MILLERCOORS PLANS TO STOP BREWING FLEDGLING LAGERS

Less than a year after launching the brand, MillerCoors is ending production of Two Hats, the fruitflavored lagers aimed at younger drinkers who increasingly are being lured away by wine and spirits.

By early next year, the beer will no longer be sold.

The decision reflects the challenges facing macro-breweries beset by rising costs and flagging sales. Chicago-based MillerCoors announced its decision to “pull the plug” on its company blog Monday, less than a week after parent company Molson Coors reported disappointing revenue and profit results for MillerCoors for the fiscal quarter.

Under the leadership of Gavin Hattersley, who was named CEO in September 2015, the proclaimed mission at MillerCoors has been to stop the volume sales decline by 2018 and return to growth by 2019.

That appears unlikely at this point and impossible without turning around Coors Light, its topselling beer that is in steeper decline than Miller Lite, the company’s other flagship beer.

Beer sales, in general, are having a tough summer. Domestic beer shipments are down 3.7 percent through June, compared with last year, according to the most recent data available from the Beer Institute, the trade group that represents the largest beer companies in the U.S. — Chicago Tribune