Beer Marketer's Insights
Jerry Rice's mushroom-based energy play, Goat Fuel, has reeled in $5 mil Series A led by Stage 1 Fund and Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners, bringing total capital raised to $20 mil since 2020, Sports Business Jnl reported. The round represents first institutional money after former 49ers star turned to his personal network to launch brand (styled as G.O.A.T., for "greatest of all time") with $3.1 mil in angel money, then added another $3.9 mil over next 18 months, as SBJ reviewed. Those early investors have included former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr and Minnesota Timberwolves owner Marc Lore (he was also investor in Jet.com and its acquirer Walmart). The concept, which employs cordyceps mushrooms and BCAAs for core functional blend, was created by Rice's daughter, Jaqui Rice Gold, the ceo, and her husband Trevion Gold, chief brand officer, after noticing shroom trend burgeoning in LA. She told SBJ that co aims to deploy the new capital to get to full national distribution by next year and to fund additional sports sponsorships beyond current role as official energy drink of LA Lakers. Rice Gold told trade letter that Stage 1 and Morrison Seger were appealing partners for their expertise in building consumer brands. Stage 1 website lists such portfolio partners as Lemon Perfect hydration brand, Spudsy potato puffs and a flock of personal care cos: Crown Affair, Scotch Porter, Saie, Herbivore and Freck Beauty; its fund mgr David Bartholomew has also been involved in cos like Owl's Brew. Morrison Seger is involved in investments like Siempre Tequila, Overnight Oats and Catch'n ice cream. Rice Gold said co is generating 8-figures in sales, counting ecomm and retail.
A little over one year after Quincy Troupe's departure, Boston Beer hired Philip A Hodges as its chief supply chain officer, co announced late afternoon yesterday. Philip has "over 30 years of senior operations experience in the consumer packaged goods industry" including as Carlsberg's exec veep of group supply chain and SAB Miller's group director and chief supply chain officer, plus lead roles with Mondelez International and Kraft Foods Group. Philip already "served as an advisor" for Boston in "supply chain management since May 2022," so he's already been familiarized with co's current supply chain challenges and oppys for a year before taking on the chief role. Philip will start with an annual base salary of $615K with plenty of bonus oppys, stock options, and "two one-time equity awards" in lieu of participating in co's annual executive Long Term Equity Program.
Mark Anthony Hired New Global CMO Isabelle Sakai; Kevin Brady to Lead US Mktg; John Shea Out
Mark Anthony shuffled up its mktg leadership team, hiring new global cmo and appointing new US mktg director as cmo John Shea left the co in Apr 2023. On Apr 1, Isabelle Sakai assumed role of global chief mktg officer based in co's Dublin office. She's from outside the beer/bev biz but brings 25 yrs of experience in consumer goods, fashion, apparel and retail at P&G, Bata Brands and Mondelez, co shared. "With this evolution," US mktg org "is now being led by Kevin Brady," a 13-yr Mark Anthony vet. As Mark Anthony seeks "to build a Global Premium Drinks Business, it was important to have the right structure to drive growth and brand equity in all markets in which Mark Anthony chooses to compete, particularly to build the seltzer category globally and differentiate White Claw as the original seltzer and clear category definer," prexy Phil Rosse explained to INSIGHTS via email.
Total beer biz volume down 2.2% in latest week thru May 14 in Circana multi-outlet + convenience data. And yet 5 cos grew at robust double-digit rates as they once-again fed off AB declines. AB volume down 15.6%. Each of Molson Coors and Constellation up 11%, Kirin-Lion up 16.6%, Pabst up 13%. And once again leading the growth-rate charge: Yuengling up an astounding 37.7%, with $$ sales up 42.6%.
Shockingly, JP Morgan analyst Jared Dinges wrote that he expects US EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) to drop 26% in 2023 (as both Barron's and Market Watch reported). If so, that would be nearly a $1.3 bil hit to estimated $4.925 bil in US EBIT last yr. JP Morgan expects full-yr volume decline of 12% and revs down 10%. (AB volume down 5.3% yr-to-date thru May 13 in NielsenIQ.)
Industry shipments look notably softer than initial estimates suggested following latest TTB reports thru Q1 2023. Domestic taxpaids declined 3.3%, 1.26 mil bbls YTD thru Mar 2023. Bottles & cans continue to drive the decline, down 3.5%, 1.2 mil bbls. But keg shipments from US brewers grew just 2.5% for the qtr after posting a 7% decline in Mar. And tax determined premise use (a good proxy for taprooms) sank 13% to 920K bbls for the qtr. That's gotta be one of, if not the steepest reported decline for taprooms since the craft beer boom. Keep in mind, smaller brewer shifts from quarterly to annual filing with TTB may be impacting trend negatively at this time. But taproom volume from those that file quarterly clearly soft to start the yr.
Another small Anheuser-Busch distrib deal was announced late last week in Wash State. King Beverage will acquire Midway Beverage of Moses Lake, Paragon Beverage Advisors posted. But deal has unique wrinkle to it: Columbia Dist got Midway's Red Bull biz (~100K cases) as well as volume that co previously arranged sub-distribution agreement for thru Midway (also ~100K cases). The sub-distribution agreement included alc brands like Pabst, Mac & Jack's and 2 Towns Cider, while NA brands include Novamex (Jarritos) and Nestle. So Columbia's adding more of eastern Wash thru this deal.
Athletic Brewing is going Hollywood now. Heading onto turf long occupied by major domestic and import brands, Athletic has teamed up with Netflix to offer a trio of brews that take their cues from fantasy drama The Witcher in hope of getting word out to show's tens of millions of fans that non-alc beers are quite quaffable these days. The show's 3d season commences on Jun 29 with Volume 1, followed by Vol 2 on Jul 27.
Minnesota Legislature passed a sweeping bill over the weekend to allow 21+ adults to use recreational marijuana, a bill that Gov. Tim Walz will sign this week, per CBS News. Minn becomes 22d state along with Wash DC to legalize marijuana use. Minn bill "allows for THC-infused hemp edibles and drinks to be sold at liquor stores," noted report. That's been happening since last summer when Minn OK'd sales of THC edibles and drinks with low-dose hemp, turning state into sprawling lab for THC bev experimentation, with the Delta-8 and Delta-9 drinks quick to find spots on restaurant and bar menus and craft brewers and beer distributors getting into game (BBI, Apr 19 and 20). The Dept of Health will still be tasked with THC oversight until a new state cannabis office is set up by 2025. When THC drinks and other items were allowed to be sold last year, no license was needed nor any additional tax, but "that changes with this new legislation" as these products will be hit with 10% gross receipts tax and additional regs. Co-sponsor of legalization effort, Rep. Zack Stephenson, estimates it will be 12-18 mos before state will get regulation system in place and allow in-store sales of marijuana.
You might recognize the Amanita muscaria mushroom from playing Super Mario, or because Smurfs live under their white-dotted red roofs. But team that includes the serial bev entrepreneur BJ McCaslin and retired NHL pro Daniel Carcillo have bigger plans for the psychoactive mushrooms, the go-to of Central American shamans for millennia. Operating as My Crew Doses, they're building out a suite of mushroom-infused items to be sold both under its own brands and as a white-label supplier to other brands. The concept builds on GRAS certification the co wields for its extracted Muscimol ingredient that has been clinically demonstrated to help with energy, inflammation relief, facilitating sleep and other functions. They just went live with a gummy under Ascend brand name but have plans to play in supplements, shots, bevs and other formats.