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At the close of Q2, top growth brand families and loss leaders paint a fascinating picture of broader industry dynamics. But despite different brushstrokes, it’s in many ways a familiar image: biggest brand family declines far outweigh growth on the other end of the spectrum, latest analysis from Bump Williams Consulting shows. In the plus column, Cutwater continues to run away with the growth belt across all of bev alc, per latest 13 wk scans thru Jun 20. Bump broke out top 20 $$ growth brand fams and top 20 $$ decliners across each of “traditional” beer, RTDs (across all alc bases) and “traditional” wine & spirits. And Cutwater (+$113 mil) added far more $$ than biggest beer growth brand family Michelob (+$40 mil) for the period. In fact, it gained more than the top 4 beer growth fams combined, with Michelob, Pacifico (+$31 mil), Busch ($27 mil) and New Belgium (+$10 mil) collectively up ~$108 mil. Victoria (+$9 mil) Garage Beer (+$5 mil) and Sapporo (+$4 mil) were next biggest beer growth brands.But largest brand family losses still weighing things down, particularly within beer. Budweiser family losses (-$138 mil for 13 wks) alone nearly wiped out gains from the top 20 beer growth brand fams combined, +$145 mil. Miller (-$54 mil) and Coors (-$44 mil) also down big in Q2 NIQ, with top 5 $$ declines rounded out by the 2 biggest import brands, Modelo (-$52 mil) and Corona (-$51 mil). Net-net, top 20 beer loss leaders shed $493 mil over 13 wks, nearly 3.5x as much as the T20 growth brands. All remaining beer brands dropped $120 mil for the period, leaving “a lot of heavy lifting left to do” on the traditional beer side, wrote Bump.Surfside #2 Gain Across Bev Alc for 13 Wks; Separately Counted Super Lyte #10 Growth Among RTDs Meanwhile, Surfside rose to become #2 growth brand family across bev alc for 13 wks, +$42 mil. Newly intro’d portfolio-mate Super Lyte shot up the charts too. It’s already the #10 RTD growth brand family, adding incremental ~$7 mil for the period. Could create a “formidable duo” for parent co Stateside Brands as retailers are “keyed-in to the growth potential” of new spiked hydration segment, Bump figures. Other red-hot vodka tea/lemonade brand, Sun Cruiser, added $35 mil for the period, more than any beer brand fam but Michelob. Within traditional wine & spirits, biggest growth brand fam was Lunazul tequila, +$16 mil. “NONE of the T10 Spirits brands that collectively account for ~1/3 of total category $ sales” ranked among top growth drivers, noted Bump.18 of Top 20 RTD Declines Came from FMB/Seltzer; High Noon and BuzzBallz Spirits Down RTDs fared far better even with the inclusion of FMBs and malt/sugar-based seltzers. T20 growth leaders added $316 mil, outpacing T20 decliners at -$208 mil. Remaining brands down $48 mil. Bulk of biggest RTD losses came from the malt side. That includes 13 FMBs and 5 hard seltzers, led by Twisted Tea (-$45 mil), Truly (-$32 mil), Mike’s (-$26 mil) and Simply Spiked (-$12 mil). Tho High Noon posted 5th-largest RTD $$ loss for 13 wks: down nearly $12 mil, with BuzzBallz spirits variants also -$7 mil.Widespread Losses in Wine & Spirits Largest losses in traditional wine & spirits coming from some of the higher-end growth drivers of years past: Don Julio (-$38 mil), Crown Royal (-$32 mil), Hennessy and Casamigos (each -$19 mil). T20 loss leaders in wine & spirits shed $277 mil for 13 wks while T20 growth players gained $133 mil. But declines spread far and wide as all remaining brand fams dropped a whopping $510 mil in NIQ scans for 13 wks.Trends “Beginning to Look a Lot Like 2025 in Here,” but “Clawing Their Way Back” It’s beginning to look a lot like 2025 in here” as far as yr-to-date NIQ sales trends go, Bump commented of broader category trends. Indeed, beer $$ dropped 3.2% in NIQ last yr, while yr-to-date beer $$ now down 3.1% YTD thru Jun 20. Sales hit a big speed bump in Q2 following a more promising Q1 2026: NIQ beer $$ down just 1.4% in Q1 but slipped 4.6% for most of Q2 (12 of 13 wks). Tho “trends have been slowly clawing their way back” thanks in large part to World Cup occasions, Bump noted, even as much of the World Cup bump has been concentrated on-premise. “For most of my Retail partners, June was an exceptionally strong month of sales; it was a mixed bag with distributors,” he added. But bev alc is hopefully en route to a stronger back half of the yr, beginning with this weekend’s July 4 celebrations.

Cutwater Keeps Climbing, But Bud Losses Nearly Offset Top 20 Beer Brand Fam Growth Combined in Q2, BWC Shows

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