Once again, beer sales are down. According to data provided by the Beer Institute (BI), shipments of domestically-brewed beer are down 1.8% YTD through October representing a drop of 2.6 million barrels. If the trend holds steady through the fourth quarter of the year, it will be the lowest sales of beer in over 10 years and a loss of more than 15 million barrels since 2010?
Not surprising given that Anheuser-Busch InBev and Molson Coors have shed a combined 26 million barrels since 2010 according to an article in Forbes. Craft and Mexican imports have carried the growth-load, but not enough to keep beer overall from a steep 10-year decline.