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.
While 23-year-old Smirnoff Ice is around the same age as Gen. Z, the Diageo-owned flavored malt beverage (FMB) brand has been out of the spotlight in the past few years, as younger legal-drinking-age (LDA) consumers have gravitated toward new flashier beyond beer entrants such as Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw Hard Seltzer and E. & J. Gallo’s High Noon Sun Sips.
Boston Beer Company is making a convenience play in three markets with the launch of a new high-ABV, single-serve brand: Slingers Signature Cocktails.
FIFCO USA has unveiled a new 7.5 oz can for its malt-based beverage line Seagram’s Escapes, aiming to leverage the new format and $1 price point to carve out space at retail outlets and bring in new customers.
Consumers have filed a class action lawsuit against spirits giant Sazerac claiming the company’s malt-based Fireball Cinnamon has misled them because it lacks the whisky base of its parent brand, Fireball Cinnamon Whisky.
