I wonder if the focus on quantity of beer sales partly over-states the true decline in beer consumption. Most US craft beer bars seem to sell almost entirely rocket fuel, so whereas Bubba might have chugged down six 4% Budweisers in the past, today he only has one or two 6-8% pints. Result: big decline in the volume of beer sales, but not so much in the effective quantity of beer consumption.
I think you're spot on Glenn. I just went looking for data from BA in US and got this:
Overall U.S. beer production and imports were down 5% in 2023, while craft brewer volume sales declined by 1%, raising small and independent brewers’ share of the U.S. beer market by volume to 13.3%.
(i.e. craft down but not down as much as big beer)
Retail dollar sales of craft increased 3%, to $28.9 billion, and now account for 24.7% of the $117 billion U.S. beer market (previously $115 billion). The primary reasons for the larger dollar sales increase were price increases and slightly stronger onsite sales growth versus distribution.
I wonder if the focus on quantity of beer sales partly over-states the true decline in beer consumption. Most US craft beer bars seem to sell almost entirely rocket fuel, so whereas Bubba might have chugged down six 4% Budweisers in the past, today he only has one or two 6-8% pints. Result: big decline in the volume of beer sales, but not so much in the effective quantity of beer consumption.
I think you're spot on Glenn. I just went looking for data from BA in US and got this:
Overall U.S. beer production and imports were down 5% in 2023, while craft brewer volume sales declined by 1%, raising small and independent brewers’ share of the U.S. beer market by volume to 13.3%.
(i.e. craft down but not down as much as big beer)
Retail dollar sales of craft increased 3%, to $28.9 billion, and now account for 24.7% of the $117 billion U.S. beer market (previously $115 billion). The primary reasons for the larger dollar sales increase were price increases and slightly stronger onsite sales growth versus distribution.
(craft dollars up!)