Dear Shareholders
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Dear Shareholders, 2015 was an exciting year for craft beer and The Boston Beer Company. In addition to record profits and net revenue that topped $959 million, we continued to innovate both internally and externally. We improved the quality and freshness of our beers, our operations and efficiencies, and we managed record complexity with more than 20 new beers, ciders and teas. These accomplishments occurred in a challenging marketplace, and we continued to be passionate – and some might say obsessive – about providing our drinkers with the quality beers and other beverages they’ve come to expect from us, along with new and undiscovered brews that highlight our deep love of beer. The American Craft Beer Business in 2015 More than 700 new craft breweries opened in 2015, bringing the total number of independent U.S. breweries to more than 4,000. In 1985, only 100 beers were present at the Great American Beer Festival, compared to more than 3,500 beers in 2015. As a company, we have the enormous benefit of having been at the forefront of the many cycles of the American craft beer revolution for 32 years. We have ridden the rapids of brisk expansion before. Twenty years ago, we saw the entire industry hit a rough patch that lasted for nearly seven years, and we adapted as necessary. We continued to focus on our core of great, delicious craft beers. Those changes have also taught us the importance of remaining nimble, adapting, and constantly innovating across all of our brands. Above all, we have learned that we must remain true to our core mandate: always do what’s best for the beer. While the craft segment of the beer business is proliferating, the big breweries are consolidating. In 2016 we will very likely see continued acquisitions and transactions. We are proud to be a leader in the American craft beer revolution. It is a testament to our employees and our success as an independent brewer that industry giants are going to great lengths to adapt to the craft precedent we set forth more than 30 years ago. Beers & Innovation Samuel Adams Boston Lager remains our flagship after more than thirty years, and we continue to be the leading craft brewer of seasonal beers: Cold Snap, Summer Ale, OctoberFest, and Winter Lager. In 2015 we expanded our Rebel IPA styles with the addition of Rebel Rouser, Rebel RAW, and Rebel Grapefruit. Our Angry Orchard ciders lead the U.S. hard cider business with more than 50% market share. We now own a beautiful 60 acre orchard in Walden, New York, and in late 2015 we opened the Angry Orchard Innovation Cider House, our new home for cider research and development. Twisted Tea grew strongly in 2015 as it continued to expand geographically and find new drinkers. Our Alchemy & Science venture remains on its own path to innovation. Angel City Brewery in Los Angeles drew 250,000 visitors to its brewery in the Los Angeles Arts District in 2015, and it has been named one of the top local breweries in LA. On the other coast, Concrete Beach in Miami is up and running, and Coney Island Brewing launched Coney Island Root Beer in July. As we closed the year, Boston Beer continued the flow of energy into our innovation pipeline. We look forward to what the new year will bring, and we intend to keep up the rapid pace of new product development both in capacity and capability. People & Innovation A company is only as innovative as the people who work there, and we are proud of the 1,429 people who now comprise the Boston Beer team. Our most important rule is that every person we hire must “raise the average” in the company. This guarantees that the quality of our people continues to improve over time, and that’s exactly what happened in 2015 as we hired 273 talented new people and promoted another 230. We especially want to introduce you to two new members of our senior management team: Frank Smalla, our new chief financial officer, and Quincy B. Troupe, our new senior vice president for supply chain. These additions to our team bring extensive knowledge and experience in their fields that will help Boston Beer grow better and grow smarter. At the same time that we welcome new people, we must bid farewell to several valued team members who, after serving as integral parts of the Boston Beer family, have retired: Bill Urich, chief financial officer; Tom Lance, vice president of operations; and Bob Pagano, vice president of brand development. We must also say goodbye to a longtime board member and friend, Pete Cummin, who retired in February 2016 after serving on our board since our initial public offering in 1995. Pete was an early investor in Boston Beer in 1987, and he has been a trusted visionary and wise advisor for nearly 30 years. We thank Bill, Tom, Bob and Pete for their contributions and wish them all the best. Quench Your Own Thirst Late last year, we introduced a new advertising campaign dedicated to teaching drinkers more about beer. Since day one, we have believed that the more people know about beers in general and our craft beers in particular, the more they will love them. Education has always been the cornerstone of our communications, and we look forward to sharing that love for beer and thirst for knowledge into 2016 and beyond. As our shareholders, we always welcome your interest in our company. Financial statements and earnings calls, advertis- ing and social media, websites and our annual meeting all provide information about the company. This spring, however, you will be able to get a whole different level of insight into the history and growth of Boston Beer. A new book, “Quench Your Own Thirst: Business Lessons Learned Over a Beer or Two” by Jim Koch is being published by Flatiron Books. It’s been a three year labor of love to recount and reflect on many of the pivotal moments at Boston Beer and the building of Samuel Adams. We hope it will help readers, craft beer lovers, and entrepreneurs alike reach the ultimate dream: to be successful while doing what they love. As always, we look forward to greeting many of our shareholders at our annual meeting, which will be held at our Samuel Adams Boston Brewery at 9:00 a.m. on May 25, 2016. We thank you for your continued support of our company. Jim Koch Martin Roper Founder & Brewer President & Chief Executive Officer Revised*_AnnualReport_2015UPDATED_v2.indd 7 4/4/16 9:12 AM UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 10-K ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the fiscal year ended December 26, 2015 OR TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from ______________ to ______________ Commission file number: 1-14092 THE BOSTON BEER COMPANY, INC. (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) MASSACHUSETTS 04-3284048 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) One Design Center Place, Suite 850, Boston, Massachusetts 02210 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code) (617) 368-5000 (Registrant’s telephone number, including area code) SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(B) OF THE ACT: Title of each class Name of each exchange on which registered Class A Common Stock NYSE SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(G) OF THE ACT: NONE Indicate by check mark YES NO ••if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ••if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. ••whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ••whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files. ••if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulations S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of the registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ••whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act) Large accelerated filer Accelerated filer Non-accelerated filer ••whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). The aggregate market value of the Class A Common Stock ($.01 par value) held by non-affiliates of the registrant totaled $2,284.1 million (based on the average price of the Company’s Class A Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange on June 27, 2015). All of the registrant’s Class B Common Stock ($.01 par value) is held by an affiliate.