In the early 1990’s, the U.S. wine industry exploded into a rapid rise of growth, lasting nearly three decades.  U.S. wine consumption ascended from 400 million gallons per year to more than 800 million gallons.  Today, though, the wine business finds itself in a three-year trend of negative growth.   “I don’t want to sugarcoat it—2023 has been a tough year,” said longtime industry analyst Danny Brager during a recent wine symposium.  According to the SVB Wine Industry Report, total volume decreased by about 3 percent nationally in 2023 after losing 3.2 percent in 2022 and ..read more

The Wall Street Journal was on the money when it began a December 27 story with these words: “Beer had a rough year”. There were, however, a few notable exceptions.   The Mexican import trio of Modelo, Corona and Pacifico continues to grow and this was an especially strong year for sales of Miller Lite, Coors Light and Yuengling as those brands were a beneficiary of the Bud Light boycott.  The long-time industry leader has yet to recover from the marketing/management debacle of April.  Despite that, Anheuser-Busch remains America’s largest brewer as Bud Light’s losses have been ..read more

These are turbulent times in the beer industry and, for the craft beer business,  there are two very different narratives these days.  On one hand, we now have almost 10,000 breweries in America vs. less than 50 in the late 1980s.  Conversely, after nearly a decade of double-digit annual growth, U.S. craft beer has grown at a paltry rate of 1.2% over the last six years.  The latter narrative is directly related to the former.    Craft is stuck at about 12-13% of the overall U.S. beer market by volume. North Carolina is, undeniably, a craft beer success story.  ..read more

The U.S. wine business has been making a lot of news lately, but for many of the wrong reasons.  A report shows that wine consumption is only showing growth among American customers over the age of 60.   Overall, the volume of wine sold in the U.S. has contracted for the second straight year and, with a possible recession looming, the future’s not all that bright.   Per-capita wine consumption declined in 2022 for the 10th time in the last 11 years. Let’s put all of this in context and look at some reasons why.   Unflattering Headlines As a January 26 New York Times headlin ..read more

Beer tax collections in N.C. were down 1.85% during calendar year 2022, but that doesn’t t ell the full story.   Beer tax collections are a basic tool to help determine sales by volume, and we track those monthly numbers on our web site. During the two peak years of the pandemic (2020 and 2021), beer tax dollars rose—2.8% in 2020 and 1.2% in 2021.  While consumer traffic at restaurants, bars and taprooms slowed significantly, beer sales at grocery and convenience stores  increased somewhat dramatically.  Quite simply, people were buying beer by the case, not by the glass. 2 ..read more

The U.S. Supreme Court will not review the case of B-21 Wines v. Bauer, a challenge to North Carolina’s prohibition on interstate retailer shipments of wine.  With the high court’s electing not to review the case, the earlier decision by the 4th Circuit of Appeals upholding North Carolina’s alcohol law stands. Case Background B-21 Wines is a Florida retailer.  North Carolina is one of several states which allows in-state retailers to ship wine directly to consumers but prohibits out-of-state retailers from doing so.  Attorneys for B-21 Wines claimed this was unconstitutional und ..read more

My, my, how times have changed!    According to NielsenIQ, the off-premise for craft beer is now being dominated by cans.  Yes, 12 or 16-ounce aluminum cans!  The current share for craft cans is 63.4 percent with bottles picking up the remaining 36.6 percent. It was just four years ago that those numbers were essentially reversed:  33.5 percent for craft beer in cans and 66.5 percent for bottles. Well, what happened?  But first, a quick quiz: Which craft brewer was the first—and only—craft brewer to put its beer in bottles?  The answer in a moment. The conven ..read more

It’s a fast-changing world in the alcohol business but beer remains the industry leader in consumer preference and alcohol consumption per capita.  For the third straight year, beer sales by volume have shown a modest increase.  Beer tax collections in N.C. were up 0.63% through November and U.S. sales growth was up 1.5% in 2021, according to Beer Marketer’s INSIGHTS. Market Leaders Anheuser-Busch and Molson Coors remain the dominant players with a combined market share of 58%.  In 2008, the two companies had a combined 78%.  Rising fast are Constellation Brands and Boston ..read more

What’s Hot, What’s Not in Beer & Wine When we hit the middle of March last year, everything changed for the beer and wine business.   Restaurants and bars closed, and then some reopened under serious restrictions.  Events were cancelled, starting with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, followed by beer festivals, sporting events and music concerts.  Beer wholesalers led the way in the destruction of more than 1 million kegs of unsalable draft beer.  Beverage distributors were designated as essential workers and workplace safety precautions became the number one concern for ..read more

Across the country, COVID-19’s impact on the beverage alcohol industry has been overwhelming since mid-March of 2020. From on-premise shutdowns to supply chain challenges, the beer market continues to see significant disruptions. Less draft beer When on-premise licensees were forced to close their doors, brewers, distributors and retailers around the U.S. were left grappling with what do to with the untapped kegs of draft beer. The U.S. marketplace has almost 400,000 licensed on-premise establishments, including bars, taverns, restaurants, night clubs, hotels and concessioners. Draft beer ..read more