Nightlife is officially on the rise again. Thanks to the recent re-openings of many cities and states, bars and restaurants are finally able to serve consumers at full capacity. After a long 15 months, on-premise sales are coming back in a big way, according to Bloomberg News.

In fact, alcohol sales have been increasing faster than Molson Coors Beverage Company (NYSE: TAP) anticipated. The beverage company, which makes Coors Seltzer, Vizzy, and Proof Point, is now ahead of its internal domestic shipping forecasts.

“The pent-up demand for consumers to get out there is strong,” said Molson Coors CEO Gavin Hattersly at an Evercore ISI conference on Wednesday.  He said that the rapid return of live concerts and sporting events is placing demands on the supply chain. Hattersly suggested that it will take six to nine months for beer on-premise sales to return to 2019 levels.

Based on the demand, one thing is clear – Americans are feeling cooped up after 15 months at home and are ready to get back out on the town.

The rosier than anticipated sales so far apply only to the US, though. UK sales are on par with estimates, while Canadian forecasts are actually doing a bit worse than expected.

As re-opening continues, the alcohol consumption landscape continues to change. In March 2020, as restaurants and bars either temporarily shut down or moved to takeout only, on-premise sales dramatically dropped while off-site sales boomed.

Now that the entertainment industry is cautiously opening back up, things are changing again. Molson’s Beyond Beer brands, such as Vizzy hard seltzer, are scrambling to meet demand and fill the on-premise pipeline.

While the last few months have seen a slight dip in seltzer sales, analysts expect this trend to reverse and the spiked and sparkling segment to continue its dynamic growth.

They credit the dip to a lag in the industry catching up with demand. In other words, people are in such a rush to get back to bars and restaurants that they are drinking whatever is available, whether that’s beer, wine, or cocktails.

As establishments remain open, they will have more opportunity to catch up to consumer tastes – which have changed over the last 15 months at home – by stocking more hard seltzers.

“We believe the decline in regular consumers is driven by the gradual reopening of on-premise channels where hard seltzer is currently under-indexed vs. beer, wines and spirits,” Market Watch analysts wrote.

“The impact of this channel shift may prove somewhat transitory as respondents in late May were eager to return to their pre-COVID behaviors/channels where hard seltzer has yet to establish a foothold. The easing in regular consumption correlates with the steady rise of intentions to dine out.”

While the post-pandemic alcohol landscape is still taking shape, Miller Coors’ unexpectedly high domestic sales indicate that 2021 will certainly be another Summer of Hard Seltzer. Its canned format makes it easily portable, and its lighter, better-for-you profile makes it an ideal session beverage. And Vizzy’s antioxidant vitamin C won’t hurt anyone as we’re safely easing back into public life.

Erin Grafton
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