To put into perspective the scope of the challenges, we sold 300 million more cans of beer in the first nine months of 2020 than we did in the same period in 2019 in the United States alone.
Coors Light and Miller Lite grew 6% to 9.5%, respectively, in the U.S. off-premise so far this year.
As of today, the combined segment share has grown for 24 consecutive quarters.
Above Premium products, a record higher portion of our U.S. portfolio since the business formed in 2008 despite the on-premise restrictions.
The company estimates market share of over 50% in key markets such as Quebec.
And we believe that our emerging growth division can become a $1 billion business in revenue terms in three years' time.
We are expanding our production capacity for seltzers by over 400% and for Blue Moon Lightsky by approximately 400%.
As I mentioned earlier, it's a great sign of strength of our core brands that Coors Light and Miller Lite grew 6% and 9.5%, respectively, in the U.S. off-premise so far this year.
And Coors Light, again, achieved a record high segment share in the U.S. since the business formed 2008, per Nielsen.
And our market research shows Coors Light has seen the biggest year-to-date improvement in consideration across the category, especially with 21- to 34-year-old consumers.
In Canada, Molson Ultra has performed very well this year, up 32% so far and has surpassed a large competitor in share of grocery in Quebec based on the recent 4-week data per Nielsen.
Above Premium products grew in the third quarter and have reached a record high portion of our overall portfolio in the United States since the business was formed in 2008.
Blue Moon Lightsky, which launched in February, has sold over 1.6 million cases through the end of the third quarter and is 2020's top-selling new beer in the United States per Nielsen.
In Europe, but outside of its home market, the Staropramen brand grew by 9% in volume in the quarter.
And our export and license team grew volumes by 3% in the quarter, thereby expanding the footprint and the size of our premium positioned brands across the wider European segment.
Vizzy has risen to number eight on the Nielsen top 10 Growth Brands chart in 2020, selling over 2.5 million cases since its April launch, and it is seeing the highest repeat purchase rate among all seltzers made by the major beer suppliers.
There are 25 states open for expansion under the JV, all with 0 Yuengling distribution today and tens of millions of legal-age drinkers.
The company estimates market share of over 50% in key markets like Quebec.
That is why I'm confident that altogether, our emerging growth division can become a $1 billion business.
We intend to expand our hard seltzer production capacity by over 400% by the end of this year.
By early 2021, we expect to complete a project to expand Blue Moon Lightsky production capacity by approximately 400% as well.
We just turned on a new sleek-can production line at the Rocky Mountain Metal Company, our joint venture with Ball Corporation, capable of producing 750 million cans a year.
During the coronavirus, we have improved online sales in the U.S. by approximately 200% through the 3-tier structure, while also developing new e-commerce and direct-to-consumer channels for our business in Canada.
We redirected social media spending to 25 national and local organizations working to address issues of equality, empowerment, racial justice and community building.
When complete, the modernization project in Golden will significantly reduce CO2 emissions from the brewery, it will reduce energy usage by 15%, and it will reduce our water usage by 100 million gallons per year.
Our 2020 Above Premium innovations have already delivered an incremental 5.7 million cases for our business.
So to recap the quarter, net sales revenue decreased 3.6% in constant currency, a significant improvement from our second quarter performance.
Net sales per hectoliter on a brand volume basis increased 2.1% in constant currency, reflecting positive net pricing in the U.S. and Canada, more than offsetting negative mix effects globally due to the various market dynamics and consumer shifts caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Worldwide brand volume decreased 5.2%, while financial volume decreased 5%.
Underlying COGS per hectoliter increased 1.5% on a constant currency basis, driven by inflation and volume deleverage, partially offset by cost savings initiatives.
Underlying MG&A decreased 7.6% on a constant currency basis, driven by reduced marketing spend, partially offset by slightly higher G&A as we cycled onetime benefits related to long-term incentive compensation reversals in the third quarter of 2019.
As a result, underlying EBITDA grew 0.5% on a constant currency basis.
Underlying free cash flow of $1.160 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, was $275 million favorable to the prior year period driven by favorable working capital.
The working capital benefit was driven by the deferral of over $200 million in tax payments from various government-sponsored payment deferral programs related to the coronavirus pandemic, of which we currently anticipate approximately half to be paid in the fourth quarter of 2020, while the remaining amount to be paid beyond this fiscal year.
In North America, net sales revenue decreased 0.8% in constant currency, driven by financial volume declines of 4%, reflecting lower brand volume.
North America brand volumes decreased 5.2% as the on-premise closures or limited capacity reopenings during the quarter more than offset the strength in both the U.S. and Canada in the off-premise.
In the U.S., brand volumes decreased 5.3% compared to domestic shipment declines of 3.9% in our efforts to address the year-to-date under shipment positions attributed to the aluminum can supply constraints.
Net sales per hectoliter on a brand volume basis increased 3.6% in constant currency, driven by net pricing increases in the U.S. and Canada and favorable brand and package mix in the U.S., partially offset by negative brand and channel mix in Canada, attributed to the shift of volume from the on-premise to the off-premise.
In the U.S., net sales per hectoliter on a brand volume basis increased 4.6%, driven by favorable sales mix and net pricing.
Underlying EBITDA increased 2.5% in constant currency as SG&A reductions more than offset unfavorable gross profit from lower financial volumes and COGS inflation.
For Europe, which is more heavily skewed toward the on-premise, net sales on a reported basis decreased 15.3% in constant currency due to lower volumes and lower net sales per hectoliter, reflecting the impact from the coronavirus.
Net sales per hectoliter on a brand volume basis declined 5.9% in constant currency, driven by unfavorable channel, brand and geographic mix, particularly in the high-margin U.K. business, partially offset by slightly higher net pricing.
Financial volumes decreased 7.7% and brand volumes decreased 5.4%, a significant improvement from the year-on-year declines experienced in the second quarter as more on-premise accounts were open, even though many were not operating at full capacity in the quarter.
Europe's underlying EBITDA decreased 8% on a constant currency basis versus the prior year, driven by gross margin impact of volume declines and unfavorable geographic and channel mix, partially offset by lower MG&A expenses as a result of cost mitigation actions to navigate the coronavirus pandemic.
We do not expect to continue to give this visibility once conditions have stabilized or we resume guidance.
And finally, as discussed on our second quarter call, in the fourth quarter, we will stifle lower incentive compensation and a nonrecurring vendor benefit, which occurred in the fourth quarter of 2019 and totaled approximately $27 million.
As previously discussed, we have significantly improved our liquidity position by favorably amending the covenant terms of our $1.5 billion revolving credit facility, adding a GBP300 million commercial paper facility for our U.K. business, which is incremental to the borrowing capacity under the $1.5 billion facility, suspending the dividend in May for the remainder of 2020, reducing previously planned capital expenditures by around $200 million for 2020 and generally reducing discretionary spend where possible.
As of quarter end, we had reduced our net debt position by just over $1.2 billion since we began the revitalization program.
As of October 29, 2020, we had $1.4 billion under our U.S. facility and the full GBP300 million under the U.K. facility in available capacity.

Summary:
Worldwide brand volume decreased 5.2%, while financial volume decreased 5%.
North America brand volumes decreased 5.2% as the on-premise closures or limited capacity reopenings during the quarter more than offset the strength in both the U.S. and Canada in the off-premise.
We do not expect to continue to give this visibility once conditions have stabilized or we resume guidance.