(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Friday Night Beer Blog [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-06-09 Hi beer fans, happy Friday! Things have happened this week that should be celebrated with a beer! — The shakeup in the beer market around Bud Light isn’t nearly over, but there’s plenty of news for an update. Is the boycott holding? Who among their competitors are benefiting, and who wants to? I don’t think the magas can keep this up. Staying mad is hard work. I’m guessing that there will be people taking one last drink of Coors Light and then saying “I’ve drunk this stuff for two months to own the libs, and that’s enough. I like Bud Light better. And fuck beer snobs who say all light beer sucks.” The rebound might already be starting, although the improvement is small. Sales of the beer dropped 23.9 percent for the week ending May 27 compared to the same time last year - though that was a slight improvement from last week when sales were down 25.7 percent. Some industry analysts agree with me that sales will come back, but not all the way. expect a "permanent 15% haircut," to Bud Light sales, Bernstein analysts Nadine Sarwat and Trevor Stirling wrote in a note, according to Forbes. The rebound needs to come soon because at some point (this writer thinks by September) distributors and retailers will readjust shelf space to fit the new sales reality. It’s worth remembering that Bud Light is a mature brand, it’s been on top in the U.S. market for like 20 years, and it wasn’t likely to go anywhere but down even before this brouhaha, just not this hard and this fast. That’s why Alissa Heinerscheid, the recently removed VP of marketing, wanted to go outside the typical Bud Light drinker with the Mulvaney sponsorship. She was right, but look what that got her. -- So who’s benefiting? Modelo Bud Light sales plunged in May, toppling the beer brand from its longtime perch as the nation's best-selling brew. Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI) sold $297 million worth of Bud Light for the four weeks ending May 28 — a 23% drop from the same time period the year before, according to consumer behavior data analytics firm Circana. Modelo Especial ranked No.1 in May, with $333 million in sales — a 15% increase from 2022. My favorite beer writer, Kate Bernot at Sightlines thinks Modelo is positioned for big growth. Constellation Brands stumbled with its craft beer acquisitions but they’re doing great with Modelo. They’re huge in the flavored beer segment, the flagship Especial is thriving, Negra Modelo is the Mexican beer that beer snobs respect, and they’re moving into flavored malt beverages. “Flavored beer” in this context refers mostly to beer + tomato juice Cheladas. I’m a fan of “red beer”, I’ve often bought the Bud Light Cheladas and should try the Modelo ones. -- That statistic I bolded above is questionable, a CNN story says Bud Light is still #1— at least for now: The biggest beneficiaries of Bud Light’s slipping sales continue to be MolsonCoors’ Miller Light and Coors Light, with sales up a whopping 26% and 23% respectively, according to NIQ. They misspelled “Lite”. MolsonCoors is benefiting, Heineken wants some of it. As investors try to assess the fallout on global brewing leader Anheuser-Busch InBev from a backlash against Bud Light, rival Heineken is spending $100 million to promote a new light beer to Americans. The Dutch brewer sees Heineken Silver driving fresh momentum into its U.S. business, where sales of standard Heineken have broadly stagnated in the past decade. But it was another Heineken story that really surprised me. Did you know Bill Gates was in the beer business? Billionaire and Microsoft Corp. Co-Founder Bill Gates continues to make waves with his latest venture into the beer industry. Gates made headlines by acquiring a substantial stake in Heineken Holding NV… The transaction, which occurred on Feb. 17, involved Gates purchasing 10.8 million shares valued at $939.87 million -— OK enough of this. I have Hazy Little Thing and some weird fruit sours. What are you drinking? [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/9/2174337/-Friday-Night-Beer-Blog Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/