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Beer sales declined at similar pace as in recent weeks during week of Memorial Day holiday thru Sunday May 24 vs yr ago in natl Circana multi-outlet + convenience data. Volume down 4%, definitely not good but not as bad as some feared, aligning with many anecdotal reports from distribs across the country commenting on "fair," "slow," and/or "so-so" results. Beer $$ were off 2.8% for the week. Gotta note, last yr's Memorial Day was May 26 vs May 25 this year, so industry faces a bit of a calendar headwind in the last wk of May. All-channel trends have been runnin' a bit softer than in MULC thruout the yr. Avg price/case increase slowed moderately to +1.3%, in part due to improvement of subpremium segment, which grew 1.5% by $$ and gained nearly 0.5 share thanks to boost from Busch fam. So above premium segments collectively gained just 0.2 share of $$ for period, a notable slowdown vs 0.8 gain YTD thru May 17 in these channels."The unofficial summertime kickoff experienced rain for much of the East and Midwest which dampened the holiday, but all was not lost as many brands continued positive momentum and capitalized on the holiday despite the rain and high gas prices," wrote Circana exec veep Scott Scanlon. "The rain certainly dampened the beer category but Ultra, White Claw, Pacifico, and New Belgium all delivered Memorial weekend," and "Busch might be the standout story this holiday as many predicted slowing comps."AB's Busch, Cutwater, Michelob Fams Posted Top Gains; AB Alc Bev $$ Up Just ~1% for Period AB's Busch, Cutwater and Michelob beer/NA fams posted the 3 largest $$ gains for the week thru May 24 of any alc bev brand fam in Circana MULC data. Busch Light Apple appears to be closing out the back half of May on a strong note, boosting Busch fam to the #1 $$ gain overall for the wk, +9.5%, just ahead of Cutwater's 85.5% gain off a smaller base. And combo of Michelob and Mich Ultra Zero fam collectively grew 4%, putting the total $$ gain ahead of Surfside (+127.5%) and Sun Cruiser (+164%) for #3 overall. That led AB to top share gain in beer and top growth in wine & spirit RTDs. Yet AB total alc bev $$ sales up just ~1% with volume down slightly as Bud Light/Bud collectively declined most of any brand fam, Natty, Bud Specialty and Stella remain soft, and Elysian slipped double-digits, among other puts and takes.Notable Pops for Handful of Smaller Brand Fams: On the Rocks, Athletic, Heineken 0.0, Labatt Many of the top beer and RTD growth fams for the week were familiar names all yr, but a handful saw particularly notable pops. On the Rocks RTD accelerated to +46% for 1 week thru May 24, a major leap from its high-single-digit growth rate YTD thru May 17. Athletic $$ accelerated to +24% with avg price/case down 3% in these channels. Another top NA fam, Heineken 0.0 accelerated to +12% by $$ with volume up less than 1%, avg price/case up 11%. And Labatt fam suddenly grew 2% by $$ with volume up 0.6% for the week after declining high-single-digits YTD thru May 17.

Beer $$ Down 2.8%, Vol -4% for Memorial Day Wk in MULC; AB Had Top 3 Growth Fams; Notable Pops

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