Data

As 2023 comes to a close, the teams at market research firms NIQ and CGA hosted a webinar Tuesday to give predictions for 2024 bev-alc trends, including shifting consumer behavior, changing demographics, and continued premiumization and flavor-forward trends.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for beer at home in November increased +2.7% year-over-year (YoY), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This year will be the first, other than 2020, in which independent breweries’ volume has declined in the modern era of craft beer, according to the Brewers Association’s (BA) 2023 Year in Beer report.

October domestic tax paid shipments from U.S. brewers were down -10.8% versus October 2022, to an estimated 11.35 million barrels, marking a loss of 1.38 million barrels year-over-year (YoY), according to Beer Institute (BI) chief economist Andrew Heritage.

Total bev-alc recorded a +12% boost in off-premise dollar sales week-over-week (WoW) thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday, according to Circana’s Scott Scanlon in the market research firm’s weekly update (data ending November 26).

Data conversations around beer in 2023 have set off many alarm bells around the category’s health and place in a changing and blurring bev-alc world. But there may be a slight turning of the tide – or rather, more context that’ll ease industry members’ nerves – according to Bump Williams in his monthly update for… Read more »

Wholesalers’ beer ordering entered expansion territory in November after four months of contraction, indicating “a more neutral stance for the industry,” according to the National Beer Wholesalers Association’s (NBWA) latest Beer Purchasers’ Index (BPI). The BPI’s November reading for total beer was 51, a three-point month-over-month (MoM) increase from October’s reading of 48. A reading greater than 50 indicates expansion, while less than 50 indicates contraction.

On-premise sales velocity has been inconsistent of late, with week-over-week (WoW) growth of +8% in the week ending November 11, followed by a -4% decline in the latest week (ending November 18), according to CGA, a NIQ-powered on-premise market research firm.

This year’s Thanksgiving Eve (November 22) was a bit lackluster for beer, with Drinksgiving/Blackout Wednesday draft volume down -2.5% year-over-year (YoY), according to BeerBoard, an on-premise market research firm.

Total BevAlc sales growth improved slightly with volume performance up across beer, flavored malt beverage, cider and hard seltzer, while dipping negative on sequential basis in wine and spirits categories during the two-week period that ended November 4, according to an analysis of NielsenIQ data by Goldman Sachs Equity Research.

Nearly half of consumers (47%) plan to visit the on-premise to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, according to CGA, an NIQ-powered on-premise market research firm, in its latest On-Premise Impact Report.

New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA (Voodoo Ranger) is now the No. 1 craft beer by dollar sales in the convenience channel, passing Molson Coors’ Blue Moon Belgian White (Blue Moon), according to data firm Circana’s monthly beer report. Voodoo Ranger has increased c-store dollar sales +14.8%, to more than $81 million year-to-date (YTD), ending November 5. The IPA now has 5.84% share of total craft beer dollar sales in the channel.

Gen Z is pushing alcohol abstention to new record lows, according to a recent report from NIQ. But that doesn’t mean the youngest legal-age generation isn’t drinking— they’re just doing it differently, and in an era when there are more BevAlc (and replacement) options than ever.

After a seven-month slowdown, beer inflation “has reemerged in the past three months,” Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson wrote on Twitter/X, following the release of the October Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).