• 🤑 Off-Prem Bev-Alc Sales Reach $89.8 Billion
• 📈 Tilray Bev-Alc Rev. +117% in Q2
• 💰 Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing Sold
• 🇩🇪 U.S. Bev. Named Importer of Erdinger
• 🆕 Brewery Openings & Closings
• 📊 Circana Weekly Scans Thru NYE
• 💣 Buy 1, Get 2 Free Bombers

Off-premise dollar sales of beer topped $47.9 billion in 2023, according to market research firm NIQ. Beer accounts for half of total alcohol off-premise dollar sales, which reached $89.8 billion last year, a +1.1% increase compared to 2022. 

Although dollar sales increased for beer (+1.4%), volume declined -3% compared to a year ago. Beer was boosted by the convenience channel, with sales +3.1% year-over-year (YoY), whereas sales in the food channel declined -0.4% and drug store sales declined -6.4%. 

Meanwhile, spirits increased both dollars (+2.7%) and volume (+5%), and wine declined in both dollars (-1.4%) and volume (-4.5%) across all channels.

The average case price of beer increased +$1.30 in 2023, to $29.84. Each segment recorded a price increase, with the largest increases in cider (+$2.18, to $47.93 per case, the highest price in the beer category) and hard seltzer (+$2, to $38.06). 

Several segments increased case prices more than $1, including flavored malt beverages (+$1.56, to $39.88 per case), craft (+$1.49, to $42.41), imports (+$1.27, to $36.33), premium regular (+$1.04, $24.85) and malt liquor (+$1.55, to $22.03). 

NIQ notes that beer category sales in off-premise retailers peaked during the July 4 holiday and were on par with 2022 numbers through the end of the year.

📈 Imports and FMBs Only Segments to Post Dollar and Volume Gains

In NIQ’s data, only imports and FMBs increased both dollar sales and volume. Imports posted growth of +9.4% in dollars and +5.6% in volume, while FMBs grew dollars +18% and volume +13.3%. 

Hard seltzer posted the biggest YoY declines, -16.2% in dollars and -20.6% in volume. Other segments in decline included:

• Craft (-0.3% dollars, -3.8% volume);
• Domestic super premium (-1.8% dollars, -4.3% volume);
• Premium regular (-0.7% dollars, -4.8% volume);
• And premium light (-3.4% dollars, -6.9% volume). 

At the end of the year, segments in order of dollar share were:

• Imports (23.7%, +1.7%);
• Premium light (19.4%, -1%);
• Craft (11.8%, -0.2%);
• Below premium (11.2%, flat);
• Domestic super premium (9.9%, -0.3%);
• FMBs (9.6%, +1.3%);
• Hard seltzers (7.2%, -1.5%);
• Premium regular (5.3%, -0.1%);
• Cider (1.1%, flat);
• Malt liquor (0.8%, flat).

Brewbound Insiders can dig deeper into NIQ’s year-end data, including ready-to-drink trends and key state performances. Insiders can also catch up on NIQ’s 2024 trend predictions.

The beverage alcohol division of Canadian cannabis giant Tilray grew revenue +117%, to $46.5 million, in the second quarter of the company’s fiscal year compared to the same quarter last year, the company reported Tuesday.

However, the division’s gross margin declined -13% year-over-year (YoY), to 34%, in the quarter, driven by Tilray’s acquisition of eight brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B), which closed in September (Shock Top, Breckenridge Brewery, Blue Point Brewing, 10 Barrel Brewing, Redhook Brewery, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Square Mile Cider and Hiball Energy). Adjusted gross bev-alc margin declined -14% from Q1, to 38% in Q2.

Tilray wrote in a press release: “Excluding the newly acquired brands, adjusted gross margin would have been 55% in the current quarter.” 

Insiders can read more about Tilray’s quarter and its Boston Consulting Group-developed strategy to leverage Shock Top as a national brand while focusing on the regional success of its other breweries.

Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing (SCMB) has been acquired by two California-based industry veterans – Adair Paterno (co-founder of Sante Adairius Rustic Ales) and Brad Clark (founder of Private Press Brewing). 

The nearly 20-year-old craft brewery – the oldest continuously operating brewery in Santa Cruz County – will be managed by a newly created company, but will maintain its name “to continue the legacy” and create a “seamless transition” of ownership, Edible Monterey Bay reported. 

SCMB founders Emily Thomas and Chad Brill told Edible that the decision to sell was a difficult one, but they believe Paterno and Clark will expand the brewery’s reach and maintain its reputation with consumers. Brill will stay involved “through the transition,” while Thomas will pursue a new career in public diplomacy, having just earned a doctor of jurisprudence degree from Monterey College of Law in 2022, according to the report. 

The deal is expected to close on January 31. The taproom will be temporarily closed starting on January 29, but production will continue.

Wormtown Brewery co-founder Ben Roesch and his wife Adrienne Roesch will open a new brewery in the Bay State early this year, the two announced.

Whitinsville, Massachusetts-based Murder Hill “will offer a wide range of original brews and collaborations, as well as food and occasional entertainment,” according to a press release.

The Roesches expect Murder Hill to open in early February, “as soon as the licensing process is complete,” Adrienne Roesch told Brewbound via email.

Murder Hill’s location is the former home of Purgatory Beer Co., which Wormtown nearly acquired with the intention to have Ben Roesch run it as a separate business, according to a report from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. However, Ben Roesch decided he’d prefer to strike out on his own.

Wormtown CEO David Fields told the Telegram & Gazette: “I’m so excited for Ben and Adrienne, both because it will be a really cool opportunity for him to own his brewery and taproom, and he gets to do it alongside his partner in life,”

Ben Roesch departed Wormtown two months ago, Adrienne Roesch told Brewbound.

🪐 Bauman’s Cider, Von Ebert Brewing to Take Over Former Ecliptic Brewing Locations

Gervais, Oregon-based Bauman’s Cider will move most operations from Bauman’s Farm to the former home of Ecliptic Brewing’s Moon Room in Southeast Portland, according to The Oregonian.

The move comes two months after Ecliptic was acquired by Great Frontier Holdings, a platform company formed in 2013 by the merger of Ninkasi Brewing and Ashland Hard Seltzer parent company Wings & Arrows. In the deal, Great Frontier acquired Ecliptic’s intellectual property and plans to produce the brand at Ninkasi’s brewery.

In other Ecliptic-related news, Portland, Oregon-based Von Ebert Brewing is taking over the former Ecliptic taproom and production facility on North Cook Street in Portland. The move will allow Von Ebert to expand distribution and increase its annual production from 4,000 barrels, to up to 20,000 barrels, according to a press release. 

Insiders can read more about the moves, as well as other openings and closings, and a potential brewery foreclosure.

Total bev-alc off-premise dollar sales were up +4% year-over-year (YoY) in the week ending with New Year’s Eve (December 31), according to Circana in the market research firm’s latest weekly scans report. 

Industry dollar sales were down -11% week-over-week (WoW), ending a four-week growth streak, but it was an “expected retracement” following the Christmas sales boost in the previous week, according to Circana’s Scott Scanlon. 

With scan data now caught up to the end of the year, bev-alc officially ended 2023 with dollar sales up +2.5% YoY, and volume down -1.6% in Circana-tracked retailers. 

Category results ended the year as follows:

• Beer dollar sales +2.6%, volume -1.8%;
• Spirits dollar sales +6.1%, volume +7.4%;
• Wine dollar sales -0.8%, volume -4.6%.

In the last four weeks of the year, bev-alc dollar sales increased +1.1% YoY, while volume was flat. Beer led YoY dollar sales growth (+2.2%), while spirits led volume growth (+2.9%).

U.S. Beverage continues to add to its portfolio of brands, becoming the exclusive U.S. importer of German wheat beer Erdinger. 

As of January 1, U.S. Beverage began importing the brand, and will dedicate sales, marketing and logistics support to the Erdinger portfolio of brands.

Erdinger brands that will be available in most markets include Weissbier, Non-Alcoholic, Kristall, Dunkel, Pikantus, Oktoberfest and Brauhaus Helles.

The U.S. Beverage portfolio includes: Uinta Brewing, Moosehead Lager, Malibu Splash, 1911 Cider, Captain Lawrence, Innis & Gunn, Birra Moretti, and Sagres, among others.

If you’re feeling nostalgic for the 2012-2016 craft beer era, one package store in Salem, Massachusetts, has you covered with shelves upon shelves of bombers – the large-format glass bottles that fell out of vogue with the rise of 16 oz. can 4-packs. 

Brewbound managing editor Jess Infante stopped by Quality Liquors last week in search of wine to cook with, but found a veritable trove of bottles from esteemed breweries including Cascade, Almanac, Epic, Evil Twin and more. 

Barrel-aged imperial stouts and fruited, Belgian-inspired sours were legion and priced to move. The store was offering a buy-one-get-TWO-free deal, plus 50% off select bottles.