Cheers

Cheers

The Beverage Business Magazine for Full-Service Restaurants and Bars

  • Beverage Trends
    • Beer
    • Wine
    • Spirits
    • RTDs
    • Wine Reviews
    • Marketing
    • Operations
  • Recipes
    • What I’m Drinking Now
    • Submit a Drink Recipe
  • Resources
    • eRNDC Login
    • SG Proof Login
    • CORE: Children of Restaurant Employees
  • Events & Awards
    • Cheers Beverage Summit
    • Growth Brands
    • BevX Awards
    • Supplier Awards
  • Podcasts
  • E-News
    • E-News Subscribe
  • Digital Issues
  • Cheers@Home

Hard Seltzers Drove Growth in Difficult Year, According to 2021 Beer Handbook

12/21/2021

by: Melissa Dowling

Overall beer consumption grew slightly, with total volume increasing 0.8% to 2.83 billion 2.25-gallon cases in 2020, according to Beverage Information Group’s 2021 Beer Handbook.

This marks the second year of slight growth after six consecutive years of declines in total beer consumption, primarily due to the incredibly popular trend of hard seltzers.

On-premise closures due to the Covid-19 Pandemic especially affected the craft beer industry. After a few years of mature growth, the category posted an 8.6% loss in 2020 to 305 million cases, dropping the category’s market share to 10.8%.

The imported beer category has grown 3.3% on average in the past five years, with Mexican brews largely driving consumption. Modelo, now the number one imported brand, increased 11.5% in 2020 to 143 million cases. After moving to second place in 2019, Corona fell 1.5% in 2020, however, new brand extension Corona Premier experienced impressive growth levels of 20.0% to 11 million cases.

The main story is Flavored Malt Beverages (FMBs), up an incredible 68.1% in 2020 to 306 million 2.25-gallon cases. This is thanks largely to the RTD boom. Hard seltzer brands are paving the way in this category, increasing by 152.9% with an overall 7.2% market share. That’s the highest increase for any part of the overall-sagging beer market. The FMB category also includes coolers and hard sodas.

Barely even a category five or six years ago, hard seltzer is now one of the fastest-growing segments of the alcohol industry and for the first time the Beverage Information Group’s 2021 Beer Handbook is tracking hard seltzer as its own sub-category.

Advertisement

As far as other categories, light beer continues to shrink, down 2.9% in 2020, to 1.13 billion 2.25-gallon cases. Still, light beer represented 40.0% of the overall U.S. beer market in 2020. The popular beer category continues its steady decline for the last eleven years with a loss of 6.2% in 2020.

The ice beer category declined by 10.0% to 67.19 million 2.25-gallon cases in 2020, while malt liquor beer decreased by 9.4% to 43.60 million 2.25-gallon cases in 2020. Malt liquor continues to be hurt by the increasing trend of premiumization in the craft- and imported-beer categories. What’s more, the distilled spirits industry–notably brandy/Cognac, vodka and tequila brands—have been pursuing malt liquor’s main demographic.

The Beverage Information Group’s 2021 Beer Handbook is the most comprehensive source of information on U.S. beer industry sales trends. It includes consumption and projection information by category and by market, tracks leading brands and reports historical data. The publication can be purchased at bevinfostore.com.

Feature photo by Camden & Hailey George on Unsplash.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

2021 Beer Handbook beer trends 2020 Beverage Information Group

Last modified: 01/11/2022

The team at London’s Connaught Bar Previous Story:
London’s Connaught Bar Crowned World’s Best
Ámbar Restaurante's Tequila Toast Next Story:
A Texas Tequila Toast For New Years

About the Author: Melissa Dowling

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Follow Us

Facebook
Twitter

In The News

  • Campari Group To Distribute Miraval Wine
  • Belvedere Announces Luxury Vodka, Belvedere 10
  • Baileys Bottles Chocolate Liqueur
  • Guinness Chicago Brewery Nears Opening
  • Bacardi Acquires Ilegal Mezcal
  • Appleton Estate Bottles 1993, 2002 Vintage Rums
More News >>

Featured Drink

  • Corralitos Negroni 
    Corralitos Negroni cocktail

Drink Recipes

  • Corralitos Negroni 
  • Great Basin Sour
  • Negroni Riffs We Love For 2023
  • Chimpin’ Around Town
  • Qadeem Hassan and the Ring My Bell

Current Issue

Cheers Current Issue

Cheers Magazine

  • About Cheers
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Market Research

Events & Awards

  • Beverage Excellence Awards
  • Cheers Beverage Summit
  • Growth Brands Awards

Magazines

  • Cheers
  • Beverage Dynamics
  • StateWays
  • Beverage Wholesaler
  • Beverage Handbooks (research)

E-Newsletters

  • Better Bartending
  • Cheers
  • Beverage Dynamics
  • StateWays
  • Beverage Wholesaler
  • Beverage Universe
  • Cannabis Regulator
  • About EPG Brand Acceleration
  • Privacy Policy
© Cheers Magazine. All rights reserved.

Insert/edit link

Enter the destination URL

Or link to existing content

    No search term specified. Showing recent items. Search or use up and down arrow keys to select an item.