NEW YORK — Alcohol continues to do well as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, led by hard seltzers.
All channel dollar sales for total alcohol beverages during a two-week period ending on Oct. 31 were up 14.8% year-over-year, according to a report from Goldman Sachs’ Managing Director Bonnie Herzog.
Hard seltzers, which make up 5% of total alcohol, showed the strongest growth in the category—up 104% for the two-week period, the report said.
“Importantly, hard seltzers sales remained strong despite continued industry-wide can shortage issues and increasingly tougher comps, which underscore the strength of the category’s underlying momentum,” Herzog said.
While White Claw, from mark Anthony Brands, and Boston Beer Co.’s Truly remain hard seltzer leaders, with two-week dollar shares of 49.7% and 24.2% respectively, some new brands have increased their dollar share of the category.
New entrant Bud Light Seltzer, from St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, has a 9.4% dollar share of the category, while Victor, N.Y.-based Constellation Brands’ Corona Seltzer has a 3.9% dollar share for the two weeks ending on Oct. 31, Herzog reported.
Coors Hard Seltzer’s share, a Chicago-based Molson Coors beverage, is at 1.5% for that two-week period, she said.
Hard seltzers’ growth has skyrocketed over the last couple of years, but one other category Herzog noted accelerated its growth recently was hard teas. Hard teas were up 37.2% for the two weeks ending Oct. 31, up from their previous growth levels.
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