CBrands Intros RtD Boxed Wine Cocktails

Constellation Brands introduces Next Round Cocktails, its first-ever ready-to-drink (RTD) and multi-serve boxed wine cocktails made with a blend of real fruit juice and crisp wine in the popular flavors of Salted Lime Margarita and Strawberry Lime Sangria.

The rolling launch of Next Round Cocktails is underway at major retailers nationwide along with online delivery such as Instacart and Drizly.  Next Round Cocktails Salted Lime Margarita is made with real fruit juice, a sprinkle of salt, and white wine with a 13.5% ABV.  Next Round Cocktails Strawberry Lime Sangria made with real fruit juice* and crisp rose wine for a light and refreshing taste, with a 10% ABV.

Both flavors are offered at an affordable price and packaged in two convenient, multi-purpose serving size options, including a 1.5L bag-in-box at a suggested retail price of $16.99 and a 500mL single serve Tetra box with a suggested retail price of $5.99.

“Next Round Cocktails represents Constellation Brands’ commitment to innovate for consumer-leading trends, such as creatively intersecting the growing consumer interest we see in the $696.5 million pre-mixed cocktails category and the $903.2 million premium boxed wine category,” said Ann Stockman, VP of Emerging Brands at Constellation Brands. “Recent YPulse research of our target consumer reports that post-covid, 66 percent would prefer to drink at home than go out, so we’ve created Next Round Cocktails to fit right in as the ultimate co-host, all tastefully dressed and ready-to-serve up the fun.”

 

Posted in New Products | Tagged , | Comments Off on CBrands Intros RtD Boxed Wine Cocktails

Who & What —

John Anthony Family of Wines named Mile Gallo director of sales, Eastern US Region.  He joins from Banfi Vintners.

Posted in Who and What | Comments Off on Who & What —

What We’re Reading —

Calistoga’s Castello di Amorosa invests in solar, wastewater recycling

Faced with the drought quandary in 2015, owner Dario Sattui invested $1.2 million into a wastewater reclamation system that is designed to reclaim 100% of the wastewater generated by winemaking. It uses a microfiber filtration system that renders winery waste clean enough for agricultural use. It was built underground, except for five holding tanks.  (Napa Valley Register)

Posted in What We're Reading | Tagged | Comments Off on What We’re Reading —

A Note from Joel —

A week ago today, I overslept.  When I awoke and saw what time it was, I leapt out of bed — and immediately I was exceedingly woozy and felt like I was going to fall.  I sent an email cancelling my meeting that morning and went back to bed.  When I awoke a couple of hours later, I was fine.  On Wednesday, I didn’t oversleep.  In fact, I woke up early, went down to the parlor to read and when I got up and started to get ready to go to work, again, the same thing happened, except much more strongly.  There have been at least two similar episodes since that initial one.

We don’t know what’s wrong, although my doctor thinks that for some reason I may not be getting enough sleep.  We’ll run some tests on that hypothesis.

I share this in case the Daily seems a bit thinner than normal, so you’ll know I haven’t gotten lazy.  And to ask for your thoughts and prayers.

Now, keep reading for the news of the day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on A Note from Joel —

Reyes to Acquire Columbia Distributing’s Northern California Business

Reyes Beer Division said it agreed to acquire the Sonoma and Marin counties business of Columbia Distributing.  The acquired business will become part of Reyes’ existing Golden Brands operations.

The acquisition will add around 1,350 customers, about 4 million cases, and includes brands from key suppliers such as Constellation, Molson Coors, Lagunitas, Mark Anthony Brands, Sierra Nevada,
Boston Beer, Heineken, Diageo, along with a great craft beer portfolio.

“Columbia Distributing has a long history of providing an incredibly strong portfolio, unmatched route to market and premium customer service to the Pacific Northwest,” said Chris Steffanci, CEO of Columbia Distributing. “We are also very proud of the business we have built in Sonoma and Marin counties over the last several years, but as we continue to focus on our long-term strategy of aggressive organic growth, strategic partnerships and significant acquisitions, California does not fit into that strategy.”

“California is a very important piece of our business and we’ve seen tremendous growth in the market,” said Tom Day, Chief Executive Officer for Reyes Beer Division. “We are uniquely positioned for this
opportunity, with more than 3,500 employees statewide and investments of millions of dollars in 25 facilities.

Posted in Acquisitions | Tagged , | Comments Off on Reyes to Acquire Columbia Distributing’s Northern California Business

BeerBoard Open Rate Rises

After two consecutive periods at 94%, the Open Rate (locations open and pouring beer) ticked up to 95% on the weekend, BeerBoard reports. This now becomes the highest average since BeerBoard started tracking this data back in May of 2020.

Average Number of Taps remained at 20 per location nationally for the third consecutive period. Eight of the 11 states tracked held firm in their average from March 24-27. Nevada (22) was the only state tracked to add a handle, while California (22) and New York (20) dropped one handle each.

Percentage Taps Pouring continues to bounce up-and-down, dropping back one point to 74% after a two-point gain over the March 24-27 period. Nevada was the only state tracked to see a gain here on the weekend, ticking up to 80%. Six states saw a decline, with California, Georgia and Minnesota each realizing a two-point fall.

Coming off two periods of growth, Volume saw a slight decrease for -3.5% for the period. Nationally, Volume was +6.9% when compared to the same period in 2021. For the weekend, Georgia (+9.3%) and Florida (+2.1%) were the only two states tracked to see a lift. Minnesota (-9.4%) and Michigan (-8.8%) saw the largest declines among nine states to experience a loss.

Rate of Sale lost the entirety of its gain from two weekends prior and was -3.9% for April 7-10. Like Volume, Georgia (+10.2%) and Florida (+0.5%) were the only states tracked to see a positive return (no matter how slight in Florida’s case). Michigan (-8.1%), Minnesota (-7.3%) and Nevada (-5.2%) were among eight states to see declines for ROS on the weekend.

Posted in Sales | Tagged | Comments Off on BeerBoard Open Rate Rises