Happy Dad Hard Seltzer's new grape flavor is on track to sell 400K cases in its first 2 months from Apr thru May. Not 400K cases in April, as we wrote on Fri.

Purpose-driven marketing proliferated in recent yrs and always had its perils. But increased polarization epitomized by Bud Light backlash may have brand owners rethinking the risk/reward of aligning with social causes, Wall St Jnl wrote today.

While Coke didn't say much about its alc bev brands on its Q1 conference call, Simply Spiked surged to new heights in recent weeks as new peach flavor rolled out and spring shelf sets kicked in. Simply Spiked family $$ reached $3.76 mil for 1-wk thru Apr 16 and $3.46 mil the previous week ending Apr 9. That was larger than Topo Chico hard seltzer family (ex-Spirited), which declined 22% to $3.35 mil for 1-wk thru Apr 16 and -12% to $3.24 mil for 1-wk thru Apr 9. In the latest week, Simply Spiked family also surpassed Bud Light Seltzer, Angry Orchard, Sam Adams and several competing FMB brands (among others) to become 29th largest beer brand family and 6th largest FMB by $$ tracked by Circana/IRI. Now only behind Twisted, Smirnoff Ice, Mike's Harder/Hard and Cayman Jack in the FMB space. So far, Simply Spiked incremental growth is more than offsetting Topo Chico hard seltzer declines as the two brands collectively grew 73% for latest 2 wks.

While the recent radical shift in beer biz competitive trends remains very big news, 1-week trends are now being watched with a microscopically intense level of scrutiny that is potentially distorted. With that caveat in mind and reminding that this is just 1 week, going against Easter in same period last yr, let's lean in for a closer look at company trends in 1 week of Circana multi-outlet + convenience data thru April 16.

Buying a margarita-flavored bev in a grocery store is not the same as ordering a margarita at a bar and the word "hard" does not imply the presence of spirits, fed judge in NY found in opinion tossing a proposed class action suit filed against Coke claiming that Topo Chico Margarita hard seltzer packaging is "misleading." Not so, Judge Cathy Seibel wrote late last wk. But she went further, ripping into tactics repeatedly taken by familiar plaintiff's atty Spencer Sheehan in wide variety of similar suits and blocking oppy to amend and refile this complaint. The 20+-pg ruling offers additional views likely to be cheered by other suppliers, too, including conclusion that NY consumers generally know they can't buy spirits in grocery stores.

New Beer Institute prexy Brian Crawford seized the moment in his first public appearance at NBWA Spring Legislative conference as he slammed spirits efforts to pass RTD laws. Joined on stage by NBWA prexy Craig Purser, BA prexy Bob Pease and American Beverage Licensees (ABL) prexy John Bodnovich, Brian first talked about spirits cos' "disciplined… 20-year strategic plan" that included winning right to advertise, getting Sunday sales and improving route to market. But spirits' latest effort to reduce taxation and/or expand availability on spirits RTDs ran into roadblocks of a unified industry. "We've defeated them in every single state," said Brian (w/ exceptions in VT & MI).

Best Day Brewing, which has moved into #2 spot among NA craft beers in its Calif base, is into a new capital round after seed and Series A rounds and prepping to hit East Coast after forays into Texas and Midwest. "Brewed by doers for doers," as side of cans declare, it's partnered with Life Time Fitness and Professional Pickleball Assn to get cans into hands of the active types it's targeting. The push is being masterminded by team of seasoned beer and Red Bull execs recruited by founder Tate Huffard, who was new to beer biz at time he launched in late 2021 after 5 years of experimentation. (This article also appeared in sibling pub Beverage Business INSIGHTS.)

Following rapid growth from roughly 7K bbls in 2018 to 38K in 2021, shipments for NY's Sloop Brewing finished about flat last yr, global sales director Joe Turco shared with CBN in recent chat. That's in part due to trimming SKUs as Sloop nixed some of its specialty portfolio. And it's about in line with estimates for national BA craft (see last issue), slightly ahead of where we estimate total segment trends. Sloop likely lost a bit of share within NY last yr, as state saw bigger bounce back than most in 2022 amid delayed Covid recovery. But climbing toward 40K bbls is no small feat, a mark Sloop aims to surpass this yr.

Allagash Brewing stands out again as one of the stronger regional craft performers among top cos to start the year. Depletions rose 8% YTD, fueled in part by easier comps vs Omicron in Jan-Feb, along with strong flagship performance and new Hop Reach launch, sales director Naomi Neville shared with CBN in brief chat. Allagash White still makes up vast majority of its sales and grew 5% to-date. And new Hop Reach IPA rollout has been "really good" as co very deliberately plans to build this brand into its true #2 in the portfolio. Naomi and the team continuously talk about Hop Reach as a "longer-term goal," looking to "create a healthy brand that grows over years." So co's "very carefully producing to order" at this stage as it already reached 20% of Allagash White distribution. MA is the biggest state for Hop Reach so far, she added.