Even with a -2% decline compared to last year, the beer category recorded its third-highest week of off-premise dollar sales during the July 4 holiday, according to market research firm IRI.
“As expected beer outperformed the holiday, led by Modelo growth but [there was] also strong performance from White Claw, Topo Chico, and High Noon to name a few popular 4th of July beverages,” IRI bev-alc vertical EVP Scott Scanlon wrote in a report.
Total beer off-premise spending reached $1.104 billion for the week ending July 3, marking the category’s highest sales week of the year so far. Only the weeks that included July 4 in 2020 and 2021 saw stronger beer sales than this year’s holiday week.
Overall beverage-alcohol dollar sales declined -1% compared to the same week last year, with spirits dollar sales increasing +2% while wine declined -4%.
Week-over-week, overall bev-alc sales increased +14.2%, outpaced by beer (+14.3%) and spirits (+18.7%). Wine sales increased +9.6% week-over-week, but declined -3.5% compared the same week last year.
Within the beer category, Constellation Brands’ Modelo recorded +19% year-over-year growth, helping to boost the imports segment +5.2% over the same week last year. Other beer segments that recorded year-over-year growth during the week ending July 3 include:
- Flavored malt beverages (FMB), +11.5%;
- Non-alcoholic (NA), +11.1%;
- Domestic super premium, +3.6%;
- Domestic sub premium, +2%.
The assorted segment posted the steepest decline (-21.6%) during the holiday week, followed by fermented hard seltzer (-18%), craft (-6.7%), cider (-5.9%) and domestic premium (-3.9%).
Lion Little World Beverages’ U.S.-based brands (New Belgium Brewing and Bell’s Brewery) were the biggest share gainers in the beer category for the week ending July 3, increasing sales +13.1%, followed by FMB maker Geloso Beverage (+11.9%), Constellation Brands (+9.3%), Phusion Projects (+8.3%) and Yuengling (+7.9%).
Dollar sales of the ready-to-drink (RTD) segment, which includes beer- and wine-centric hard seltzers and canned cocktails, declined -3% compared to the same week last year, but increased +21.5% week-over-week. Hard seltzer dollar sales declined -13.3% year-over-year (YOY), driven by wine-centric hard seltzer (-40.5%). Beer-centric hard seltzers declined -18% YOY, but increased +21.2% week-over-week. Wine-centric hard seltzers increased +24.1% week-over-week.
Spirits-based hard seltzers increased +78.3% YOY and 44.8% week-over-week. Within the segment, E. & J. Gallo’s High Noon grew +91% YOY and Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Cutwater Spirits grew +26%, with “strong holiday performance,” Scanlon noted.
In the spirits category, Cutwater boosted A-B to be the top gainer (+54.3%), followed by Gallo (+45%), BuzzBallz (+40.4%), Jagermeister (+11.1%) and Sazerac (+8.9%).