Seasonal trends for onsite brewery sales have remained relatively consistent since January 2021, but “in real terms” – i.e. accounting for inflation – onsite sales continue to decline, according to Brewers Association (BA) staff economist Matt Gacioch, citing data from Arryved.
Craft beer has entered “no to negative growth territory,” Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson said during a year-end webinar last week. “We were in double-digit growth as recently as 2014, 2015, and then we moved into kind of a more developed, slow, single-digit growth rate,” Watson said. “COVID hit, and we had the worst year in craft history in 2020 with a partial bounce back in 2021.
This year will be the first, other than 2020, in which independent breweries’ volume has declined in the modern era of craft beer, according to the Brewers Association’s (BA) 2023 Year in Beer report.
After about four years of discussion, the stalled effort to launch a brand agnostic, pro-beer marketing campaign to improve category health officially kicked off today in Austin, Texas. The so-called Beer Growth Initiative, a coalition of the industry’s three trade groups — the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA), Brewers Association (BA) and Beer Institute (BI) — as well as large and small beer companies also revealed its first slogan: “Beers to That.”
Barring a resolution before next week, President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war with China — and increased tariffs on aluminum can sheet — threatens to further impact U.S. beer companies’ bottom lines. On Friday, Trump announced via Twitter plans to increase tariffs on $550 billion of imported Chinese goods over the next two months in retaliation for China saying it would impose $75 billion in tariffs on goods imported from America beginning October 1. And aluminum can producers are bracing for the higher aluminum costs and passing them onto their customers.
The beer industry’s efforts to make federal excise tax relief for brewers permanent received a boost Tuesday when members of a bipartisan congressional task force expressed support for the cause. U.S. Senate Finance Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and ranking member Ron Wyden (D-OR) released a report from the Individual, Excise, and Other Temporary Tax Policy Task Force, which called for the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CBMTRA) to be permanently enacted.
In episode 45 of the Brewbound Podcast, McGreevy discusses his group’s effort to extend tax cuts for all brewers and importers. He also discusses the importance of fighting aluminum and steel tariffs.
A federal judge yesterday agreed to allow the industry trade group the Beer Institute (BI) to join a lawsuit filed by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) against a pair of federal agencies regarding the collection of so-called “duty drawback claims.”
The beer industry’s pushback against tariffs received a boost on Tuesday, as the U.S. Senate filed a companion bill that would increase the federal government’s regulatory authority of groups overseeing aluminum premium benchmarking, including the controversial “Midwest Premium.”
The on-again, off-again effort to improve category health through an industry-wide campaign for beer is on once again. During the Beer Institute’s annual meeting, held Tuesday in St. Louis, president and CEO Jim McGreevy said the industry’s three top trade associations — the BI, the Brewers Association (BA) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) — have agreed to launch a pro-beer marketing campaign this summer. Category health was just one of several themes to develop during the two-day meeting, as multiple speakers touched on the growth opportunity in home delivery of food and booze, as well as the growing number of jobs open in the manufacturing and hospitality industries.
The discussion of several headwinds facing the industry dominated the Monday afternoon session at the Beer Institute’s annual meeting in St. Louis. Beer Institute president and CEO Jim McGreevy opened Monday’s General Session and discussed several issues currently facing beer companies, including the effort to make permanent federal excise tax relief in the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, as well as the impact of tariffs on beer companies, and competition for market share with wine and spirits companies.
Alcohol producers’ efforts to make excise tax relief permanent reached another milestone today, as a majority of Congress now supports the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (CBMTRA). In a joint announcement, seven alcohol industry trade groups said a bill to permanently enact tax cuts for alcohol producers and importers now has 218 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: Nearly two weeks after lifting aluminum and steel tariffs imposed against Mexico and Canada, President Donald Trump has reversed course and announced plans to levy a 5 percent duty on all goods from Mexico over immigration — bringing the issue back into the taproom. Plus, North Coast co-founder Mark Ruedrich announces his retirement.
The New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) issued a revised special ruling earlier this week aimed at limiting the number of annual events breweries can host in their taprooms. Under the ruling issued Tuesday, the ABC said the state’s craft breweries can hold up to 25 “special events,” 25 “social affairs,” and 52 “private parties” annually inside their taprooms. Additionally, breweries are now allowed to sell their beer at 12 events a year outside of their taprooms.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: There Colorado breweries are set to close; Sierra Nevada asks breweries to honor their Camp Fire pledges; U.S. beer shipments decline in April; Boston Beer delays its downtown Boston taproom opening; and more news.
The U.S. beer industry was responsible for creating more than 2.19 million jobs that paid more than $101 billion in wages and benefits in 2018, according to a joint study released today by industry trade organizations the Beer Institute (BI) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).
Beer no longer holds a majority of the share of total alcohol servings in the U.S. Beer Institute chief economist Michael Uhrich reported today during a State of the Industry presentation that beer’s share of total alcohol servings fell to 49 percent, down about 1 percent, as hard liquor (35.6 percent) and wine (15.4) both gained share.
