The total beer industry ended 2024 in the red, but New England remains a positive beacon, as the region continues to buck trends, Bump Williams Consulting president Dave Williams highlighted earlier this month during a presentation at the New England Craft Brew Summit in Portland, Maine.
Williams analyzed New England craft beer trends versus national figures, citing extended all-outlet data, excluding convenience stores (xAOC), shared by market research firm NIQ.
New England (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut) recorded a +1.8% dollar sales increase in tracked channels in 2024, while the total craft industry recorded a -1.6% decline, Williams shared, citing NIQ data through December 28. The region recorded the largest increase year-to-date (YTD), and was one of two regions to record growth in xAOC, along with the East South Central (dollar sales +0.5% across Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky).
New England is craft’s strongest beachhead. The segment accounts for 32.1% of total beer sales in the region, a larger share than all other regions. In the Pacific region (Washington, Oregon, California), craft accounted for 21.6% of all beer dollars, the second largest share nationwide; still, craft dollar sales there declined -2.6% YTD. Nevertheless, New England’s growth had a nominal impact on the total craft industry.
Value is a key factor for New England craft consumers, Williams shared.
The predominant package share of New England craft dollar sales is 12 oz. can 12-packs, which accounted for 31.6% share of total New England craft dollars in 2024. The format had the second largest share of total craft dollars in tracked channels, with 12 oz. can 6-packs claiming the largest share (28.8%).
Additionally, 12 oz. can 12-packs recorded a +9.9% increase in New England dollar sales in 2024, versus a +7.1% increase nationally.
Meanwhile, 16 oz. can 4-packs are “losing steam.” While the key craft format had the second largest share of New England craft dollar sales (23.3%), it was about flat (+0.8%) versus 2023.
The largest growth in New England was recorded by 19.2 oz. single-serve cans, which increased dollar sales +37.2%. Across the U.S., 19.2 oz. cans increased dollar sales +25.8%. The format still has a small share of both total craft and New England craft dollar sales (4.2% and 3%, respectively). However, large format can sales are expected to continue to rise, Williams shared.
Single-serve cans contributed more incremental dollar sales to craft beer in 2024 than 12-packs, Williams said. Additionally, nearly 14% of total beer dollar sales (not just craft) were from large format offerings – 11.3% from 24 and 25 oz. cans (+2.3 share points YoY), 2.5% from 16.9 oz. cans (+1.5 share points YoY) and 1.2% from 16 oz. cans (flat YoY).
Williams noted that part of the growth is from further adoption of single-serve packages in grocery, with the format no longer simply a “c-store package.”
“Sets are evolving,” Williams said, pointing to the convenience of single-serve packages allowing consumers to “try a lot of things for a much cheaper price.”
In the on-premise, beverage variety is a dominating factor for craft beer consumers, according to Michael Varda, founder and CEO of Craft Beer Advisory Services (CBAS), a market research and analysis company.
In a separate presentation, Varda summarized CBAS data analyzing 6,528 pieces of “consumer feedback” – including brewery and taproom reviews on Google, Yelp, Facebook and TripAdvisor – collected between January 2023 and March 2025.
CBAS uses “natural language processing” to dissect reviews by different “experience factors,” such as staff, environment, price, family friendliness and more.
The most important experience factor, based on the percentage of review factors mentioned, is “beverage variety,” mentioned in 64% of analyzed reviews nationally. That percentage is even higher in New England (66%).
“Beverage variety is both the variety of beers that you have in your tap list [and] whether you’re serving wine, seltzer, cider, cocktails, whatever that might be,” Varda said.
Beverage variety is particularly important for Gen Z consumers, Varda added.
“We’ve done studies specifically with Gen Z, understanding focus groups, [and] Gen Z still will drink craft beer,” Varda said. “And Gen Zers also identify breweries as a cool place to hang out. … They just need to be invited in.”
Beverage variety – even simply a variety of beer styles – works as that invitation, Varda said, citing comments from Gen Z consumers in CBAS’s focus group discussions.
“Almost every single individual – unless they had a dad that really loved craft beer and they were probably drinking it before – they will start with a lager or a pilsner, something that’s approachable, something that gets them into the space and it doesn’t overwhelm their taste buds,” Varda continued.
Food is the second largest experience factor both nationally (50%) and in New England (53%), followed by “service” or efficiency (42% nationally, 40% in New England).
Other factors that New England consumers express more reactions to (positive or negative) versus the national average include having specific beverages, family friendliness and pet friendliness.
Entertainment and events are also important to consumers, particularly New England women, Varda said. Entertainment was mentioned in nearly one-quarter (22%) of reviews by women in New England.
All of these factors encapsulate the experience consumers have at a taproom, which has become the differentiating factor for breweries in today’s crowded industry, according to Varda.
“Beer quality has become the consumer expectation because the industry has matured so well and the amount of bad beer out there is so little,” Varda said. “Those difference makers and what actually is going to predict people coming back or people going somewhere else next time is entertainment and staff.”
Because of this, Varda encouraged breweries to rethink how they’re communicating with consumers through social media and marketing.
“Beer release posts are cool, but people want to see people,” Varda said.
“I would guess, if you look back at some of y’all’s top-performing Instagram posts, Facebook posts, they are featuring people enjoying your product,” he continued. “Show them that, because that starts to build an emotional connection with people who are identifying, ‘Do I want to come here?’ particularly for those first-timers. Give them an idea emotionally of what it’s going to be like to experience your space.”