Trade News

→ From March through the end of 2020, lockdowns due to COVID-19 cost the on-premise $74 billion in lost revenue according to John Bodnovich, exec director of American Bev Licensees (ABL). “This amounts to a loss of 52.7 million 12-ounce servings of beer, 3.3 billion 5-ounce glasses of wine; and 8.8 billion 1.5-ounce spirits cocktails,” according to an ABL release. The same study also showed the loss of 909,000 on-premise jobs and over $24 billion in lost wages.

→ 2020 Spirits sales in Ohio increased 18.6% from 2019 to $1.57 billion, the state’s Department of Commerce Division of Liquor Control reported. According to Division of Liquor Control Brand Manager Lindsey LeBerth, a shift in consumer buying behavior moved from purchasing alcohol at restaurants and bars to retail.

→ Anheuser-Busch announced it will move the production of Stella Artois from Belgium to four of its US breweries (Jacksonville, FL, Los Angeles, CA, Newark, NJ and St. Louis, MO) according to the St. Louis Dispatch. A-B hopes to begin the transition in the early summer and complete the process by fall of 2021. Stella Artois traces its roots back to 14th-century Belgium, where it is still brewed. It was the flagship beer of InBev, which acquired Anheuser-Bush in 2008.