Data

3 Up, 3 Down with 3 Tier Beverages is a quarterly insights series available to Brewbound Insiders, via the Chicago-headquartered, bev-alc-focused consulting and data firm.

U.S. government trying to limit your booze intake or access? The short answer is no. So why do we keep hearing rumblings about something called the ‘neo-prohibition’ movement?

Craft industry members are constantly asking about “price elasticity,” according to Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson in his latest deep dive for the trade association.

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.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for beer at home has ticked back up for the start of 2024, increasing +2.4% year-over-year (YoY) in January on a seasonally unadjusted basis, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Craft beer started out 2024 ever so slightly outpacing the industry – though both metrics were in the red – according to market research firm Circana.

Domestic tax paid shipments declined by more than 10.59 million barrels in 2023, according to the Beer Institute (BI), citing estimates from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).

Spirits sales in the U.S. were flat in 2023, but maintained a very slight revenue lead over beer for the second year in a row, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) in its annual economic briefing today.

Retailers will have an increased “intense scrutiny” of new product launches and bev-alc shelf sets in 2024, according to Bump Williams in his monthly report for Bump Williams Consulting (BWC).

Consumers poured themselves more than 126.9 million oz. of beer, wine, ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails and more from PourMyBeer self-serve walls in 2023, according to the beverage technology company’s latest impact report.

Beer inventory levels are starting out stronger this year than 2023, according to the latest Beer Purchasers Index (BPI) from the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).

The convenience channel remains a bright spot for beer as the category tackles declines elsewhere, and growth in the channel is expected to continue through 2024, Goldman Sachs analysts reported in the company’s latest Bev Bytes retailer survey.

The price of beer increased across the board last year. The average case price of craft beer in 2023 increased +3.6% year-over-year, to $42.41 across all outlets, according to NIQ data shared by Bump Williams Consulting.

Craft cans gained +3.6% share of craft dollars in 2023, and now account for 69.9% off-premise craft dollar sales, according to NIQ data shared in Bump Williams Consulting’s 2023 craft recap.