Fruit-flavored lager was not a hit

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

The beer will no longer be sold by early next year. The decision reflects the challenges facing macro-breweries beset by rising costs and flagging sales. Chicago-based MillerCoors announced its decision Monday, less than a week after parent company Molson Coors reported disappointing revenue and profit results for MillerCoors for the fiscal quarter.

Under CEO Gavin Hattersley, who was named CEO in September 2015, the mission at MillerCoors has been to stop the volume sales decline by 2018 and return to growth by 2019. That appears unlikely and impossible without turning around Coors Light, its top-selling beer that is in steeper decline than Miller Lite, the company’s other flagship beer.

Two Hats, a 4.2 percent alcohol beer lightly flavored by lime or pineapple, was targeted at 21- to 24-year-old drinkers. Both flavors brought in less than $1 million in revenue in year-to-date data ending July 15.

Domestic beer shipments in general are down 3.7 percent through June compared to last year, according to the most recent data available from the Beer Institute.