Boston Beer Company - Samuel Adams

Boston Beer Company’s Q3 financials were described by one analyst, Bernstein’s Nadine Sarwat, as “a messy set of results.” The company’s portfolio – including Samuel Adams, Dogfish Head, Truly Hard Seltzer, Angry Orchard, Sun Cruiser and Hard MTN Dew – reported a -1.9% year-over-year (YoY) decline in shipments (sales to wholesalers) and -3% decline in depletions (sales to retailers) in the quarter.

Boston Beer Company eked out a year-over-year (YoY) increase in revenue in Q3, despite another quarter of contracting shipments and depletions, and several impairment charges for its craft brands.

The “diversification” of craft brewery portfolios with beyond beer products “is a good thing,” according to American Homebrewers Association (AHA) executive director Julia Herz, who kicked off Boston Beer Company’s annual media brunch in Denver last week during the Great American Beer Festival (GABF).

Boston Beer Company founder Jim Koch tackled several industry issues during a fireside chat at the Barclays Global Consumer Conference last week. Koch hit on issues from beer growth and headwinds to opportunities in the on-premise channel and early returns on the company’s new premium vodka-based hard tea brand Sun Cruiser.

Beverage options abound in downtown Boston: properly poured Guinness at an Irish pub, wine at an Italian restaurant in the North End, a large iced regular at one of several (several!) Dunkin’ locations. But there’s only one place you can find a pint of pineapple basil ale, and that’s Boston Beer’s Samuel Adams Boston Taproom, where head brewer Megan Parisi is brewing all sorts of interesting beers for tourists and locals alike.

Hard seltzers remain down double-digits through mid-July in Circana-tracked off-premise retailers. Hard seltzer declined -11.8% in dollars and -16.1% in volume through the rolling 52-week period ending July 14.

After a “soft” quarter, Boston Beer executives laid out the company’s plans for growth in the second half of 2024 and beyond during a conference call on Thursday with investors and analysts. Boston Beer – whose portfolio includes Twisted Tea, Truly Hard Seltzer, Samuel Adams, Angry Orchard, Dogfish Head and Hard MTN Dew – recorded shipments (sales to wholesalers) declines of -6.4% and depletions (sales to retailers) declines of -4.% in Q2. This followed a Q1 with shipment growth of +0.9% and flat depletions.

Boston Beer Company failed to keep up with softer comps and continued to post declines in Q2 2024, with negative trends accelerating versus Q2 2023, according to the company’s latest earnings release, covering the three months ending June 29.

Twisted Tea accounts for the majority of Boston Beer’s volume and has become the company’s “only meaningful source of growth,” Bernstein analyst Nadine Sarwat wrote in a report focusing on the brand’s sustainability.

Bernstein analyst Nadine Sarwat breaks down the pros and cons of a potential sale of Boston Beer Company. Sarwat also examines potential suitors, Wall Street’s view of potential deals and why Boston Beer continues to be in conversations around M&A.

Crowns & Hops Brewing Company has been selected as the winner of the 13th annual Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Brewing & Business Experienceship.

Boston Beer Company emerged with a “buy” rating following the results of financial services firm Jefferies’ 11th bi-annual beer distributor survey. Jefferies equity analyst Kaumil Gajrawala cited Twisted Tea’s dominance of the flavored malt beverage (FMB) segment, and the “stabilization” of Truly Hard Seltzer trends leading to less volatility, among the reasons for the improved rating.

Boston Beer Company founder and board chairman Jim Koch was brutally honest about some of the company’s past failings in a fireside chat with Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog today during the investment firm’s Global Staples Forum.

New Boston Beer CEO Michael Spillane said the company’s “highest priority” moving forward “is to return to delivering sustainable volume growth.”