An egg yolk sunset looms large in the sky. Bearded brewers hike up their snifter bandoliers, kick Clydesdales with hop spurs and ride into an uncertain future. In 2023, the wild west days of craft beer are looking settled, and the seemingly endless carousel of mega-trends are giving way to a rooted, mature market. The game has changed, but excitement always lies just beyond the horizon. Join us as we look over our shoulders at the past year’s booms and busts, and sight down the barrel of what 2024 has to offer the world of beer.
Our numbers come primarily from Circana’s Total U.S. Multi-Outlet + Convenience Beer Data, which offers a comprehensive cross-section of sales by category, style, brand and more. This data, combined with consumer insights and the latest craft scuttlebutt, will inform our speculation for what’s on tap next year.
2023 Overview by Beer Segment
Total sales saw a mild bounce back from 2022, a 2.7 percent increase, for a total of $39.1 billion, largely on the coattails of Imports and Flavored Malt Beverages. Both segments saw double-digit growth. Imports, up 11.5 percent, are now second only to Domestic Premium in sales, and on track to overtake it as the top seller by 2024. FMB’s are up 17 percent, with sales up more than a half-billion dollars from last year.
Three other segments saw an uptick this year. Domestic Sub-Premium sales increased by 2.4 percent, for a total of $4.5 billion, firmly ahead of craft as the third-highest seller by category. Cider, though the third-lowest seller by category at $410 million, had a positive year at 1.8 percent growth. And finally, the promising Non-Alcoholic segment had a banner year, with sales up 29.4 percent for $306 million in sales.
Not all segments fared so well. Domestic Premium, though still on top with just over $10 billion in sales, saw a slight sales dip, which could be attributed to AB InBev’s poor marketing decisions. Craft dipped by just under one percentile – not too bad, all things considered. In terms of beer segments, it was “Beer Seltzer Centric” that saw the biggest fall in 2023, down nearly 15 percent for a loss of over half a billion compared to last year.
