Boston Beer impacted by hard seltzer slowdown

Hard Seltzer

The Boston Beer Company reported a third quarter loss following the unexpected slowdown of the hard seltzer category.

Net loss reported by the company was at $139.2million, as reported by Forbes.

The revenue for the company improved to $561.64 million in the quarter from $525.24 million in the same quarter last year.

The net income was primarily hurt by a $136 million increase in the cost of revenue due to the slowdown in the hard seltzer category growth. 

Dave Burwick, President, and CEO of the company said: “The unexpected rapid slowdown of hard seltzer category growth this summer significantly impacted our business. 

“While Truly has continued to grow, gain share and solidify its long-term position, the slower category performance has reduced our full-year growth expectations for Truly to be between 20-25% year-over-year. 

“In addition, the capacity and inventory we had built to take advantage of a higher-growth environment resulted in significant temporary costs this quarter.

“Despite the slowdown in category growth, we expect hard seltzers, which represent 11% of total beer dollars year to date, up from 9% during the same period in 2020, will remain a very important segment of the beer market in the future. 

“We’ve been playing to win and have reaped many benefits over the past 18 months. So far this year, Truly has generated 54% of all hard seltzer category growth. 

“In addition, Truly has achieved the second-highest household penetration in all of beer behind only Bud Light beer and ahead of all its other hard seltzer and beer industry competitors.”

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