BeerBoard Shares 2017 On-Premise Trends

BeerBoard, the management platform behind digital menu displays at on-premise retailers such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Tilted Kilt and World of Beer, recently reviewed data from more than 50,000 draft lines and found that craft beer share grew by two percent in 2017.

In a year-end review, BeerBoard – which identified trends from its proprietary data set — found that domestic beer market share at its clients’ on-premise locations fell below 50 percent, to 49.59 percent, while craft beer share grew to 35.9 percent. Import share, meanwhile, checked in at 14.51 percent.

On their way to capturing nearly 36 percent of on-premise beer sales, however, craft brands took up more than 66 percent of the draft handles, according to BeerBoard. Domestic beers, meanwhile, controlled just 17.2 percent of the draft real estate last year.

In its review, the company also found that its bar and restaurant clients poured 1,970 different IPAs, a 34 percent spike compared to 2016. Stouts were the second most varied style poured, at 921, followed by fruit and hybrid offerings at 855.

Nevertheless, light lager (about 43 percent of all beer poured) and lager (about 18.2 percent of all beer poured) were the top-selling styles in 2017.

On-premise sales of light lager dipped 2.1 percent, however, while sales of lager declined about 3.1 percent.

Sales of IPA — the third most poured beer on-premise — grew 15.5 percent, the company said. Sales of wheat beer also grew 27.6 percent. Meanwhile, sales of amber ales and cider declined 47.8 percent and 14.8 percent, respectively.

At the individual brand level, sales of Bud Light (-4 percent), Miller Lite (-2.6 percent) and Coors Light (-9.3 percent) all declined. Michelob Ultra, Corona Light and Busch Light grew sales, however, up 16.7 percent, 44.8 percent and 500 percent, respectively.

Sales of Pabst Blue Ribbon grew 22 percent, BeerBoard reported, while sales of Modelo Especial grew 37.6 percent.

Amongst IPA brands, sales Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned Elysian Space Dust IPA grew an astonishing 800 percent, the company said, while sales of Founders All Day IPA grew 57.9 percent. Stalwart brands Lagunitas IPA and Bell’s Two Hearted, meanwhile, grew 7.9 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Sales of Boulevard Brewing’s Unfiltered Wheat Beer also grew 450 percent, BeerBoard said.