No Surprises in Mid-Year Craft Report

July 18, 2019 By Tom McCormick Filed Under: General News, News From The Breweries

Brewers Association (BA) defined craft was up 1.8% by volume in the first half of the year according to the mid-year Insights and Analysis by BA economist Bart Watson. This year is looking very similar to last year which showed a 1.6% increase at the same time. The data used is from IRI scans which only captures larger off-premise retail accounts. On-premise and brewery taps rooms are not included in the data and are generally more favorable to BA-defined craft.

All craft including Big Beer acquired brands was up 1.4% and all beer was up 0.3%

The trends were steady and clear with no surprises. Local and small were the growth inducers while large brands which have been around for a while were mostly down. “It’s really hard in distribution right now, and while there can be growth in introducing new brands into the marketplace, sustaining that growth and those brands is going to be very tough, even as soon as a brand’s second year,” noted Bart.