Read the latest beyond beer news relating to companies involved with RTD cocktails, hard cider, hard seltzer, hard kombucha, spirits, cannabis, and non-alcoholic products. Take a comprehensive look at developments in these evolving sectors, offering valuable insights into the innovations, trends, and market forces shaping the world of beer and beyond.
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Former Angry Orchard head cider maker Ryan Burk has joined Blake’s Beverage Company as VP of quality and innovation. Burk has been advising Blake’s and its portfolio of brands – Blake’s Hard Cider, Austin Eastciders and AVID Cider Co. – for a couple years, including through the launch of its most recent innovations.
Allagash Brewing is launching its first non-alcoholic (NA) offering this week with the release of Allagash Hop Water. Hop Water will exclusively be sold in 12 oz. can 6-packs at the brewery’s tasting room in Portland, Maine, starting later this week.
The once-booming flavored malt beverage (FMB) segment is “showing some concerning declarations over recent weeks,” Bump Williams Consulting (BWC) founder Bump Williams noted in a recent report. FMB volume gains dropped by half – from +2.2%, to +1.1% – from the four-week period to the one-week period ending May 18, according to NIQ retail measurement data cited by BWC.
After initial projections that the hard seltzer segment would grow at a rate of 70-100%, Boston Beer CEO Dave Burwick said the expectation is now in the 60-90% range, with Truly outpacing the segment.
Now, Victory Brewing Company is announcing its next innovation which combines their 25 years of brewing experience, innovation expertise, and close connection to its consumers to launch a new line of craft hard seltzers called Victory Waves.
Hard seltzers will be receiving more shelf space in convenience stores, according to Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog’s latest “Beverage Bytes” survey of convenience store beverage buyers (representing 30,000 retail locations, or about 20% of the c-store channel).
Amid rising competition in the ever-expanding hard seltzer segment, Mark Anthony Brands is adding two line extensions and one new variety pack to its White Claw franchise ahead of peak summer seltzer selling season. The company has finally announced the launch of long-rumored White Claw Surge, the 8% ABV version of the best selling hard seltzer, as well as a third variety pack.
Regional cideries grew at more than triple the rate of the total cider segment at off-premise retailers in 2020, American Cider Association executive director Michelle McGrath shared during the trade organization’s annual CiderCon event earlier this year.
“Off-premise channels grew 9% for total cider — regional brands grew 33%,” she said. “Off-premise chains don’t capture all of our members, but they do provide a useful measuring stick.”
Wilson Craig has a founder’s story that should be familiar to many in the beverage space: Dissatisfied with the available options in a category, he set about creating his own product to fill the “blind spot” in the market — in this case, ready-to-drink spirits. While working in real estate finance in New York City, he and his friends noticed “their bodies starting to change” as calories and carbs from drinking light beer began to catch up to them. The answer? Waterbird Spirits, a line of premium ready-to-drink cocktails in 12 oz. cans.
Heineken-owned Lagunitas Brewing has named Tony Amaral head of sales, following the departure of Tom McReavy, who formerly led the Petaluma, California-based craft brewery’s sales division before taking the top sales role at Stone Brewing last month.
In Bump Williams Consulting’s latest data dive, the firm explored whether new brands and line extensions are “building the segment or stealing share and volume from existing players.”
Anheuser-Busch touted the successful first-week performance of its hard seltzer collaboration with rap star Travis Scott, Cacti Agave Spiked Seltzer, which sold out in many brick-and-mortar stores within 24 hours and online within 12 hours.
Sierra Nevada has announced it will reopen its breweries in Chico, California, and Mills River, North Carolina, to the public in May after what will be a 14-month hiatus from on-site service, according to a report in the Chico Enterprise-Record. Philadelphia-headquartered, on-demand delivery platform goPuff announced the completion of a $1.15 billion fundraising round earlier this week.
Off-premise beverage alcohol dollar sales fell for the first time in more than a year, declining 1.9% for the week ending March 13 as the industry faces tough comparisons due to the shift in consumer purchasing a year ago, as shoppers stocked their fridges as on-premise shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to market research firm NielsenIQ.
If you’re getting into the $4 billion hard seltzer segment in 2021 with a glut of new offerings, you better go hard. For New Belgium Brewing Company, that amounts to the biggest investment behind a brand launch in the company’s history for Fruit Smash, the Fort Collins, Colorado-headquartered craft brewery’s irreverent seltzer line, which began hitting retailers earlier this month.
Molson Coors Beverage Company said the Topo Chico line will begin hitting store shelves in nine states starting March 29, giving the company yet another hard seltzer brand to compete within the more than $4 billion hard seltzer segment that has thus far been dominated by two brands: Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw and Boston Beer Company’s Truly Hard Seltzer.
Boston Beer Company executives believe Truly Punch could be the next big thing in hard seltzer, rivaling the brand’s Lemonade and Iced Tea offshoots.
