Beverage Dynamics

Beverage Dynamics May-June 2016

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.

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www.beveragedynamics.com May/June 2016 • Beverage Dynamics 39 SUMMER IS THE THIRSTY SEASON. The tempera- ture's up, the weather draws us to outdoor pursuits and many of us are fortunate enough to have some extra leisure time. By the pool, on the golf course, at a barbecue, at a ball game—wherever we fi nd ourselves, we all seem to turn to beer. Brewers understand that, and feature more re- freshing beer styles for the summer season. And retailers prepare for faster turnover of a growing range of choices. But although the volume may be higher in the summer, many trends echo pat- terns seen all year long: consumers are embracing more fl avorful beverages, convenient packaging and novelty. At Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits in Annapolis, MD, beer depart- ment manager James Campbell expects the uptick in sales to begin before the offi cial start of summer. "Pretty much starting in April, the fl oodgates open for all the summer beers," he says. The reason, though, may be surprising. "The boost has been in a lot of the craft seasonals. We do get our big parties where they buy 10 thirty-packs of Miller Lite, but they are few and far between, versus the amount of people fl ooding in for craft." Chris Cambareri, co-owner with Jay Polke of Willowbrook Spirit Shoppe, has also noticed that although beer sales are up through the year, craft beers lead the summer sales spike. At his second-generation Cromwell, CT store, Cambareri fi nds that "the volume now is not any particular brand, it's not on the mainstream brands; it's on craft brands. We are a huge craft store, and I now see my orders coming in from the mainstream brands—the Coors Lights and the Bud Lights—and my orders for craft are just as big. Craft beer is exciting, and it has some consumers crossing over from wine or spirits." STYLES AND SEASONALS The dominant summer beer styles are, predictably, lighter bod- ied and lower in alcohol. But they are no longer limited to tradi- tional mainstream pale lagers. Cambareri notes that "consumers are looking for session beers and lighter-style ales that they can drink, but they're still going craft." "Blond ales, wheat beers, the saisons start picking up," says Campbell. "Actually, one really cool one I've noticed an increase in over the years is the gose–the slightly tart and salty style. It's surprisingly popular." Gose (pronounced "GO-zuh") is the latest obscure European style to be embraced by American craft brew- BEERS SUMMER the SUMMER of BY JULIE JOHNSON

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