Boston Beer revenue jumps 16% in one year, backed by Truly's hard seltzer performance

29-Jul-2019 - Last updated on 29-Jul-2019 at 14:37 GMT

“We are still seeing challenges across the industry, including a general softening of the part of the craft beer category."

The Boston Beer Company has reported strong second quarter results on the heels of a merger with Dogfish Head Brewery in early July.

The parent company of alcohol brands Samuel Adams, Twisted Tea, Angry Orchard and Truly has posted its latest financial results. In Q2 2019 it generated a net revenue of $318.4m, up by 16.6% last year’s second quarter.

It also increased revenue by 23% in the first half of 2019 compared to the first half of 2018.

On July 3, Boston Beer completed its merger with Dogfish Head Brewery. In the second half of 2019, Boston Beer said it expects Dogfish Head to add between 3%-4% in annual shipments and depletions growth and between $50-$60m in net revenues. It also estimates that the merger impact will be ‘neutral to slightly accretive’ to full-year 2019 earnings.

Jim Koch, chairman and founder of Boston Beer, said “I am tremendously proud of the efforts of our coworkers in achieving our fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, while maintaining a focus on quality and innovation.”

“We are still seeing challenges across the industry, including a general softening of the part of the craft beer category that goes through the three-tier distribution system and retail shelves that offer an overwhelming number of options to drinkers. We remain positive about the future of craft beer and are happy that our diversified brand portfolio continues to fuel double-digit growth.”

Hard seltzer growth

Truly has taken off in popularity with the boom of flavored, hard seltzers; while the Samuel Adams craft beer brand has been underperforming.

Dave Burwick, Boston Beer’s president and CEO, said “Truly continues to grow beyond our expectations. We are launching Truly draft nationally this quarter while we continue to expand distribution across all channels. In addition, we are launching a new, high-profile ad campaign for Truly featuring noted comedian Keegan-Michael Key as we believe we can further improve our position as a leader in hard seltzer by building a meaningful and relevant brand.

“Twisted Tea continues to generate consistent double-digit volume growth. While Angry Orchard's volume declined against the first half 2018 national roll out of Angry Orchard Rosé, we are excited about our brand investment plans for the second half and the national rollout of Angry Orchard Crisp Unfiltered, a traditional American Cider with a less sweet, fresh apple taste.”

Koch said, “We are disappointed with our Samuel Adams brand trends and continue to evolve our brand messaging. During the quarter we had success with continued growth of Samuel Adams New England IPA and our new ‘lighter and brighter’ recipe for Samuel Adams Summer Ale as well as a significant package redesign. We plan to continue to invest to improve trends and remain focused on the longer-term goal of returning Samuel Adams to growth.”