It appears beer wholesalers are not very optimistic for an end-of-summer boost in sales, according to the latest Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI) from the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).
Every beer segment was in contraction – a.k.a. posting a BPI reading below 50 – in August, pulling back ordering from all areas of beer. Total beer posted a BPI reading of 27, marking the category’s lowest BPI to date and a 13-point drop from August 2024.
The August BPI typically indicates a slowdown in beer ordering as beer distributors recognize the end of elevated summer sales. This is now the category’s fourth consecutive August in contraction.
However, five of the seven observed beer segments posted readings below August 2024 numbers, and at-risk inventory, or stocks within 30 days of going out of code, entered expansion territory with a reading of 50 during the month, reflecting the consequences of a slower than expected summer, according to NBWA chief economist and VP of analytics Lester Jones.
“A relatively slower summer selling season in 2025 compared to 2024 means distributors are entering the fall with relatively higher inventories and will likely purchase less from their suppliers,” Jones wrote.
Craft recorded the harshest ordering pullback, with an August 2025 BPI reading of 14 – its lowest figure so far in 2025. The latest number was nine points below its August 2024 reading of 23, and 11 points below July 2025 (25).
Other segments to record a year-over-year (YoY) decline include:
- Imports (43), 12 points below August 2024 (55) and seven points below July 2025;
- Premium lights (36), two points below August 2024 and July 2025 (both 38);
- Premium regular (34), five points below August 2024 (39) and seven points below July 2025 (41);
- Below premium (35), 10 points below August 2024 (45) and 13 points below July 2025 (48).
Flavored malt beverages (FMB) and hard seltzer – measured as one segment – and hard cider both recorded an August 2025 BPI of 39, relatively unchanged from their July 2025 figures (39 and 38, respectively) and improved compared to August 2024 (36 and 30, respectively).
The slightly improved ordering trends for both segments come as they’ve started to follow very different paths in scans, according to recent data from market research firm Circana.
Hard cider has been gaining momentum, increasing dollar sales (+4.9%) and volume (+4.8%) YoY in the last four weeks (L4W) in Circana-tracked off-premise channels (data ending August 10). The latest growth was well above the segment’s year-to-date (YTD) trends (dollar sales +0.4%, volume -0.1%), and even larger in select channels such as c-stores (dollar sales +10%, volume +8.3% in the L4W).
Meanwhile, FMB (excluding hard seltzer) was the only beer segment to record accelerated declines in the L4W (dollar sales -2.7%, volume -5%) compared to YTD trends (dollar sales -2.4%, volume -4.5%). Hard seltzer also remains in the red: L4W dollar sales -2.9%, volume -5.4%; YTD dollar sales -5.5%, volume -8.3%.