Data

The key summer selling season ended on a high note for the beer category, as dollar sales of beer, cider and FMBs increased 4.4% in off-premise retailers during the Labor Day holiday week (ending August 31) compared to the same time last year, market research firm Nielsen reported.

Halfway through 2019, volume growth for small and independent U.S. craft brewers has remained steady at 4 percent, according to data released today by national trade group the Brewers Association (BA). BA chief economist Bart Watson, in a press release, characterized craft brewers’ low- to mid-single-digit craft brewer volume growth as “a similar pattern” to recent years.

Year-to-date beer category dollar sales are up 3.5 percent, to nearly $19.5 billion, in off-premise retailers tracked by market research firm IRI. According to the Chicago-based firm, three segments — imports (+5.9), flavored malt beverages (+27.7 percent) and domestic super premiums (+12.6 percent) — have achieved nine-figure sales growth through July 14 in its multi-outlet and convenience store universe. In fact, dollar sales of FMBs, including popular hard seltzers, have topped $1.9 billion so far this year.

It’s an age-old question: What does a “craft beer drinker” look like? According to market research firm Nielsen, which presented findings from its newest “Craft Beer Insights Poll” (CIP) during a Brewers Association-sponsored webinar last week, the average weekly craft beer drinker is primarily male, between the ages of 21 and 44, and makes between $75,000 and $99,000 annually. However, those demographics are beginning to shift among less frequent consumers of craft, with 79 percent of women considering themselves monthly drinkers.

A majority of Americans say beer is their alcoholic beverage of choice during the July 4 holiday, according to a survey commissioned by national trade group the Beer Institute (BI). The poll — conducted by Quadrant Strategies between June 21-25 — asked 1,000 legal-drinking-age adults which alcoholic beverage they’d be consuming or serving during Independence Day. Beer was the answer for 75 percent of the respondents.

An important summer selling period is drawing near, and Brewbound has you covered with some of the most recent category data from market research firms such as Nielsen and IRI, as well as industry trade groups the Beer Institute (BI) and National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).

More than half of the top 50 Brewers Association-defined craft brewing companies didn’t grow in 2018, according to data published in the May/June edition of the not-for-profit trade group’s New Brewer magazine. It’s the third consecutive year that at least half of the top 50 regional craft brewing companies — those producing between 15,000 and six million barrels of beer a year — didn’t grow. In 2018, 28 of the top 50 small and independent breweries either declined or remained flat. In fact, just seven companies in the top 20 posted mid-to-low single-digit growth.

The U.S. beer industry was responsible for creating more than 2.19 million jobs that paid more than $101 billion in wages and benefits in 2018, according to a joint study released today by industry trade organizations the Beer Institute (BI) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).

A growing number of U.S. craft breweries are not locking in long-term hops contracts and that leaves those companies vulnerable as supply tightens, according to industry trade group the Brewers Association (BA), which surveyed 250 members to gain insight into how beer makers are managing one of the industry’s most important raw materials.

For the third consecutive year, Pennsylvania produced more craft beer than any other state in the nation, Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson shared during the Brewers of Pennsylvania’s annual Meeting of the Malts gathering in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Beer no longer holds a majority of the share of total alcohol servings in the U.S. Beer Institute chief economist Michael Uhrich reported today during a State of the Industry presentation that beer’s share of total alcohol servings fell to 49 percent, down about 1 percent, as hard liquor (35.6 percent) and wine (15.4) both gained share.

Two of the largest U.S. states now boast a record number of breweries. According to an economic impact study released Tuesday by the California Craft Brewers Association, California continues to be home to the most breweries in the nation, with more than 980 in operation as of April 2019. Meanwhile, an economic impact study released today by the New York State Brewers Association, found that 434 craft breweries were operating in the Empire State at the end of 2018.

Once again, a record number of craft breweries were in operation in 2018, according the Brewers Association (BA), a trade organization that represents small and independent breweries. The BA, which released its 2018 craft industry growth statistics today, reported that 7,346 craft breweries operated in the U.S. in 2018. That’s up from 6,490 in 2017.

An Iowa craft brewery topped the Brewers Association’s (BA) list of the 50 fastest-growing breweries of 2018, but it wasn’t Toppling Goliath. No, the distinction of being the fastest-growing U.S. brewery in 2018 belongs to Lake Time Brewery.