Craft beer started out 2024 ever so slightly outpacing the industry – though both metrics were in the red – according to market research firm Circana.
For the first four weeks of the year, the craft segment’s dollar sales (-1.4%) and volume (-2.6%) both declined at multi-outlet retailers and convenience stores (MULO+C) through January 28, compared to the same period last year.
In the same period, the overall beer category recorded dollar sales declines of -1.5% and lost -2.7% in volume.
Craft’s narrow lead on total beer swings larger in the convenience channel, where the segment is nearly flat in dollar sales (-0.3%), while volume declined -1.5%, compared with the overall category’s -3.3% decline in dollars and -5.2% in volume.
In grocery stores, typically a stronghold for craft, overall beer dollar sales sneaked into the black in dollar sales (+0.5%), while volume was nearly flat (-0.1%). But craft recorded losses in both dollars (-1.6%) and volume (-2.4%).
Eight of the top 30 craft brands recorded gains in both dollar sales and volume in MULO+C through January 28, according to Circana.
They include:
- No. 2 New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA (+2.7% in dollars, +1.1% in volume);
- No. 3 New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Juice Force Hazy Imperial IPA (+79.6% in dollars, +83% in volume);
- No. 4 Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA (+7.3% in dollars, +5.2% in volume);
- No. 10 Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Kona Big Wave (+24.8% in dollars, +29.5% in volume);
- No. 12 New Belgium-owned Bell’s Two Hearted IPA (+12.6% in dollars, +11% in volume);
- No. 14 New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Fruit Force Hazy Imperial IPA (+214% in dollars, +208.1% in volume – cycling launch);
- No. 10 A-B’s Goose Island Tropical Beer Hug DDH Double IPA (+53.5% in dollars, +48.6% in volume);
- And No. 29 Georgetown Bodhizafa IPA (+22.9% in dollars, +22.2% in volume).
In c-stores, Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA has held the top spot after it deposed Molson Coors-owned Blue Moon Belgian White Ale in November. Kirin-owned New Belgium’s skeleton-bedecked family of hoppy, juicy IPAs knocked Blue Moon even farther down craft’s c-store rankings, as Voodoo Ranger Juice Force is now the second best-selling craft brand in c-stores year-to-date through January 28.
Brewers Association (BA)-defined independent craft brewers have begun to make inroads in the convenience channel. Nearly half (14) the top 30 craft brands in c-stores are BA-defined independent (produces fewer than 6 million barrels annually and is not more than 25% owned by a non-craft-defined, bev-alc producer). They include:
- No. 4 Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA
- No. 7 Gambrinus-owned Shiner Bock
- No. 10 Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
- No. 11 Duvel USA-owned Firestone Walker 805
- No. 14 Monster-owned Cigar City Jai Alai IPA
- No. 17 Boston Beer-owned Samuel Adams seasonal
- No. 20 Sierra Nevada Big Little Thing Imperial IPA
- No. 22 Rhinegeist Truth IPA
- No. 23 Georgetown Bodhizafa IPA
- No. 24 Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
- No. 27 Tilray-owned 10 Barrel Pub Lager
- No. 28 Fiddlehead IPA
- No. 30 Tilray-owned SweetWater 420 Extra Pale Ale.
Of note are Seattle-based Georgetown Bodhizafa IPA and Shelburne, Vermont-based Fiddlehead IPA, which both recorded double-digit gains in dollar sales and volume in the convenience channel in their relatively small footprints. Bodhizafa IPA — which is available in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana — increased dollars sales +30.9% and volume +28.9% YTD through January 28.
Fiddlehead uses cold-chain distribution and is available in Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maine — several of which are independent markets without beer sales in c-stores, making the brand’s performance even more remarkable. Fiddlehead IPA posted increases in both dollar sales (+39.1%) and volume (+40.5%) YTD through January 28, according to Circana.
Only 10 BA-defined brands made the top 30 in grocery stores:
- No. 3 Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
- No. 5 Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA
- No. 6 Samuel Adams seasonal
- No. 8 Shiner Bock
- No. 12 Samuel Adams Boston Lager
- No. 13 Firestone Walker 805
- No. 18 Samuel Adams variety pack
- No. 19 Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA
- No. 20 Cigar City Jai Alai IPA
- No. 24 Sierra Nevada seasonal.
Other craft highlights from Circana’s first data release of the year:
- New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Juice Force was the largest share gainer (+1.63 share points) in the period, and is the third-largest brand by dollar share in MULO+C with 3.61 share points.
- Blue Moon lost the most share (-0.28 share points) in MULO+C, where it remains the top-selling brand with 5.61 share points – 1.3 share points larger than No. 2 New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA.
- Sapporo-owned Stone Brewing had two brands enter the top 30 craft brands in grocery stores: No. 29 Stone Delicious IPA (-3% in dollars, -8.5% in volume) and No. 30 Stone IPA (-3.5% in dollars, -8.3% in volume). Neither appeared in the top 30 for grocery, c-store or MULO+C in Circana’s 2023 full-year report.
- The losses for New Belgium Fat Tire seem to be decelerating as the brand begins to cycle the debut of its relaunch last year. The brand, a craft stalwart that evolved from an amber ale to a golden, recorded dollar sales declines of -14.6% and volume declines of -17.2% year-to-date through January 28, compared to -17.7% and -20.3% in 2023, according to Circana’s full-year report.
- The only other soft spot in New Belgium’s portfolio was Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze IPA, a hazy offering that predates its siblings in the Force line. It recorded dollar sales declines of -22.9% and volume losses of -24.1%.
- IPAs of all sub-styles (Circana does not break out double/imperial/triple or hazy IPAs) accounted for the majority (51.7%) of all dollars spent on craft beer in MULO+C year-to-date through January 28.
- Non-alc craft beer maker Athletic Brewing was the 23rd largest beer category vendor in MULO+C and 14th in grocery stores YTD through January 28, which includes the bulk of Dry January, an important month for the NA segment. The brand’s dollar sales increased +82.6%, to $6.583 million, and volume increased +95%, to 160,877 cases in MULO+C. Athletic’s dollar sales in grocery stores increased +75%, to $5.4 million, and volume increased 86.3%, to 131,761 cases.