Summer is Make or Break for Major Breweries

Beer seems to be on the mind of the editors of The Wall Street Journal.  Another story tells the tale of Big Beer’s hopes for summer 2014.  Roughly a third of beer sales take place between Memorial Day and Labor Day with the week of July Fourth as the big one.  Sales can increase 30 to 40 percent for the Glorious Fourth.

Big Beer’s sales have been declining while Little Beer – craft – have been increasing.  Realistically, craft brewing is still a tiny segment, less than 15% of a $100 billion American beer market.  So where have all the beer drinkers gone?  To craft brews, cocktails, even wine.

Bud must recognize the whole cocktail thing since they now have Mang-O-Rita and Raz-Ber-Rita tasting more like margaritas than beer.  Miller Coors has a citrus flavored beer and Fortune, a higher alcohol beer (6.9%) that is served in a rocks glass, presumably with rocks.

Heineken offers lemon flavored Amstel Radler and agave sweetened Dos-A-Rita.  Regular Heineken sales have shrunk 11.7% in the last decade so they are introducing a “slim can” of just 8.5 ounces in an effort to rebuild the brand. Constellation Brands, which has U.S. rights to Mexico’s Corona isn’t fooling with flavors.  They are spending their dollars on TV advertising.  You’ll also catch ads for Modelo Especial brand featuring Clint Dempsey, captain of the U.S. soccer team.

Sounds like a regular scrum to us.