Chicago-based Revolution Brewing announced the newest variation in its Freedom Session Sours series: Freedom Lemonade.
The 4.5% ABV sour ale blends cane sugar, lemon juice concentrate, and natural lemon flavor with its sour ale base, bringing “the character and refreshment of a pitcher of lemonade to a can of craft beer,” according to a press release. Launching in January 2022, it will be available at retailers in 12 oz. 6-packs.
“We’re brewers to the core and we’ve never been interested in making a seltzer,” Revolution founder Josh Deth told The Full Pint. “It’s not a radler, it’s not a shandy, it’s a true lemonade beer. … Freedom Lemonade is our alternative to the alternative.”
Hard lemonades and lemonade-flavored alcoholic beverages have had accelerated growth in the past two years. From 2019 to 2020, lemonade grew share of hard seltzer flavors in the off-premise from less than 1% to 8%, according to NielsenIQ data through November 6. The sub-segment leader is Boston Beer Company’s Truly Hard Seltzer Lemonade, which launched in January 2020. In 2021, that share grew to more than 10%.
Lemonade flavored beer brands made up seven of the top 100 beer brands in off-premise dollar sales in U.S. multi-outlet and convenience stores year-to-date for the week ending November 28, according to the market research firm IRI.
Anheuser-Busch InBev Restructures Commercial Team, Announces Promotions
Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) alerted wholesaler partners yesterday to the creation of a new commercial team under U.S. chief commercial officer Kyle Norrington in a note from Norrington.
“This new team will be built by combining our existing sales and marketing capabilities and experience to strengthen our consumer-centric approach,” he wrote. “This will free our sales team, led by Simon Wuestenberg, U.S. chief sales officer, to focus on winning together with our retail and wholesaler partners, while benefiting from more integrated plans to drive topline growth for our business.
“It will also allow our marketing team, led by Benoit Garbe, U.S. chief marketing officer, to docs on delivering growth by building purposeful brands, launching people-first innovations, and connecting more meaningfully with consumers and shoppers,” he continued.
This new team comprises disciplines from both sales and marketing, including insights and category, intelligence, finance, planning and data.
A-B also announced several people moves within its sales leadership. Northeast regional vice president Elio DiCenso will take on the role of south central regional president; Quebec regional vice president Renaud Beauchamp will backfill him.
VP beyond beer sales Sanjiv Chhatwal and south-central regional vice president David Craig will both exit the company after 28 years. Norrington thanked them for their work.
“We are confident this evolution will make us a better partner to our retailers and wholesalers, a more efficient and collaborative commercial function, help us develop a deeper consumer mindset, and provide new opportunities for our people,” Norrington wrote.
VP innovation Jake Kirsch will succeed Chhatwal as VP beyond beer sales, “to continue the momentum of beyond beer as our business’ fastest growing segment.”
Chelsea Phillips will be promoted to VP of innovation and will report to Garbe. In her decade at A-B, Phillips has served as VP of beyond beer brands and general manager of BABE Wine, among other sales and marketing titles. She will continue to lead Launchpad, the company’s incubator platform for early-stage beyond beer brands.
IWSR: Global Alcohol E-Commerce Value to Grow +66% Across Key Markets By 2025
Global beverage alcohol e-commerce sales are expected to grow +66% between 2020 and 2025, according to the alcohol data and analysis firm International Wine and Spirits Record (IWSR) Drinks Market Analysis.
IWSR examined e-commerce growth in 16 focus markets: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and the U.S. In 2019, e-commerce value increased +12% year-over-year, followed by +43% in 2020, a year in which the COVID-19 pandemic forced consumers in many markets to stay home and shop online, according to the report. By 2025, the firm predicts e-commerce will represent 6% of all off-premise beverage alcohol volumes – a more than 4% increase from 2018.
The U.S. is expected to lead that projected growth. E-commerce here has an average annual growth rate of +20%, according to the report.
“Given the pandemic and overall changing consumer shopping behaviour, it’s certainly not surprising that alcohol e-commerce is growing very quickly,” Guy Wolfe, IWSR strategic insights manager, said in a press release. “But what’s interesting is to see the significant variations that have developed both across and within markets in how different consumer groups shop via e-commerce and what their priorities are.
IWSR suggests looking at e-commerce as “two distinct, but overlapping worlds”: “traditional e-commerce,” accessed via direct websites and used by “older consumers seeking good prices and known brands” who are also “prepared to wait for delivery”; and app-driven e-commerce, used by “younger legal-drinking-age consumers willing to pay for rapid delivery” who are more apt to choose “interesting/premium brands.”
Globally, one-quarter of alcohol drinkers report buying alcohol online, according to IWSR. Two-thirds of those consumers said they made their first e-commerce alcohol purchase prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the U.S. had the highest proportion of buyers (54%) who said they made their first e-commerce alcohol purchase during the pandemic.
“E-commerce has clearly become ingrained for many consumers, cementing its place as the third sales channel for beverage alcohol purchase,” Wolfe added.
Wine has the largest share of global e-commerce dollar sales (40%). IWSR predicts that beer, cider, and ready-to-drink canned cocktails (RTDs) – which make up less than one-fifth of total e-commerce dollar sales – have the largest growth opportunity, and will take share mainly from wine.
Breakthru Beverages: Post-Pandemic Consumers Interests Provide Opportunity for RTD Growth
While the on-premise is returning to its pre-pandemic trends, Breakthru Beverage Group – a North American beverage wholesaler – predicts that one segment is particularly benefiting the convenience consumers have gotten used to with alcohol delivery and other comforts of home: ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages (RTDs).
“Consumers’ booming interest in RTDs is driving rapid growth and premiumization in the category,” Drew Levinson, Breakthru Beverage Group VP of Business Development, Emerging Brands, said in a press release. “We’re predicting a continued and sustained acceleration in the ultra-premium RTD space based on consumers’ desires for greater convenience, innovation and elevated flavor choices.”
RTD retail sales increased 116% in 2020, and 18% in 2021, according to the release, citing NielsenIQ data. The IWSR expects the total RTD category to grow from about 9.6% volume share of total beverage alcohol to 22% by 2025 (IWSR includes hard seltzer in its definition of RTDs).
While RTDs have been growing in the off-premise, Breakthru suggests the segment has the opportunity to excel on-premise in resorts and hotels, where RTDs “represent the No. 1 alcohol sales opportunity.”
“With limited or no in-room dining, hotels and resorts needed to pivot and provide guests with the elevated, sophisticated drink options they are accustomed to while making it as easy as possible on their reduced staffs,” Sharon Charny Woschitz, Breakthru’s national accounts headquarter director, east, said in the release. “It’s not just at hotels and resorts – where we’ve seen a 332% growth. Due to quality, innovation and sustainability, RTDs’ popularity is also rising in new occasion areas such as weddings, golf courses and concerts.”
Union Craft Brewing Launches ESOP for Long-Time Staffers
Baltimore-based Union Craft Brewing announced its “Beer Unites Employee Ownership Program” – an employee stock ownership program (ESOP).
The program will be available to any Union employee after their fifth anniversary with the company. The first ownership grants were given last month to six employees.
“When we started Union in 2011, we were passionate beer enthusiasts but inexperienced business owners,” co-founder Adam Benesch said in a press release. “At our core, [co-founder Jon Zerivitz] and I have always been employers who care deeply about our employees, and we want to ensure that we always have an equitable culture and company. … Launching this program allows our employees to have direct influence on the future and direction of the company, as well as benefit economically from our company’s growth.”
Union is the first brewery in Maryland to offer an ESOP. Other craft brewers with ESOPs include Bend, Oregon-based Deschutes Brewery, Boston-based Harpoon Brewery, Cincinnati, Ohio-based Rhinegeist Brewery, and New Glarus, Wisconsin-based New Glarus Brewing Company.
DoorDash to Offer Grocery Delivery Within 15 Minutes
DoorDash announced this week that it will be expanding DashMart – its grocery delivery service – to offer deliveries within 15 minutes through new DashMart fulfillment centers.
DoorDash – a restaurant delivery platform – launched DashMart in August 2020 as a “virtual one-stop-shop for customers in need of household items on-demand.”
Along with food, beverage, and convenience items, DashMart’s offerings include national and regional beer, wine and spirits offerings, including hard seltzers, hard kombucha, and ready-to-drink canned cocktails.
The first DashMart fulfillment center is located in the New York City neighborhood Chelsea, offering the quicker delivery time to consumers in the NYC area from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. The location will stock more than 2,000 products. Further fulfillment locations in New York and other cities will be added in the next few months, according to a DoorDash blog post.
“With the launch of this new area of our business, we’re focused on meeting the needs of customers, merchants, and workers,” DoorDash said in the post. “In addition to expanding access to groceries and other essentials for New Yorkers, we are helping local merchants, especially women- and people of color-owned businesses, extend their reach by connecting them with new customers, and we’re bringing hundreds of bodegas and other local retailers online through our marketplace, with a commitment to helping them offer ultra-fast deliveries from their own stores.”