💸 Consumers Trading Up Despite Inflation

Market research firm Circana’s Scott Scanlon makes a case for why there are opportunities for craft brewers in single-serve offerings and adult non-alcoholic beverages. BevNet spirits editor Ferron Salniker shares highlights from Scanlon’s “Fresh Take For Craft Beverage Alcohol” webinar. 

Insiders are also:

• Getting an update on recent openings, closings and a brewery hermit crabbing;
• Watching Boston Celtics star and Samuel Adams spokesperson Derrick White’s “Duck Boat” adventures;
• Reading a public health perspective on pre-legal-drinking-age consumers’ consumption of adult non-alcoholic beverages;
• And seeing a very strawberry beer mail from Land Grant Brewing.

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Opportunities for craft beer lie in single-serve and non-alc offerings, according to Scott Scanlon, executive vice president of beverage-alcohol at market research firm Circana. 

Scanlon and Deschutes Brewery CEO Peter Skrbek discussed the opportunities and challenges facing bev-alc suppliers with a focus on craft beer during a webinar last week called a Fresh Take for Craft Beverage Alcohol.

Insiders can go deeper into the report, including opportunities in non-alc, an increase in beer-only shoppers and also growth in trading up in the beer category.

Insiders are getting the scoop on a few brewery moves in the southeast, including a new taproom in the D.C. area, a closing in Orlando that brought one formerly multi-location brewery down to a single taproom, and a hermit crabbing in the Tampa area.

The July 4 holiday is just a week away. Ahead of the Fourth, Rabobank’s food and agribusiness team will host a “BBQ Index” webinar on the inflationary costs for food and drinks. We’ll tune in and report back on the highlights. 

Plus, expect a fresh episode of the Brewbound Podcast in your feeds by midweek. 

Last week we received some incredibly sad news. In Portland, Oregon, Cascade Brewing has likely permanently closed following the death of Art Larrance. 

Cascade and Larrance were trailblazers in sour beer production. Larrance died at age 80 following a heart attack on May 26. 

A sale of the brewery four years ago never closed, leaving the brewery in Larrance’s possession. The liquor licenses for both Cascade Blending House in Beaverton and Cascade Barrel House in Portland were in Art Larrance’s name and expired 10 days after his death. 

Earlier this month, former 21st Amendment president and Crux Fermentation founder Dave Wilson died at age 54 following a brief battle with cancer. 

Nico Freccia, 21A co-founder and COO, shared a remembrance of Wilson and outlined the impact he had on the craft brewing industry. 

Freccia wrote: “Dave was the man that anyone could go to with any question about business or family. He always wore a huge, warm, smile, and gave giant bear hugs. He was the consummate family man and his life revolved around his wife, five children, and multiple grandchildren. He was the patriarch of his family and became the patriarch of ours.

“In addition to being my colleague, Dave was my mentor and one of my best friends. His loss is towering for the industry.”

In other news …

The world’s largest manufacturer of aluminum cans is watching domestic beer and energy drinks. Ball Corp. chairman and CEO Dan Fisher appeared exasperated with discussions of domestic beer during an investor day presentation last week. 

Fisher said: “I’m keeping a close eye on domestic beer, and how that’s tethered to the end consumer and the energy category because we’ve benefited greatly. We’ve got an outsize position there. It’s great that it’s only flat to slightly up.”

Take a deep dive into hard kombucha trends and whether the segment can gain traction, thanks to Brewbound reporter Zoe Licata. 

Onsite brewery sales declined -6% in Q1 2024, according to Brewers Association (BA) staff economist Matt Gacioch, citing data from Arryved. Gacioch explored overall onsite sales, draft and various category sales share changes and tab size trends in the first of a three-part dive into Arryved point-of-sale data through March 2024.

In other data news:

• CGA: On-Premise Chain Dollar Sales Decline vs. 2023; Beer Gaining Share of Bev-Alc Dollars
• NIQ: Memorial Weekend Fails to Boost Bev-Alc As Sales, Volumes Decline

Bernstein analyst Nadine Sarwat joined the Brewbound Podcast to break down all of the angles of a potential Boston Beer sale, including the pros and cons of several rumored buyers. 

Get into the strategy behind the Kylie Jenner-backed RTD vodka soda line Sprinter in the latest installment of A Round With. Head of product development Chandra Richter shares how she develops flavors to appeal to broad audiences, the lessons learned from working with major beverage companies and what flavors are trending this year.

St. Louis-based Urban Chestnut is facing a pair of lawsuits over unpaid loans. Brewbound managing editor Jess Infante has the details of the $440,000 the craft brewery allegedly owes.

Want a recap with more GIFs? Check out Sean McNulty’s Insider’s Week in Beer newsletter. 

Brewbound is excited to announce three additional speakers for the Brewbound Live business conference December 11 and 12 in Marina del Rey, California. 

The two-day conference will bring together leaders from all three tiers for business-focused conversations on driving the bev-alc industry forward, data presentations, networking and brand building at the Marina del Rey Marriott. 

Joining the speaker roster are:

• Arthur Moye, owner and CEO of Full Circle Brewing;
• Kaleigh Theriault, director of thought leadership, beverage alcohol vertical, NIQ;
• Brian “BK” Krueger, VP of business development and portfolio strategies, Bump Williams Consulting.

They join previously announced speakers include: 

• Natalie Cilurzo, co-owner, Russian River Brewing;
• Peter Skrbek, CEO, Deschutes Brewery;
• Lester Jones, chief economist and VP of analytics, National Beer Wholesalers Association;
• Jennifer Hauke, founder and president, Draftline Technologies.

Additional speakers will be announced in the coming weeks. Interested in speaking? Follow this link to see our speaker guidelines. 

In addition to the mainstage programming and networking parties, Brewbound Live will feature opportunities for one-to-one conversations between brewers and bev-alc brands and retail buyers from chains such as Whole Foods Market. Registered attendees will be considered for meetings with buyers, as space is limited. Find out more details here.

Brewbound Live tickets are available now.