Draft beer recorded its third consecutive year-over-year (YoY) volume decline on Thanksgiving Eve, according to on-premise, draft-centric data firm BeerBoard.
Draft volume declined -1.8% compared to the same night in 2023, which has long been regarded as “one of the biggest party nights of the year,” according to BeerBoard. In 2023, draft volume declined -2.5% relative to 2022, which saw “a sizable fall” of -17.1% compared to 2021.
Although draft beer volume did not grow YoY on November 27, it recorded a +39% increase week-over-week (WoW) compared to November 20.
Light lager remained the No. 1 style on draft, followed by lagers at No. 2 and IPAs at No. 3 – the same order as 2023.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (A-B) Michelob Ultra was the No. 1 brand on draft for the second consecutive year, BeerBoard reported.
Molson Coors-owned Miller Lite held onto the No. 2 spot for a second year, and Constellation Brands’ Modelo Especial leapfrogged A-B’s Bud Light and Molston Coors’ Coors Light to claim the No. 3 spot.
Michelob Ultra’s share of draft volume on Thanksgiving Eve was 14.5%, followed by Miller Lite (9.9%) and Modelo Especial (8.9%).
The rest of the top 10 brands on draft nationwide include:
- No. 4 A-B’s Bud Light
- No. 5 Molson Coors’ Coors Light
- No. 6 Heineken’s Dos Equis Lager Especial
- No. 7 Molson Coors’ Blue Moon Belgian White
- No. 8 Yuengling Traditional Lager
- No. 9 A-B’s Busch Light
- No. 10 Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA.
Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA was a new addition for 2024. Last year, A-B’s Stella Artois occupied the No. 10 spot.
In BeerBoard’s hometown of Syracuse, New York, the No. 1 draft beer was Labatt Blue Light with 10.2% share of draft volume, the company shared. Draft volume in the Salt City bucked national trends with a +19.5% YoY increase on Thanksgiving Eve.
Outside of draft’s sustained declines, packaged offerings – which include beer, flavored malt beverages, hard seltzers, ready-to-drink cocktails and hard cider – recorded an +18% YoY increase in volume. Spirits (+39.6%) and wine (+28.7%) both posted double-digit growth.
Those gains were even steeper WoW. Spirits volume nearly doubled (+93%) compared to the week prior, and volume of packaged products increased +31%, BeerBoard reported.
Within packaged offerings, lager overtook light lagers for the top spot on Thanksgiving Eve. Constellation’s Corona Extra was the top-selling lager in bottles or cans with a 14.4% share of volume. No. 2 Michelob Ultra accounted for 13.3% packaged goods volume, followed by No. 3 Modelo Especial (11.4%), according to BeerBoard.
Tequila was the top spirit, boosting the overall category to +39.6% YoY volume growth, according to BeerBoard. Although tequila was the largest segment poured in the spirits category, none of the top three most-poured spirit brands were tequila:
- No. 1 Tito’s Vodka (9.7% of all spirits poured);
- No. 2 Jameson Irish Whiskey (3.6%);
- No. 3 Captain Morgan Spiced Rum (2.9%).
Similarly, white wines were the top segment in the wine category, but Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon was the No. 1 wine brand, with 9.3% of volume, followed by Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio (8,78%) and Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay (6.7%).