US Beer Industry Faces “Five-Alarm Fire” As Sales Plunge To 25-Year Low

The American beer industry is facing a “five-alarm fire,” Craig Purser, president of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, warned in a speech to wholesalers at a convention in October. 

Purser issued his warning at a time when the popularity of craft beer and hard seltzers had peaked. Consumer demand has shifted more towards canned cocktails and nonalcoholic beers. Additionally, Generation Z consumes less alcohol than any other generation, favoring spirits like vodka and tequila over beer. 

Moreover, souring long-term beer trends have been compounded by the nationwide implosion in Bud Light’s demand. Anheuser-Busch’s decision to feature trans-influencer Dylan Mulvaney in their April campaign has been one of the worst marketing disasters in a generation. 

Starting with new data from Beer Marketer’s Insights, an industry analysis firm. They noted overall beer shipments in the US have gone flat, down 5% in the first nine months of the year, reaching their lowest point in a quarter century. 

Source: The Wall Street Journal

A recent survey released by MRI-Simmons has revealed a mega trend in the beer industry that shows Gen-Zers are simply consuming less alcohol than any other generation in the US. About 58% of legal drinking-age respondents said they had drunk alcohol in the past six months. Among them, 87% consumed spirits, while 56% had beer. 

A recent note by TD Cowen analyst Vivien Azer explained one of the factors leading to the demise of beer. She noted that states that have legalized recreational or medicinal marijuana saw shifts in consumer behaviors from alcohol to cannabis. 

Besides the beer industry losing its youngest customers, trans-influencer Mulvaney dropped a ‘woke nuke’ on Bud Light in that infamous and cringy April 1 TikTok ad campaign. 

Eight months later, the Bud Light boycott continued, as new data from Nielsen shows for the four weeks ending December 9 that retail-store sales of the beer plunged 28% compared with the same period last year.

David Steinmann, vice president and executive editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights, told The New York Post that declines in Bud Light and other brands associated with Anheuser-Busch (including Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, and Busch) are “driving the decline in the industry.” 

And rounding back to Purser’s warning at the start of the note. The beer industry appears to be facing a “five-alarm fire.”