Beverage Dynamics

Beverage Dynamics - September/October 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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American Made www.beveragedynamics.com September/October 2016• Beverage Dynamics 37 LEADING BRANDS OF AMERICAN BEER, 2014-2015 (000 2.25-gallon cases) '14/'15 BRAND SUPPLIER 2014 2015p % CHG Bud Light AB InBev 510,526 501,250 -1.8% Coors Light MillerCoors 240,688 235,613 -2.1% Budweiser AB InBev 205,606 201,800 -1.9% Miller Light MillerCoors 183,619 181,332 -1.2% Natural Light AB InBev 98,697 93,663 -5.1% Busch Light AB InBev 88,493 88,139 -0.4% Michelob Ultra AB InBev 59,331 69,655 17.4% Busch Light AB InBev 69,664 66,110 -5.1% Keystone Light MillerCoors 49,755 48,950 -1.6% Miller High Life MillerCoors 47,775 47,375 -0.8% Yuengling Yuengling Brewery 39,549 38,725 -2.1% Natural Ice AB InBev 39,206 38,598 -1.6% Pabst Blue Ribbon Pabst Brewing Company 37,235 37,975 2.0% Blue Moon MillerCoors 29,110 31,651 8.7% Total Leading Brands 1,699,254 1,680,836 -1.1% Total American Beer 2,443,540 2,420,111 -1.0% Source: The Beverage Information & Insights Group. For more data, visit www.albevresearch.com. (p) Preliminary He found that Tier 1 brands (greater than 1 million cases sold), accounting for 59% of supermarket volume, lost 4.1% of total craft sales, which was gained almost equally by tier 2 (500k to 999k in cases sales) and tier 4 (less than 100k in cases sales). For companies with the opportu- nity, one response to slowing growth has been an expansion of capacity, markets and territories—even the construction of second facilities closer to new markets. In some cases, this means some sort of association with one or more other brewing companies, through a variety of arrangements. Firestone Walker Brewing Co. is the perfect example of Wat- son's description of breweries that have entered into new owner- ship arrangements: it was number 13 in the Brewers Association ranking of craft breweries, and had concentrated distribution in its home state of California since its founding twenty years ago. In 2015, Firestone Walker announced it was joining forces with Belgian brewer Duvel Moortgat, where it joined two other U.S. craft producers, Ommegang and Boulevard. The three American companies were at different stages in their develop- ment, with Ommegang having had a long relationship with Duvel and Boulevard's founder ready to retire. Firestone Walker was poised for expansion. Co-founder David Walker described a four-way partnership. "Considering they [Duvel] have a large brewery in Europe to tend to, they are not positioned to be an overbearing partner or wish to be so," he says. "This year we hope to be in the 350k barrel range and gasping for more capacity, which will come online in June of 2017. In the meantime we are using some of Boulevard's spare capacity in Kansas City to fi ll in the gaps when demand surges; a perfect example of how Duvel Moortgat can help us succeed." The partnership has also led to creative synergies. "Boule- vard and Ommegang are fabulous, helpful, intelligent members of the eclectic group of brewers that make up the family," he says, "and we are all sharing wisdom, resources and observations when and where it makes sense. Collaborations are happening as we speak." FLYING SOLO It's useful to compare Firestone Walker's family of allied brew- ing companies with others in the top fi fty, including Ninkasi (36 ranked) in Oregon, which remains independently-owned and Colorado's Breckenridge (47), which was purchased by ABI last year. Ninkasi's co-founder, Nikos Ridge, considers his company, with production of around 100,000 barrels, to be a "medi- um-range regional." Only ten years old, the brewery has already expanded four times to keep up with markets in 14 states and two Canadian provinces. He sees the recent Firestone Walker alliance as one of many

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