U.S. brewers shipped 16.4 million barrels of beer in November, a +4.7% increase over November 2020, according to the Beer Institute (BI), citing figures from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
The District of Columbia led in growth compared to November 2020, with 30,000 barrels shipped (+36.4%), followed by Delaware (+33.2%) and Minnesota (+19.7%). On the other end of the spectrum, New Mexico had the largest decline in shipments year-over-year (YOY) for the month, decreasing -10.7%, followed by Utah (-9.8%) and Louisiana (-6.7%).
Year-to-date (YTD) through November, national shipments reached more than 192 million barrels, a +2.8% increase YOY. Forty of the 50 states reported YOY growth in shipments YTD, led by Arkansas (+11.6%), Nevada (+10.8%) and Kentucky (+10.6%).
The states that did not increase total shipments YOY include Ohio (-2.4%), Louisiana (-2.4%), Connecticut (-1.5%), Maryland (-1.2%), New Hampshire (-1%), New Mexico (-1%), California (-0.9%), South Carolina (-0.8%), Mississippi (-0.7%) and Hawaii (-0.1%).
Texas passed California in shipments for the month to lead all states, with 1.74 million barrels shipped, a +4.6% increase over November 2020. California still leads in YTD shipments, with nearly 21.1 million barrels shipped over the past 11 months – a -0.9% decline versus the first 11 months of 2020.
Nationally, shipments are more than 9.5 million barrels above 2019 figures, a +5.13% increase YOY compared to pre-COVID-19 levels. The states that fell below 2019 levels for the month include Alaska, Connecticut, D.C., Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.