July 2007 > News > September 2007

A Quick Peek at Craft Beer

August 23, 2007 – The Brewers Association recently reported that craft beer sales have exceeded more than 5% dollar share of total U. S. beer sales. The craft beer market in the NY Home D retail segment mirrors this trend with year to date growth resulting in almost 5.25% of total beer sales. 
   
Given this parallel, we’re going to keep our eye on how the bigger craft breweries will maintain their market share. Surprisingly, despite the gains in the overall craft beer market, the current leader Sam Adams is showing a loss of .33 points year-to-date, and a loss of more than .10 points for the four-week period ending August 11.  
 
So, is Sam’s loss Blue Moon’s gain?  As Blue Moon has increased its total U. S. sales, it has shown equal strength in this segment, taking over the number 2 spot and bumping Sierra Nevada to number 4 for the four-week period ending August 11.

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Heineken Siblings Moving in Opposite Directions

August 23, 2007 - Several weeks ago we reported the possibility that Heineken Premium Light (HPL) might be cannibalizing Heineken within the NY Home D retail segment instead of capitalizing on the growth of the light beer market as originally intended. Further proof of this theory can be found in the four week period ending August 11, where HPL has increased by more than .42 points while Heineken has had a decrease of more than .49 points. During this same time frame, Coors Light, Bud Light and Miller Lite have shown respectable gains. 
   
Although it's still too soon to say, the introduction of HPL into the market may not be going according to Heineken’s game plan. We’ll keep you posted.

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Coors Light Takes Top Prize for July 2007

August 14, 2007 - Once again showing its strength within the NY Home D Retail market, Coors Light had the largest case share increase for the four week period ending July 28.  With an increase of almost 1.6 points, Coors Light continued its trend of double digit percentage increases.

But not everything's rosy in Coors Light land.  Despite its continued growth, Coors Light has not managed to stop Bud Light from closing in on its lead. The once 2:1 case share enjoyed by Coors Light has slowly and consistently narrowed to 1.5:1.

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Are Imports Going on Holiday?

August 14, 2007 - For the four week period ending July 28, imports showed a decline in the NY Home D Retail market similar to the decline found in supermarkets. And while Nielsen attributes the supermarket decline mostly to Corona, the same can’t be said for the NY Home D Retail market. Four out of the top five imports had significant declines in case share, while only Heineken Light showed a case share increase.

Of course, the picture was not bleak for all imports in the NY Home D Retail market.  Both Modelo and Molson Golden did well with respective case share increases of over .15 and .12.

Finally, the overall decline in imports is not isolated to four week period ending July 28 as the prior four week period ending June 30 exhibited a similar trend.

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