On Wednesday, Molson Coors will release first-half results for 2018. Here, just-drinks looks back the events that will have shaped the brewer in its second quarter, the three months to the end of June.
- In April, Molson Coors’ US unit relaunched its Henry’s Hard Sparkling brand with lower calories
- In May, the company’s CEO, Mark Hunter, promised his company would deliver on its full-year targets despite an “unusual” Q1 that saw sales and volumes sag
- A few days later, Molson Coors chairman Pete Coors accused craft trade group the Brewers Association of driving a wedge through the industry. The BA has attempted to separate its membership from more mainstream brewers by stipulating rules for companies wishing to identify as ‘craft’
- Also in May, Molson Coors added a fourth line to its Redd’s Wicked range of flavoured alcoholic beverages, Redd’s Wicked Lemonade
- At the end of the month, Molson Coors asked the US patent office to dismiss an application from South Korean alcohol giant HiteJinro for its Hite beer logo
- In June, the company launched a Willy Wonka-style competition in the UK off-premise that urged consumers to hunt for a ‘golden can’ of its Carling lager brand
- It then announced the acquisition of Californian kombucha maker Clearly Kombucha as it targeted increasing demand for the non-alcoholic fermented tea beverage
- The end of the quarter saw Molson Coors decline to comment on reports that it was in talks with Canadian cannabis companies to collaborate on cannabis-infused beverages.