Data

Super Bowl draft beer consumption declined 1.3% in 2020 compared to last year’s game day, according to technology company BeerBoard, which tracks on-premise sales. At on-premise accounts Beer Board tracks, Michelob Ultra volume sales increased 28.7% over last year; total IPA volume was up 28%.

Cider category dollar share shrank in 2019, however, the growth of regional and local producers proved to be a bright spot, Danny Brager, senior VP of market research firm Nielsen’s beverage alcohol practice, shared Thursday during the American Cider Association’s (ACA) annual CiderCon conference in Oakland, California.

Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers in Miami marks the first major beer-drinking occasion of 2020. In 2019, U.S. consumers spent $1.2 billion on beer at off-premise retailers in the two weeks leading up to the game between the Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots, according to market research firm Nielsen. Those sales were roughly flat, though, down 0.5%, compared to 2018.

Beer depletions (sales from wholesalers to retailers) in 2019 were mostly flat compared to 2018, although there were a few spikes around summer holidays, National Beer Wholesalers Association chief economist Lester Jones shared during a webinar hosted by Fintech, a data, analytics and invoice processing platform for wholesalers.

Total beer dollar sales in 2019 increased to $37.2 billion in U.S. off-premise retailers, according to market research firm IRI. The Chicago-based market research firm, which tracks category-wide sales at major off-premise retailers, reported a 5.2% increase in beer dollar sales, and a 2.3% increase in volume sales at multi-outlet and convenience (MULC) stores (grocery, drug, club, dollar, mass-merchandiser and military) through December 29.

Hard seltzer is not a fad; it’s a category, Brandy Rand, the COO of market research firm IWSR, declared today during Beer Business Daily’s Beer Industry Summit in Palm Beach, Florida.

Off-premise dollar sales of hard seltzers are on pace to hit $1.5 billion by the end of 2019, Nielsen’s beverage alcohol practice team shared earlier this month during the Brewbound Live business conference in Santa Monica. Nielsen’s beverage alcohol practice team members Danelle Kosmal and Caitlyn Battaglia shared that hard seltzers now account for 5% of all beer category dollars.

With just one month left in 2019, off-premise beer dollar and volume sales appear poised to finish in the black. Through the first 11 months of 2019, off-premise beer category dollar sales in multi-outlet and convenience stores tracked by market research firm IRI are up 5.2%, to nearly $34.5 billion, while volume sales are up 2.3%. The largest dollar sales growth in 2019 thus far has come from flavored malt beverages, including hard seltzers.

Craft brewers are on pace for another year of low single-digit growth, the Brewers Association announced today in its annual “The Year in Beer” review. The not-for-profit trade organization representing small and independent U.S. craft breweries projects 2019 volume growth of 4%, down slightly from the 2018 number.

The tidal wave of hard seltzers shows no signs of slowing down, market research firm Nielsen’s beverage alcohol practice team shared Thursday during the Brewbound Live business conference in Santa Monica.

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.