Beer Marketer's Insights
PepsiCo's alc bev endeavors have been fairly quiet in US since folding its Blue Cloud Distribution biz. But soda giant is taking another trademark into alc bev space thru Fifco USA. Meet Bubly wine refreshers, a "premium dry rose wine sparkling water," clocking in at just 4.5% ABV and 100 calories per 12-oz sleek can, brand dir Lisa Texido shared during brewer's distrib mtg. Pulling from PepsiCo's Bubly sparkling water brand launched in 2018, Bubly wine refreshers will launch in Strawberry Peach and Blackberry Lemon flavors, available in 4-pks and variety 8-pks for starters. Co's starting with co's 12 priority mkts, NY, Penn, NJ in Northeast, Ohio, Mich, Ill, Wis in Midwest, Va, SC, Ga, Fla in Southeast, and Texas. But Bubly wine refreshers will be available in many other states where it gets chain authorizations too.
In ever-swirling storm of hemp-related lawsuits, the rising pressure hemp puts on legal cannabis bizzes finally struck members in each tier of the alc bev biz in Virginia. Suit filed in state court Mon by owners of dispensaries working under state's medical cannabis program claims that sellers of intoxicating hemp products in violation of state law unlawfully cut into their biz. Suit targets a single hemp bev brand, claiming a conspiracy among entire supply chain: brand-owner Coastalo; producer Urban Artifact, an Ohio-based craft brewer; in-state distrib Specialty Bev, a Sheehan Family Co; retailer Total Wine, and delivery co DoorDash. (This story first ran in our sibling beer letter Insights Express yesterday.)
Clearstone Capital Takes Control of Brust, Early Entrant into Burgeoning Protein Coffee Space
Private-equity is comin' for proffee. New Brunswick-based Clearstone Capital said it's acquired Toronto protein coffee marketer Brust Beverages for undisclosed terms. The enhanced resources will enable 7-yr-old Brust (styled as "Brüst") to accelerate production, distribution and new-product flow as pioneering proffee provider north of the border eyes US launch. Clearstone founder Dwight Fraser, a franchising vet, cited Brust's "first-mover advantage, paired with the brand's commitment to clean ingredients and sustainable growth," as key attractions. Describing itself as family office, Clearstone seeks majority investments in companies based in US or Canada, generating $3-15 mil EBITDA or having enterprise value of $20-50 mil, per its website. This may be its first transaction.
Country's largest Coke bottler, Coca-Cola Consolidated, rode brisk growth in Monster Energy and noncarbs like Powerade and Smartwater to 3.2% volume growth in Q3. Core CSDs grouped under Sparkling heading scored 1.4% volume gain in Q3, driven mainly by zero-sugar and flavored offerings even as Coca-Cola Original Taste experienced "moderating headwinds in demand." So-called Still segment that includes sparkling non-CSD entries like Monster and Topo Chico, spiked 8.9% in volume, with Core Power, Dasani and Topo Chico among other brands that achieved volume growth. Charlotte-based megabottler provides nice window into health of Coke brands in North America given lesser amount of detail offered in earnings announcements from core supplier The Coca-Cola Co.
Tho US was a laggard, Starbucks Coffee concluded its 2025 fiscal year with first quarter of same-store sales growth in 7 periods, giving CEO Brian Niccol confidence that his efforts to upgrade ambience and service at the stores and accelerate innovation are starting to pay off. The performance "gives us confidence that we really have turned the page to a new chapter in our turnaround," he told investors late yesterday afternoon. But he's "clearly not declaring any victory. We still have a lot of work in front of us, but it's clear we're moving in the right direction." While N Amer region was only flat in comparable-store sales, it moved into positive territory as quarter developed and transition to Q4, Niccol indicated. For all the positive spin, shares drew muted reaction, edging down a point in trading as of late afternoon.
Don't Miss the Beer Insights Seminar; Coming Right Up Nov 9-10 at the New York Athletic Club in NYC
The 31st annual Beer Insights Seminar is coming right up Nov 9-10 at the historic New York Athletic Club in New York City, "the most celebrated Athletic Club in the USA." We've got a unique program for this premiere event and seats are filling up fast! You won't wanna miss it: Sign up today to reserve your spot alongside a first-rate group of beer industry leaders.
Spirits Cases Up, $$ Down in Sep Control States; Vodka Stable; Tequila Price Pressure; Cocktails +9%
Volume and dollars moved in opposite directions in control state spirits data in Sep, NABCA reported. Volume did alright, up 0.7% last mo, driven by low-single digit gains for vodka (+1.2%), tequila (+2.3%) and cordials (+0.9%). Cocktails, including canned RTDs, slowed to single-digit volume growth for first time since early 2024 in this dataset, +9.2%. Domestic whiskey held just below flat as most other segments down mid-single digits. Note that 7 additional selling days across 18-state control state footprint boosted trends a bit.
Carlsberg's revenue rose 17.8% due to Britvic acquisition impact of +21.5%; organic rev development -1.4% with currency impact -2.3%, co reported this morning. Avg rev per hectoliter up 2%. Total volumes dipped 3% organically excluding San Miguel; premium beer grew 5%. Co's biggest beer region by volume, Asia, dropped 1.2% but was partially offset by a 1% increase in revenue/hectoliter. Key mkts in Western Europe, UK and France fell 7%. Britvic added incremental 6.3 mil hectoliters and $665 mil USD for qtr, co shared.
Vita Coco reported stellar sales in Q3, up 37%. It raised guidance and stock surged 8% yesterday, tho down 5-6% today at presstime. Why do we report that here? Its ceo is none other than Martin Roper, longtime ceo of Boston Beer, who left in 2018, joined Vita Coco in 2019. Vita Coco humming lately. And even with today's dip, Vita Coco stock mkt capitalization up to $2.44 bil currently. Bigger than Boston Beer's mkt cap of $2.27 bil. Tho Boston Beer's net revs were still 3.5X bigger than Vita Coco's 9 mos thru end of Sep, at $1.678 bil vs $482 mil. Net income just 2X bigger YTD. More extensive report on Vita Coco appeared in sibling pub Beverage Business INSIGHTS yesterday.
On-prem draft beer volume improved in Q3, according to latest BeerBoard report. Draft beer volume slipped 1.8% while packaged volume was off 5.1%, BeerBoard sez. Draft makes up 85-90% of the volume mix in BeerBoard accounts, so total on-prem trend in these accounts likely down a little over 2% for the qtr.