American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
(Dylan Mulvaney/Instagram)
Both Anheuser-Busch and Boston Beer reported less-than-stellar US sales in 2023. We’ve that, “Words to Drink By,” and more…
Bud Light Beer Sales Take $1.4 Billion Hit in US
It’s beer a turbulent year for Bud Light, still reeling from its brief, but ultimately costly, partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer whose image was put on a Bud Light beer can to celebrate the activist’s “365 Days of Girlhood.”
The initial Dylan Mulvaney announcement took place on April 1 and in spite of Anheuser-Busch’s many efforts to put the matter to bed the brand has been experiencing serious sales declines ever since then.
Now that “there’s a price tag to the controversial Bud Light ad spot involving the transgender influencer. Yahoo! Finance reported that “Dylan cost AB InBev. In North America, the company found organic revenue—a proxy for operating performance—slid by $1.4 billion owing to less Bud Light beer sold. This geography includes Canada in addition to the U.S. However, the group’s revenue growth remained flat for the year in the former while Bud Light’s boycott took a toll in the US.”
On a February 29 earning’s call AB InBev’s CEO Michel Doukeris said the company’s “growth potential was constrained by the performance of our US business” in 2023.
Words to Drink By
“It’s the duty of every generation to find music their parents hate.” – Eric Carmen, American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (1949-2024)
Boston Beer Woes
On February 28, Boston Beer, home to Truly hard seltzer and Samuel Adams Beer, posted its fourth quarter results, results that weren’t all that great. Not only did the brewer miss its top and bottom line estimates (never a good thing) and issue underwhelming guidance for its near future, the company is still reeling from the decline of hard seltzer demand.
“The Hard Seltzer Blues have become a theme song at Boston Beer which has once again slashed its earnings forecast as demand for the category continues to fall below the company’s expectations,” according to the Drinks Business.
The company had bet the farm on its Truly hard seltzer when the brand second only to the category leader White Claw. But hard seltzer growth has slowed significantly post- Covid, as many consumers have migrated back to beer or moved on the growing canned cocktail segment
Boston Beer reported a loss of $1.49 per share in the seasonally weak quarter, which was worse than both the consensus estimates for a loss of $0.25 per share and its loss of $0.93 per share in the prior-year quarter.
Depletions, which is proxy for end-consumer demand based products sold from distributors to retailers, were down 9% year over year.
