The latest NIQ On Premise analysis reveals a beer category that continues to face volume pressure, but one where performance varies significantly by segment, format, and occasion. The findings also highlight meaningful shifts in on-premise consumption that extend beyond topline category performance.
The latest NIQ on premise update highlights a beer category under pressure, with both value and volume declining over the past year. In contrast, spirits and RTDs continue to capture share, supported by price-led growth and shifting consumer preferences.
In the December 2025 Brewbound Quarterly On-Premise Report, NIQ data reveals a market where growth is increasingly concentrated in specific outlets, formats, and styles, while once-reliable channels quietly lose ground.
Citing “considerable distress” in the restaurant industry, the parent company of craft-centric on-premise chain World of Beer has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Three years post-pandemic, the beer industry’s performance is still “erratic,” National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) chief economist and VP of analytics Lester Jones said during a webinar on Tuesday.
Similar to the off-premise, the non-alcoholic (NA) beer segment is outperforming the broader beer category in bars, restaurants and other venues, according to CGA, an NIQ-owned on-premise market research firm.
On-premise chain accounts have bounced back from initial COVID-19 declines that shut down their businesses, but on-premise pains are far from over, according to CGA, the on-premise arm of market research firm NIQ.
All three bev-alc categories recorded double-digit on-premise sales increases on Mother’s Day compared to the average Sunday in 2024, according to NIQ-owned on-premise data firm CGA.
A majority of consumers plan to celebrate Mother’s Day outside of bars and restaurants, according to the latest impact report from CGA, a NIQ-powered on-premise market research firm.
Beer sales at bars and restaurants have declined in both dollar sales (-0.7%) and volume (-5.7%) in the 12-month period through the end of January, according to NIQ’s on-premise data firm CGA.
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.
On-premise sales velocity on Super Bowl Sunday (February 11) was down -19% versus an average Sunday this year, and -4% versus 2023, according to CGA, NIQ’s on-premise market research arm.
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.
While the amount of bars and restaurants in operation has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, beer’s on-premise business has yet to bounce back, with keg volume expected to be 2.5 million barrels below where it should be by the end of 2023, according to the Brewers Association.
Nationwide, sales of distributed draft beer have stalled at the same levels reached in 2021, as the on-premise reopened following COVID-19 pandemic-driven closures.
More than 55 million oz. of beer, wine, ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails and more were served from iPourIt self-serve walls in 2022, according to the beverage technology company’s “Annual Pour Report.”
Heineken USA (HUSA) will halt shipments of all draft products to five states for the next year, a company spokesperson told Brewbound. Those states include Vermont, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. The Lagunitas brand, which Heineken wholly acquired in May 2017, is excluded from the draft cuts.
