Hard seltzer's steep declines continue to wipe out gains made by flavored malt bev (FMB) segment in beer this yr in scans. So hard seltzer + FMBs, (when combined they are referred to as "flavored alc bevs" or "FABs" in this article), are losing ground within beer YTD. FMBs + seltzer collectively eked out 0.2% $$ growth to $5.6 bil YTD thru Sep 10 in Circana MULC. But volume slid 5%, 7.7 mil cases, to 144.2 mil cases. With total beer $$ up 3%, volume down 2% YTD, flavored alc bevs lost 0.5 share of beer $$ to 17.5, and -0.4 share of volume to 13.4. (Editor's note: this analysis only looks at flavored alc bevs within beer category and doesn't include spirit & wine-based RTDs unless otherwise specified.)

ABI stock down almost $1, 1.7% today in a down mkt, hitting low of about $54.20, within 1% of yr-to-date low. BUD stock down almost 20% from Mar 31 high in 2023. Down about 6% since well-received (by analysts) Capital Markets Day in Mexico City last week. Unclear why, tho HSBC's Carlos Laboy singled out US difficulties again yesterday even as he saw strong positives in meeting. "LatAm execution holds evidence of transformative advances in culture, digital capabilities, marketing and market development," noted Carlos. "Against such proof of excellence," he added, "ABI's US cultural reform and distributor relationships look like they are in trouble…. A mix of great LatAm (Latin America) performance and an eroding US business" still gets Carlos to 13% upside on stock. But HSBC keeps "hold" rating "on risks of volume loss and falling market share in the US."

Mid-September slump? Off-premise sales of beer dipped a tick, -0.1% for 1 wk thru Sep 16 in NielsenIQ data reported by Bump Williams Consulting. Cases off 4.5%. That ain't the right direction. Imports slowed as mainstream domestic segments softened further. Total premium volume declined 8.1%, below premium cases slipped 4.7% and superpremium segment put up worst trend of all, -10.6%. Suggests all told, close to 60% of industry volume declined high-single digits for the wk, worsening from mid-single-digit YTD decline.

Alkaline88 Water marketer Alkaline Water Co narrowed its operating loss to $2.42 mil from $6.29 mil a year earlier in its fiscal first qtr, its newly released 10-Q statement indicated. The filing, which expanded upon terse earnings statement issued on Fri (BBI, Sep 22), attributed co's 8% decrease in sales to $14.93 mil to "the expanded promotional allowances of our products to retailers throughout the country." Filing indicates that co closed period on Jun 30 with $415K in cash on hand, down from 1.04 mil on Mar 31, tho "our cash on hand, plus the implementation of our cost-reduction and margin enhancement strategy, anticipated financing or equity offerings is planned to fund our current planned operations and capital needs." Filing offers no details on sales by product line or channel, nor referred to DSD distribution network that had been a key focus for broadening accessibility to brand.

After its disastrous experience operating Bolthouse Farms refrigerated juice brand, it's rare for top brass at Campbell Soup to say anything about bevs, tho it remains steward of venerable V8 veggie juice brand. That was true on most recent earnings call last month but prexy/ceo Mark Clouse expressed some ambition for platform during recent appearance at TD Cowen Sipping & Snacking Summit. Having expanded audience for Goldfish crackers and Chunky soups during his 4 years at CPB, Clouse's team now is looking for ways to grow V8, per short account in Baking Business, which bothered to listen in. The starring role will go to V8 + Energy which will expand its distribution and geographic reach, Clouse indicated. Then there's the question of V8 Splash, the more gulpable extension that began as a kids' drink, tried for a while to serve as an alternative to Vitaminwater and has since sort of muddled along. "We need to once and for all kind of figure out what that strategy is going to look like and where that goes going forward," Clouse said. "As far as the long-term view of its relevancy in the category, I think for now, it's certainly not creating a distraction or a problem for us." Clouse succeeded Denise Morrison, who presided over Bolthouse debacle before steering co toward salty snacks as more manageable growth vehicle.

Clear Cut Brands chief Joey Nickell didn't make it to Expo East in Philadelphia as planned because he had business an hour and a half northeast of his Louisville base: at Cincinnati-based Kroger, which has onboarded his new sports drink, Clear Cut Hero, into about half its stores, as Joey reported, fresh off working the grocer's Wellness Fest. It marks an auspicious debut for new brand in Clear Cut portfolio, which also manages Phocus focused-energy play and new shot line called Levo. As reported earlier this month, the "action hydration" line goes out in wrapped 16-oz plastic bottles with prominent "H" at center of front panel, new line offers modest cane sugar hit of 5 g (25 calories) in range of 6 flavors (BBI, Sep 7). With website live now and official announcement out, more details are available. Formula includes potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, chloride, niacin and vitamin C but no HFCS, aspartame or red dye. Flavors are Apex (fruit punch), Cosmic (blue-raspberry), Dragon (dragon fruit), Eclipse (lemon and lime), Nexus (peach and mango) and Nova (orange). The Clear Cut descriptor atop brand name should clear up any potential confusion with another Hero-branded sports drink, the collab between AriZona Iced Tea and Marvel Comics dubbed LXR Hero (BBI, Sep 28 2022).

In show that was rich with Asian-inspired foods and bevs, an Indianapolis-based newcomer to bevs seemed to draw considerable attention with Indian-inspired line of canned sparklers lemonades and limeades called Bollygood whose exuberant graphics offers a Bollywood-like feast for the eyes. "Sweet, bubbly and unforgettable - just like India," declares copy on the loudly colored cans. (Check website for can images.)

Sparkling adaptogen line from health & wellness influencers Jay Shetty and Radhi Devlukia-Shetty that launched under Joyo name a year ago appeared at Expo after brand change in Jun to Juni that also brightened up can graphics and tweaked ingredient blend. Recall that last year the 12-oz slim can line broke at Erewhon sporting ingredient bill of L-theanine, lion's mane and reishi mushrooms, panax ginseng and acerola cherry extract. The shrooms and acerola have been retained but what's now dubbed the "Super-5 Blend" offers green tea and ashwagandha as key functional ingredients. With Reb-M variant of stevia handling sweetening chores, the organic-certified line comes in at 5 calories per can. Flavor range has been narrowed from 5 to 4 with "tea" taken out of signifiers: Raspberry, Tropical, Peach and Lemon. At Expo booth, staffer said name change was driven by trademark issues. Line broke on Amazon late last month. Jay Shetty offered keynote on Sat morning, pushing his new book 8 Rules of Love. The revamp was orchestrated with Beyond Brands incubator led by Eric Schnell.