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/82861
that currently don't play in craft at all. By elevating the image of beer and broadening the range of occasions, craft beer overall "has been good for the beer business," argues Crown Imports' chief marketing officer, Jim Sabia, who earlier in his career helped launch MillerCoors' craft darling Blue Moon. Kaumil Gajrawala, who watches the beer sector for banker UBS, expects beer to move from a defensive mode (complaining about the competition) to offense (launching more products that will directly steal consumers from wine and spirits). "Inevitably, that will lead to a couple of homeruns – some really A-B seems to have a bona fide hit — limited by production constraints — with Lime-A-Rita Margarita with a Twist of Bud Light Lime, which essentially targets a spirits-consumption occasion. big wins like Blue Moon," he figures, as the idea of being agile and innovative takes greater root, and distributors become more efficient at managing complexity and quickly adopting new categories and subsectors like cider. With even a moderate economic tailwind, "we could be going into a bit of a renaissance with beer," he argues. But to be in a position to enjoy that, "it's impor- tant to be there," in the game in the first place. Is San Diego just an anomaly? Until recently, that case could be made simply by nodding at the sleepy beer scene in the bigger metro just to the north, Los Angeles. But that's changing too as beer entrepreneurs from other parts of the country invade a market that is clearly underdeveloped given its economic might and cultural and culinary vibrancy: Meg Gill has moved from the Bay Area to open Golden Road Brewing even as the Northeast team of Magic Hat founder Alan Newman and Boston Beer founder Jim Koch, via their Alchemy & Science alliance, have invested in the city's Angel City Brewing. Similar stories are unfolding in other craft-back- ward regions: a full-fledged craft boom is under way in sun-drenched light beer mec- cas like Texas and the Southeast, and not just of training-wheels entries. At last fall's Great American Beer Bud Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .AB InBev . . . . . . . . . . . . .543,500 . . . . . .538,000 . . . . . . . .-1.0% Coors Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MillerCoors . . . . . . . . . . .251,300 . . . . . .253,900 . . . . . . . .1.0% Budweiser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .AB InBev . . . . . . . . . . . . .253,000 . . . . . .242,000 . . . . . . . .-4.3% Miller Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MillerCoors . . . . . . . . . . .220,000 . . . . . .211,100 . . . . . . . .-4.0% Natural Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .AB InBev . . . . . . . . . . . . .127,000 . . . . . .117,400 . . . . . . . .-7.6% Busch Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .AB InBev . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94,500 . . . . . . .91,300 . . . . . . . .-3.4% Busch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .AB InBev . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83,000 . . . . . . .81,100 . . . . . . . .-2.3% Miller High Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MillerCoors . . . . . . . . . . . .69,500 . . . . . . .65,000 . . . . . . . .-6.5% Keystone Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MillerCoors . . . . . . . . . . . .65,500 . . . . . . .62,800 . . . . . . . .-4.1% Michelob Ultra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .AB InBev . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43,600 . . . . . . .43,800 . . . . . . . .0.5% Total Leading Domestic Brands Others Brand Brewer Total Domestic Source: The Beverage Information Group 2,459,800 1,750,900 708,900 2,419,370 1,706,400 712,970 Festival, brewers from rural Georgia to Oklahoma were pouring challenging styles like tripels and sour beers, saying that's what their customers are demand- ing these days. High-End Options Thriving C halk it up perhaps to Whole Foods, The Food Network and social media, but it all bespeaks an increasing fragmentation of the U.S. beer industry, where premium and below-premium segments continue to struggle even as high-end options thrive and prolifer- ate. Though the economy is struggling, the trend seems to encompass more than the sliver of affluent consumers who so far have proved relatively immune to the effects of recession. It's an environment that few industry peo- ple argue is going to significantly reverse any time soon, whether or not there is a shakeout of some players or "Despite the economic challenges of the past four years, the upscale segment is the only area driving growth in the beer industry." —LESYA LYSYJ, chief marketing officer, Heineken USA brands, and despite the challenges it brings, most retail- ers and wholesalers have come to embrace it as adding profit and excitement to a category that has struggled to LEADING DOMESTIC BEER BRANDS (000 2.25 Gallon Cases) % Change 2010 2011 '10/'11 -1.6% Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • September/October 2012 • 17 -2.5% 0.6%