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www.cheersonline.com 30 • September 2016 PBR JOINS GROWTH BRANDS HALL OF FAME Our Beer Growth Brands Hall of Fame gained its 10th member this year with the induction of Pabst Blue Ribbon. The Hall of Fame recognizes brands that have won at least 10 Growth Brand Awards since the program's inception in 1997. Pabst collected its 10th award with the Comeback Brand honor this year. The classic beer brand started in 1844 when German immigrant Jacob Best and his sons opened the Empire Brewery in Milwaukee. Best was succeeded as company president by his son Phillip, who in 1872 handed down leadership to his son-in-law Frederick Pabst. Pabst eventually renamed the brewery after himself. The "Blue Ribbon" part of the name derives from the beer winning awards in the late 1800s. To acknowledge these accolades, the company began tying a blue silk ribbon around the bottlenecks of all their Best Select beers. By 1898, so many bar patrons had ordered the beer by asking for "the one with the blue ribbon" that the nickname had stuck; Pabst changed its name accordingly. After switching from beer to cheese production during Prohibition, Pabst brewing reemerged strong, and continued to grow. The brand peaked in 1977 with 18 million barrels sold. Corporate upheaval and ownership changes in the 1980s bogged down the company, before hipster interest helped breathe new life into the brand. —Kyle Swartz ESTABLISHED GROWTH BRANDS: Top-selling growth brands that have grown moderately or substantially over the past four years. Brands must have exceeded 3 million 2.25-gallon cases in 2015. 2014-2015 2011-2015 Brand Supplier 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 % Change ACGR Corona Extra Constellation Brands 98,684 100,660 102,370 107,693 116,631 8.3% 3.4% Modelo Especial Constellation Brands 35,194 42,440 49,080 59,900 71,310 19.0% 15.2% Michelob ULTRA Anheuser-Busch InBev 43,800 46,870 55,700 59,320 69,655 17.4% 9.7% Blue Moon MillerCoors 21,700 25,630 28,790 29,110 31,651 8.7% 7.8% Dos Equis Heineken USA 16,100 19,650 22,490 25,998 28,325 9.0% 15.2% Stella Artois Anheuser-Busch InBev 14,500 17,110 20,900 22,800 27,390 20.1% 13.6% Coors Banquet MillerCoors 19,450 19,750 20,080 20,840 22,538 8.1% 3.0% Corona Light Constellation Brands 13,140 13,460 13,860 14,345 15,410 7.4% 3.2% Shocktop Anheuser-Busch InBev 7,900 11,970 13,960 14,140 14,435 2.1% 12.8% Rolling Rock Anheuser-Busch InBev 8,200 9,200 10,900 12,550 13,964 11.3% 11.2% Twisted Tea Boston Beer Co. 5,500 6,600 7,400 8,425 9,151 8.6% 10.7% Shiner Bock Gambrinus 5,650 6,050 6,545 6,920 7,206 4.1% 5.0% Pacifi co Constellation Brands 5,479 5,960 6,230 6,616 6,799 2.8% 4.4% Yuengling Light Lager D.G. Yuengling & Sons 3,050 5,430 6,210 6,350 6,702 5.5% 17.1% Seagram's Escapes North American Breweries 3,870 4,950 5,630 6,425 6,598 2.7% 11.3% Tecate Light Heineken USA 1,750 2,430 3,020 3,355 4,850 44.6% 22.6% ACGR Annual Compound Growth Rate. (000 2.25-Gallon Cases) COMEBACK BRANDS: Brands that have rebounded in sales to at least the previous level after a recent decline. 2014-2015 Brand Supplier 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 % Change Pabst Blue Ribbon Pabst Brewing 33,500 36,970 37,400 37,235 37,975 2.0% ++ Greater than 100%. (000 2.25-Gallon Cases) BEER GROWTH BRANDS falling slightly, from about 37.4 million cases in 2013 to 37.2 million in 2014, sales of Pabst Blue Ribbon increased 2% to nearly 38 million cases in 2015. Millennials and other young legal-drinking- age consumers think it's cool to drink a classic U.S. brew that dates back to 1844; they're helping to drive sales of PBR. With this Comeback Brand award—its 10th award—Pabst joins the Growth Brands Hall of Fame. (See sidebar at right for more.)