• 📝 Goldman Sachs C-Store Survey
• 💰 JuneShine Receives 7-Figure Investment
• 📉 Circana: Bev-Alc Declines Continue, Led by Beer
• 🌊 Great Lakes Introduces New IPA as No. 1 Priority
• 🐴 Budweiser Goes ‘Old School’ Super Bowl
• 🔨 Departed Soles Renovates After Taproom Reform

The convenience channel remains a bright spot for beer as the category tackles declines elsewhere, and growth in the channel is expected to continue through 2024, Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog reported in the latest Bev Bytes retailer survey.

Respondents to the Goldman Sachs survey represent 40,000 retail locations across the U.S., equivalent to roughly 27% of total c-stores in the country. 

C-store beer dollar sales increased +7% year-over-year (YoY) in Q4 2023, accelerating from the +5% YoY growth recorded in Q3, according to retailers. The category ended 2023 with dollar sales up +7% YoY, up from the +5% growth recorded in 2022.

In 2024, c-store retailers expect beer dollar sales to increase +5%. Some of that growth will come from price increases, as 67% of consumers believe “brewers can continue to push through more pricing,” up from the 60% of respondents who said so in Goldman Sachs’ Q3 survey. 

Retailers were in agreement that all brewers, except for Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B), will take modest price increases in 2024 – equivalent to less than +3%. The majority of retailers believed A-B will also take price this year. However, 14% expect A-B to maintain price, making it the only manufacturer retailers think will do so. 

“Spirits sales could benefit” from beer price increases, as the former category becomes “relatively more affordable versus beer,” Herzog wrote, noting that the average price of a 30-pack of domestic beer will “likely” cross the $30 threshold in some markets in 2024. 

Retailers also noted that consumers are “being more thoughtful on their purchases,” and if that continues as expected through 2024, the “inelasticity of beverage pricing and promotions will hurt unit and dollar sales.” 

📈 A-B: Retailers Suggest Improved Trends for First Time Since Decline Acceleration

A-B Q4 c-store dollar sales were down -4%, a significant improvement over the -12% declines recorded in Q3, according to retailers. The company ended 2023 down -2%, a decline from the +1% growth recorded in 2022. 

Looking ahead, retailers expect A-B to end 2024 flat YoY, an improvement from the -2% decline previously expected by retailers in Goldman Sachs’ Q3 survey. 

Recent trends for A-B’s Bud Light brand have “stabilized” and “in some instances improved” through Q4, with 29% of retailers indicating improved trends, the “first time any retailers have suggested so in our prior three surveys,” according to Herzog. All other respondents (71%) said recent trends have stabilized. 

The plurality of retailers (43%) expect Bud Light to regain zero to one points of market share that it lost in 2023. The next largest cohort (29%) expect the brand to regain 1.5 share points, while 19% expect the brand to gain back two share points. On a store-weighted average, retailers expect Bud Light to gain +0.6 share points of lost share. 

Even the most optimism for Bud Light is not near the total share the brand lost following its accelerated declines that started in April 2023. Bud Light lost about four points of share last year, according to NIQ. 

Insiders can read more here, including insights into other big beer performances, and how much of a threat Monster’s Nasty Beast Hard Tea is to Boston Beer’s Twisted Tea.

California canned cocktail and hard kombucha maker JuneShine has received a seven-figure investment from private equity firm InvestBev. 

The capital infusion will go toward marketing JuneShine’s products and expanding its portfolio line. 

JuneShine co-founder and CEO Greg Serrao said in the announcement: “We have big plans for the future as we continue to build a better-for-you alcohol platform, and we are confident they will be value-added partners and advisors for JuneShine as we enter our next stage of growth.”

InvestBev chairman Brian Rosen added: “JuneShine has everything we look for in a portfolio company: great-tasting products, a strong team, and a distinct point of view.

“The team not only created a new category in organic hard kombucha, but they have been a driving force in upleveling the alcoholic beverage industry’s commitment to sustainability and transparency.”

The private equity investment follows rumors last October that the company was for sale. In October, Serrao denied a Reuters report that JuneShine was exploring a sale process.

Reuters noted that the sale could net $100 million and that the company was expected to generate $40 million by the end of 2023.

InvestBev bills itself as the “nation’s largest private equity firm dedicated to the adult beverage industry,” managing $185 million in assets.. 

Brewbound Insiders can read more about JuneShine’s previous funding rounds, business in 2023 and InvestBev’s other business ventures.

Total bev-alc dollar sales were down -2% year-over-year (YoY) and -1% week-over-week (WoW) in the latest week, ending January 21, according to market research firm Circana. 

Volume declines were even larger, down -5.3% YoY. 

The declines are no surprise, and will likely continue, until Valentine’s Day or the Super Bowl, according to Circana’s Scott Scanlon. 

Beer dollar sales were down -4.8% and volume was down -5.9% YoY, the largest declines recorded among the three core bev-alc categories. All but two beer segments were down YoY: Flavored malt beverages (dollar sales +8.3%, volume +7.7%) and non-alcoholic (NA) beer (dollar sales +26.2%, volume +21.5%). 

The largest segment declines within beer were recorded by “assorted” (dollar sales -23.5%, volume -23.2%), domestic super premium (dollar sales -11.3%, volume -10.2%) and domestic premium (dollar sales -10.4%, volume -10.5%). 

Spirits dollar sales were up in the latest week, with dollar sales increased +3.6% YoY and volume increasing +3.9% YoY. Wine dollar sales were down -0.3% and volume was down -4.1%.

Great Lakes Brewing Co. has added a new year-round beer to its core lineup: Midwest IPA.

The 7% ABV IPA will launch in February in 12 oz. can 6-packs, 19.2 oz. single-serve cans, and draft, and will be included in some variety packs moving forward. The beer is brewed with a blend of Triumph, Strata, Cascade and Citra hops. 

IPAs are a large innovation focus for Great Lakes, and Midwest IPA will be the No. 1 priority this year. The Cleveland, Ohio-based craft brewery added Vibacious Double IPA to its year-round offerings in 2023, and will extend the brand with Juicy Vibacious Double IPA in the spring. 

Great Lakes VP of sales Chris Brown said in a press release: “Building upon the success of Vibacious Double IPA, we are eager to introduce a world-class IPA with the right flavor profile and brand to earn that ‘go-to' reputation with consumers throughout our distribution footprint.”

Also on the innovation docket this year: Strawberry Pineapple Wheat and a “revamped” Double Feature IPA series, “featuring a mix of new and reimagined double IPAs with movie-inspired artwork” in 12 oz. can 6-packs.

Anheuser-Busch InBev has gone back to Budweiser’s Clydesdales-dog pairing that captured the hearts of Super Bowl viewers 10 years ago. 

In its newest iteration – “Old School Delivery,” directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Alex Henry Rubin and revealed this morning – the lights flicker and go out in a small-town bar packed with snow day drinkers and a yellow labrador retriever.

The camera cuts to a beer truck driver hearing that the snowstorm has closed all major highways. As he’s pondering the rest of his route, a Clydesdale nudges him on the shoulder as the rest of the team approaches. 

“Let’s do it the old school way,” the driver says and he and a companion load kegs onto a cart, which the Clydesdales pull into town.

The commercial stars Goshen, New York-based Dana Distributing owner Fred Dana and marks the Clydesdales’ 46th Super Bowl appearance. 

The famous horses will make deliveries in Las Vegas during the Super Bowl-stock up period, and A-B will display related content on the Sphere.

Following the signing of taproom operations reform into law in New Jersey, Jersey City-based craft brewery Departed Soles Brewing announced plans to invest in its business, as promised if Gov. Phil Murphy signed the legislation. 

Departed Soles announced on social media that the company was following through on its promise to invest in its Jersey City Lagers and Ales Tasting Room, its production capabilities, its “tasting room vibes” and the ways that the brewery gives back to its community.

The company wrote: “Within minutes of Gov. Murphy signing our brewery bill, we purchased a brand new to us 600 gallon fermenter that will be dedicated gluten free. This fermenter – the biggest tank now in our space – not just increases our production capabilities, but maxes out our glycol chiller. It increases our overall production capability by over 26%, but will increase our gluten-free production by almost double – 66.7%, to be exact!”

The company also made several taproom upgrades, adding a 13-seat bar, handicapped seating at the bar, four new 50-inch televisions behind the bar, a 16-tap, glycol-chilled draft system, nitro beer capabilities, merch displays, to-go beer displays and high top bar seats

The investments amount to more than $20,000 spent within 19 hours, per the company.