General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe State of American Beer
What's going on in Beer World? Beer lovers of America might be forgiven if their grasp of the current brew-scape feels iffy. Alice herself would be at home in this Wonderland. It's a world in which up is down, little is big, and there's no Blue Moon on the horizon.
It's a world in which old standbys are faltering (case sales of Miller High Life were down almost 10 percent in 2013 from the prior year). Mexican labels are dominant (Corona, Modelo, and Dos Equis, account for three of the top four imported beers). And a craft-beer company founded only 20 years ago is coming on strong ("Bartender, pour me a Lagunitas" .
The March 2014 issue of Beverage Industry offers us a through-the-looking-glass portrait of Beer World in the United States today. The magazine unleashed its writers on data gathered by Information Resources Inc. (IRI) of Chicago from supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchandisers, gas and convenience stores, military commissaries, and select club and dollar retail chains for the 52 weeks ending December 29, 2014. I made graphs and charts from their tabular data.
Before we delve into the particulars, let's remember the big picture: over the past twenty years, per-capita consumption of beer in the U.S. has been declining. Derek Thompson wrote about that here last August, citing this report. But twenty years is a long lens. Let's take a look at the state of Beer World in the last year.
Read More: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/04/the-state-of-american-beer/360583/
flvegan
(64,407 posts)All I care about.
Carry on.
CFLDem
(2,083 posts)Super popular in the St. Louis area.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)Nowadays I can get it in the grocery store in this one horse town. It is one of my favorites. Maybe my favorite.
CFLDem
(2,083 posts)First off- Budweiser? Eww
Secondly- Blue Moon is awesome. So is Sam Adams. And Shock Top. And Magic Hat... And- I'm getting a beer
NRaleighLiberal
(60,014 posts)Lagunitas makes killer stouts and they are really reasonable.
We are finishing off some chocolate and coffee stouts we got around Christmas (Harpoon, Terrapin, Founders, Bells).
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)but I know a few of them are legendary among connoisseurs.
doc03
(35,332 posts)Budweiser became the king of beers I will never know.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,957 posts)Myself I prefer local microbrews made by such companies as Scuttlebutt or Silver City.
dhill926
(16,337 posts)Initech
(100,068 posts)JVS
(61,935 posts)If anything, it's probably the younger generation isn't as keen on beer. They prefer mixed drinks.
Kilgore
(1,733 posts)We have a local micro micro brewery in our town. Only sells beer by the glass or growler. No plans to bottle it.
Kilgore
marlakay
(11,460 posts)They have locals special mid week for growlers, we live in tourist town. We already had one brewery get big sell out and leave town. Luckily new brewery 2 years old has great beer, already won awards and they own another beer and brats place in town and want to stay local.
Their new thing is beer in a foil pouch, I think they are trying to go against broken bottles.
FSogol
(45,484 posts)human hybrid?
I'm lucking enough to live in Northern Virginia where brew pubs, microbreweries, and nano-breweries are blooming faster than the oak pollen. Pretty heady times for fan of beer.
marlakay
(11,460 posts)I am in the mountains in WA state, we have tons in this state too.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)ForgoTheConsequence
(4,868 posts)Without a doubt.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Every village in Germany has their own beer label (if not several), most of which you will never see in the US. In a lot of ways the US is catching up, but we are still a few hundred years behind.
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)is that wine cinsumption is down and beer consumption is ahead of wine in Italy among young people.
I did not read the attached report from the OP, but what I see is that sales of traditional mass market beer such as Bud and Miller might be down but craft and some regional beer companies are thriving.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Self-sufficiency - brewing your own beer, growing your own veggies, hell, growing your own bud - is never a bad thing.
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)Matariki
(18,775 posts)Redhook, Widmer, Kona (I love Kona Longboard) are owned by Craft Brewers Alliance (majority owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev). Anheuser-Busch owns Samual Adams. And probably more on the list as well. They pretty much buy up the competition.
http://www.nomorefreebeer.com/index.php/the-facts/anheuser-beer-list/