Beatbox Is Bussin’, Craft Beer Is Sulkin’
In a deal worth nearly $500 million, Anheuser-Busch has acquired an 85% stake in Beatbox, a producer of a high-ABV, punch-like alcoholic beverage that is popular with younger adults. Word on the street, A-B will take complete ownership of the fast-growing brand. For Beatbox’s owners and investors, this deal is bussin’, as the kids say. (Above: Shaq O’Neal is a major investor in Beatbox.)
Why did Anheuser-Busch pursue this deal? Because Beatbox is scoring big in the battle for Generation Z’s booze budget. Among adults under 30, Beatbox is booming, offering boozie juice boxes that are getting Gen Z to pry open their wallets in a way craft beer hasn’t. Every type of alcohol beverage, including beer, is trying to crack the Gen Z code. Beatbox has done it. Is there anything the craft beer industry, in particular, can learn from this wildly popular and highly successful brand?
Just a Trist, a Fling, a Frolic
Once upon a time, craft beer captured the fancy of the beer behemoth. When some craft breweries batted their eyelashes, Anheuser-Busch swooned and forked over tens of millions of dollars in acquisition deals. But Big Beer is a fickle beast with a wandering eye, and the romance was short-lived. A-B and Molson Coors have now offloaded all but a precious few of their “craft” beer brands, jettisoning them for dimes on the dollar.
Now craft beer knows the truth. A-B dumped it for some half-its-age hottie. Beatbox, a company and product that is barely a decade old, just received an engagement ring worth $500 million. Why? Because it is everything craft beer is not. Its boyish charm is alluring. Beatbox has rizz. Anheuser-Busch is Billy Bob Thornton, and craft beer is now just another ex-wife.
Big Booze, Big Boxes
Beatbox is a ready-to-drink (RTD) alcoholic beverage. Some are wine-based while others are malt-based. The company packages its products in colorful, resealable, recyclable 500-ml (16.9-oz) cartons that resemble juice boxes. It is well-suited for Instagramification and TikToking. Translated, Beatbox is a hit on the social media channels. It tiks a lot of Gen Z toks, so to speak. The flavors are as colorful and crazy as the packaging. For example, consider Orange Blast, which the company describes as follows: “Bright, zesty, and unapologetically citrusy—it tastes like someone cranked that sunshine dial up to 11. At 11.1% ABV, it’s the sipping equivalent of a high-five on a sublime day.”
Other flavors include Blue Razzberry, Cherry Limeade, Fruit Punch, Peach Punch, and… Well, you get the idea. And did I mention, 11% ABV? Sounds like a 911 call waiting to happen. Ask an EMT if they’re familiar with Beatbox. Spoiler alert: they are.
A Juggernaut in a Juicebox
Marketing wonks call Beatbox a category disruptor. In terms of dollar sales, Beatbox has gone from $1 million in 2017 to a projected $245 million in 2025. It consistently ranks among the fastest-growing alcohol brands in the U.S., reporting massive year-over-year sales increases. It is available in all 50 states and does exceptionally well in convenience stores. (So do Slurpees, BTW.) In fact, last year it was the top-ranked RTD brand in convenience stores.
It’s been widely reported, deeply studied, and discussed ad nauseam, but Generation Z is drinking less beer than previous generations did at the same age. Not just beer, but less alcohol, periodt. And now we learn that when they do drink alcohol, it’s an 11% ABV juicebox? It’s like Mom is still doing Gen Z’s laundry and still driving them to soccer practice in the minivan. Popular or not, soaring sales figures or not, Beatbox seems rather juvenile.
It’s been fun to do it, but I really don’t mean to belittle Beatbox. The company is doing many things right. The deal with Anheuser-Busch is a testament to the company’s success, and I am not begrudging them for succeeding where others have struggled.
What can craft beer learn from Beatbox’s success?
Nothing. As long as craft beer wants to remain craft beer, there’s nothing to learn. We should not, in any way, try to beatboxify craft beer. No resealable cardboard containers, no wacky cartoon-like labels, no delulu ideas about being one of the cool kids. Gen Z can spot a fraud a mile away.
It is the first generation to fully grow up alongside social media, deep fakes, and fake news. Gen Z’s superpower is a frighfully keen bullshit filter. If a craft brewery, or craft beer in general, tries too hard, it will backfire. It will humiliate itself like a 50-something-year-old grandpa trying to rock skinny jeans. (Or an aging beer writer trying to use the words rizz, periodt, and delulu.) That’s why I say there is nothing for craft beer to learn from Beatbox.
When Gen Z grows up and decides that it is time to put childish things away, a lovely craft beer awaits. If there’s a lesson to be learned here, it’s patience.
