US beer consumption continues its decline as consumers gravitate toward wine and spirits innovations
2011 was another year of declines for the beer industry as heightened competition from other beverage alcohol segments, high unemployment rates among core consumers and a struggling economy contributed to the loss, according to the Beverage Information Group’s 2012 Beer Handbook. Overall, the beer industry lost 35.6 million 2.25-gallon cases—a 1.3 percent decline—to end the year at 2.787 billion cases.
Consumers are moving to the wine and spirits industries with their new and innovative product offerings such as flavored vodkas, category-crossing whiskey liqueurs, sweet reds and high-end blends. Unfortunately, domestic beer saw declines due to its lack of innovation as well as an inability to connect with customers. The largest segment, light beer, lost 39.2 million cases, and other beer segments could not make up for the loss. According to the handbook, the craft and imported beer segments’ continued success helped to offset some of the overall industry’s declines, but could not stop the overall loss.