Just like the Kansas City Chiefs, draft beer also took an L in Super Bowl LIX. Draft beer volume declined -4.6% nationwide on Super Bowl Sunday, according to on-premise insights firm BeerBoard.
The return of professional football didn’t result in a boost to on-premise beer trends, contrary to years past. Opening weekend of the 2025 NFL season (September 4-7) led to high-single-digit declines in both draft beer (-7.3%) and packaged products (-8.3%) compared to 2024 opening weekend (September 5-8), according to on-premise tech and insights firm BeerBoard.
If recent off-premise scan data has been a bummer lately, don’t expect the on-premise to deliver optimism either. Beer volumes at bars and restaurants have declined mid- to high-single digits on draft (-5.7%) and in package (-9.3%) year-over-year (YoY) during the second quarter of 2025, according to on-premise data firm BeerBoard.
Memorial Day weekend (May 23-26) and the kick off of the summer selling season in bars and restaurants started slow, with year-over-year (YoY) total bev-alc dollar sales declining 4.4%, according to on-premise retail data tracker BeerBoard.
Anyone who chose Sovereignty to win this year’s Kentucky Derby walked away pretty happy earlier this month, but the bev-alc industry was not so lucky, according to BeerBoard, an on-premise data firm.
Beer’s Q1 on-premise sales were a mixed bag, according to the latest data report from tech and on-premise data firm BeerBoard.
March Madness did indeed extend March Sadness (readers of Brewbound’s weekend newsletter will get the reference). Draft volume during the opening weekend of the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments declined -5.8% compared to the same weekend in 2024, according to on-premise data firm BeerBoard, which reviewed nationwide sales during the March 20-23, 2025, weekend and compared to March 21-24, 2024.
St. Patrick’s Day weekend wasn’t necessarily lucky for purveyors of draft beer, according to on-premise data firm BeerBoard, which published its annual recap of bev-alc performance at bars and restaurants during the holiday.
Draft beer recorded its third consecutive year-over-year (YoY) volume decline on Thanksgiving Eve, according to on-premise, draft-centric data firm BeerBoard.
The on-premise channel – including bars, restaurants, event venues and more – is primed to provide growth for beer. The key for suppliers and distributors to capitalize on that opportunity is to understand what retail operators are prioritizing, including profitability and efficiency, according to Levy Restaurants director of beverage analytics and strategy Scott Brown and BeerBoard chief strategy officer Brandy Rand.
Draft beer reclaimed the volume lost during last year’s National Football League (NFL) opening weekend (September 5-8), according to on-premise data firm BeerBoard.
Draft beer recorded gains in both volume (+12%) and dollar sales (+32%) year-over-year (YoY) during Memorial Day weekend, on-premise data firm BeerBoard reported.
Draft beer volume declined -20% during St. Patrick’s Day weekend, due in part to this year’s misalignment of the drinking-centric holiday and March Madness, according to on-premise data firm BeerBoard.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (A-B) Bud Light was dethroned by Michelob Ultra as the country’s best-selling draft beer on Super Bowl Sunday as drinkers watched the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers in overtime, according to on-premise data firm BeerBoard.
On-premise beer performance held strong last weekend (March 24-27) – a week after elevated St. Patrick’s Day sales – with a +4.1% increase in rate of sale (ROS) nationally compared to the prior period (March 10-13), according to the market research firm BeerBoard.
