Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/379477
32 Beverage Dynamics • September/October 2014 www.beveragedynamics.com Beer: State-of-the-Industry Report makeover with the return to the traditional "stubby" bottle: a bid for authenticity is clearly a theme among the MillerCoors brands. CHASING VARIETY Analysts and industry professionals alike seem to agree that future potential lies with the development of brands that offer variety, choice and innovation—brands that may be destined to be relatively small and short-lived, but with the appeal to make up for the volume losses of far larger, more established brands. As the traditional lager-buying, brand-loyal beer drinker has had to scale back, the industry has sought to understand its potential new consumers. IRI's Wandel says, "When you look at the Millennials [legal drinkers aged 21-33], I think it's clear that they are variety-seek- ers, looking to try different things. The loyalty of those consumers is not what it would have been years ago—that's certainly a factor. With the abundance of choice that exists in these categories, there's defi - nitely a lot of interaction between beer, wine and spirits." Companies chase these new consumers with craft beer aesthetics, cocktail-like concoctions and whole orchards of changing fruit fl a- vors. Wandel explains, "There is some blurring of the categories going on, with the fl avors and styles that have emerged helping to promote a kind of product promiscuity, if you will. One or two years—three or four, tops—you say it's a trend, but we've been going for long enough that you have to approach it as the new normal." Since the launch of Bud Light Lime-a-Rita, Anheuser Busch has introduced new fruit additions annually—raspberry, mango, straw- berry—to these higher alcohol, higher priced fl avored malt beverages. A-B's Almeida explains, "A strong, sophisticated innovations pipeline is key to growing our share and resonating with today's Millennial consumer. Specifi cally, the Ritas have served as an unprecedented catalyst for category expansion. We're capturing signifi cant volume from outside the beer category, which is a new direction with ample room for growth and additional innovation." Almeida observes the Rita family caters to "a desire for sweeter beverages." MillerCoors courts the same Millennial audience with its Redd's franchise, introduced in 2013. Corrigan writes, "These ales were the answer to consumers' desire for more fl avor and variety in their beer. Based on the continued success of Redd's Apple and Redd's Straw- berry Ales, in August 2014, Redd's debuted a new, higher-ABV apple ale, Redd's Wicked Apple." Importers got the memo, too. Heineken USA introduced the Lat- in-themed, Dutch-owned, French-brewed Desperados, "inspired by the growth of imports, craft beer and spirits." The beverage covers all bases, incorporating lemon fl avor—a nod to the popularity of fruit fl avoring—and tequila barrel-aged lager—a nod to both cocktails and the craft beer rage for barrel aging. According to Ward, "Desperados is positioned as the ultimate beer for nightlife and appeals to multi- cultural consumers." Heineken also offers "Dos-a-Rita, which combines Dos Equis Lager and Margarita fl avors - the fi rst imported, authentically Mex- ican ready-to-serve lager margarita on the market," and Amstel Radler, a take on a traditional German low-alcohol beverage blend- ing lager with lemonade. IMPORT STATUS "Imported beer" may be a useful category when it comes to licensing and legal status, and logistical concerns such as transportation and customs procedures. But the word sheds little light on the consumer's beer drinking experience, any more than the word "domestic" does, nor does it offer much insight for retailers. Throwing all beer brands of foreign origin into one analytical bas- ket only makes sense because the import category is too small to break into more reasonable sub-categories. The imported beers Pacifi co and Westvleteren have as much in common with one another as Busch has with a challenging American craft like Pliny the Elder. Still, just as most domestically-produced beers are of only two styles, full-calorie lager and light lager also dominate the import category. And yet, the import badge in itself retains some of the caché left over from the days when all domestic beer was of one broad style and only imports offered variety for the curious drinker. That some sophistication still clings to the entire import category would seem to be the best explanation for American drinkers favoring imported (000 2.25-Gallon Cases) '12/13' Brand Brewer 2012 2013 % Change Bud Light AB InBev 530,250 508,510 -4.1% Coors Light MillerCoors 258,980 253,800 -2.0% Budweiser AB InBev 226,270 214,500 -5.2% Miller Lite MillerCoors 201,230 185,940 -7.6% Corona Extra Crown Imports 100,660 102,870 2.2% Natural Light AB InBev 110,410 102,020 -7.6% Busch Light AB InBev 90,340 91,420 1.2% Busch AB InBev 76,720 72,040 -6.1% Keystone Light MillerCoors 57,910 54,720 -5.5% Miller High Life MillerCoors 61,070 54,350 -11.0% Heineken Heineken USA 55,460 53,240 -4.0% Michelob Ultra AB InBev 46,870 50,200 7.1% Modelo Especial Crown Imports 42,440 50,080 18.0% Natural Ice AB InBev 43,200 43,420 0.5% Pabst Blue Ribbon Pabst Brewing 36,970 40,000 8.2% Yuengling Yuengling Brewery 37,950 37,570 -1.0% Blue Moon MillerCoors 25,630 27,990 9.2% Dos Equis Heineken USA 19,650 23,190 18.0% Bud Light Lime AB InBev 26,230 22,060 -15.9% Bud Light Platinum AB InBev 23,500 20,490 -12.8% Coors Banquet MillerCoors 19,750 20,380 3.2% Stella Artois AB InBev 17,510 20,310 16.0% Steel Reserve MillerCoors 18,920 19,130 1.1% Miller Genuine Draft MillerCoors 21,220 18,460 -13.0% Icehouse MillerCoors 18,720 18,350 -2.0% LEADING BEER BRANDS (000 2.25-Gallon Cases) 2012 2013 '12/'13 Company Shipments Shipments % Change Boston Beer Company 29,278 36,598 25.0% Sierra Nevada Brewing Company 13,309 13,589 2.1% New Belgium Brewing Company 10,536 10,905 3.5% Craft Brew Alliance 8,956 9,753 8.9% Spoetzl Brewing Company 7,220 7,826 8.4% Lagunitas Brewing Company 3,368 5,732 70.2% Deschutes Brewery 3,515 3,972 13.0% Bell's Brewery 2,980 3,421 14.8% Brooklyn Brewery 2,425 2,975 22.7% Stone Brewing Company 2,441 2,937 20.3% Total Leading Companies 84,028 97,708 16.3% TOP MICRO/SPECIALTY BREWING COMPANIES