This week’s beer is going out to the beer police! No, seriously, like the actual beer police – not as in your friend Todd who always gives you a smirk while obnoxiously swirling his cabernet and saying “going with beer  … again?” to you at Friday happy hour (remind me why we keep inviting Todd?).

But I digress – yes, the members of the Beer Theft Enterprise (BTE to those on the streets of the Bronx) were indicted this week on charges of breaking into railyards and distributors in NY, CT, NJ and MA between July 2022 and March 2024.

The gist was to heist numerous cases of mostly CONSTELLATION products (the BTE reads this newsletter, they know what’s up) into typically a nearby box truck, and return to the Bronx to resell the pallets of beer on the down low.

What’s that, A-B? No, BUD LIGHT wasn’t mentioned here. Don’t worry, I’m sure things will turn around soon.

But – they were busted, and now face various charges that carry maximum sentences anywhere from 5 to 20 years in prison. Nice work, officers. So, let that be a lesson kids – beer heists don’t pay. Just go to Justin’s garage fridge like everyone else.

Slainté!  

-Sean McNulty