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.”
iPourIt has more than 8,800 taps across 400 locations in operation in the U.S. The company did not share how much revenue was generated in 2022. In 2021, the tap walls generated $26.2 million.
Approximately 6 million more ounces of bev-alc were poured in 2022 than 2021. More than 2.1 million consumers poured a total of 15,240 products – up from 1.9 million consumers and 14,570 products in 2021.
The option was most popular with men, who poured more than 20.47 million oz. of product in 2022 – approximately 65% of the total poured – and spent an average of $14.72 per visit. The most popular beer styles for men were (in order): IPA, lager, cider, wheat beer, sour, stout, pilsner, blonde, pale ale and fruit beer.
Women poured more than 10.84 million oz. of product (approx. 35% of the total), spending an average of $12.24 per visit. The most popular beverages with women were (in order): cider, IPA, lager, sour, wheat beer, hard seltzer, white wine, blonde, fruit beer and stout.
Regardless of gender, consumers were “tasting products in the IPA category, but pouring higher volumes of lighter beers,” iPourIt wrote.
The top beverage style across all consumers was IPA, recording a +5% increase in pours year-over-year (YoY). The next most popular style – lagers – increased total pours +37% YoY, but still accounted for about half of the total pours recorded for IPAs. The top five styles were rounded out by cider, hefeweizen/wheat beer and sours.
Also of note: RTDs made the top 15 list for the first time at No. 14. White wine was the only other non-beer product to make the top 15, ranking No. 12.
Five of the top 10 beer products were owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B), including:
- No. 1 Michelob Ultra;
- No. 2 Bud Light;
- No. 3 Golden Road Brewing’s Mango Cart;
- No. 7 Elysian Space Dust, up one place versus 2021;
- And No. 9 Kona Big Wave, up one place versus 2021;
The rest of the top 10 included:
- No. 4 Molson Coors’ Coors Light, up two places versus 2021;
- No. 5 Constellation Brands’ Modelo Especial;
- No. 6 Molson Coors’ Miller Lite, up one place versus 2021;
- No. 8 Ace Cider’s Pineapple Cider, down four places versus 2021;
- And No. 10 Firestone Walker 805.
While IPA was the most popular style with consumers, only one brand made the top 10. iPourIt explained that the discrepancy is because there is “usually a wide variety of IPA products and people are tasting around.”
A total of 4,120 IPAs were poured across iPourIt’s footprint, followed by sours (1,540), stouts (1,080), lagers (1,010), pilsners (540), ciders (930), hefeweizen/wheat beer (540), hard seltzers (240), pale ales (46), blonde ales (36) and fruit beer (25).
The top 10 craft beer products were (in order):
- Golden Road Mango Cart;
- Molson Coors’ Blue Moon Belgian White, up 10 places versus 2021;
- Elysian Space Dust, down one place versus 2021;
- Kona Big Wave, up one place versus 2021;
- Firestone Walker 805, down one place versus 2021;
- Bear Cave Brewing’s Bear Slayer hazy IPA, a new addition to the top 10;
- Big Storm Brewing’s Oak & Stone Snowbird Pilsner, down two places versus 2021;
- Bear Cave Brewing’s Larry’s Lager, a new addition to the top 10;
- Stone Brewing’s Buenaveza Salt & Lime Lager, up one place versus 2021;
- And Sierra Nevada’s Hazy Little Thing.
Bear Cave Brewing is a Hopkins, Minnesota-based brewpub that opened last year featuring iPourIt tap walls, explaining the nascent brewery’s seven appearances on iPourIt’s top 50 craft list.
“While many self-pour operators are constantly rotating their beers, Bear Cave’s core beers are regularly featured on the tap wall,” iPourIt wrote.
Almost half of the craft beer brands in the top 50 were new entrants to the list, including No. 12 Bear Cave’s Couple’s Skate cream ale; No. 13 Firestone Walker’s Cali-Squeeze; and No. 18 Sierra Nevada’s Sunny Little Thing. Other craft brands to make significant YoY gains include No. 16 New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze – up 30 spots versus 2021 – and No. 17 Spice Trading Brewing’s Spa Sidekick Cucumber Lemon Sour.
iPourIt also analyzed consumer preferences based on age. Millennials are the biggest “tap wall demographic,” making up about 40% of total iPourIt patrons. The company also noted a YoY uptick in consumers over 50, particularly men, which increased +11% YoY.
Generation Z consumers – designated by iPourIt as those born between 1995 and 2012 – enjoyed ciders the most, followed by IPAs, lagers, sours and wheat beers. The top five craft brands for the demographic included (in order): Mango Cart, Ace Pineapple Cider, Blake’s Hard Cider’s Triple Jam, Kona Big Wave and Ace Mango.
Millennials/Gen Y (1980-1994) preferred IPAs, followed by lagers, ciders, wheat beers and sours. Their top craft brands were Mango Cart, Big Wave, Pineapple Cider, Spa Sidekick Cucumber Lemon Sour and Space Dust.
Gen X (1965-1979) had the same style preferences as millennials. However, their top craft brands were Mango Cart, Oak & Stone Snowbird Pilsner, Space Dust, 805 and Big Wave.
Baby Boomers (1946-1964) also preferred IPAs, followed by lagers, wheat beers, pilsners and stouts. Their top craft brands were Oak & Stone Snowbird Pilsner, Mango Cart, Tank Brewing’s Freedom Tower red ale, 805 and 7venth Sun Brewing’s Graffiti Orange wheat ale.