🤷‍♀️ Who Is (And Isn't) Drinking Craft Beer in 2024

Brewbound Insiders are going deep on craft beer drinker data from a webinar about the Brewers Association’s (BA) annual Harris Poll. This year’s numbers reveal there are more craft consumers opting to drink less compared to last year than there are those who are drinking more.

Insiders are also:

• Receiving greetings from Asbury Park Brewery’s Bob McLynn;
• Learning about a middle-tier deal in Texas;
• Seeing which other non-alc brewer received investment;
• Going deep on beer prices;
• And checking out another taproom exclusive from Allagash.  

Insiders also have access to the Brewbound Newsletter Archive, including previous newsletter-exclusive Insider content.

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The number of craft beer drinkers who are drinking less craft beer than they were a year ago has surpassed the number of those who are drinking more for the first time since the Brewers Association (BA) started asking this question in its annual poll in 2015.

BA chief economic and VP of strategy Bart Watson and staff economist Matt Gacioch shared the findings of the BA’s ninth annual Harris Poll during a Thursday webinar. Nearly 2,100 legal-drinking-age Americans were surveyed about their drinking habits.

This year, 26% of respondents said they were drinking less craft beer in 2024 than they were in 2023, compared to 25% who said they were drinking more. Last year, these groups were in equilibrium for the first time. 

The city of Asbury Park is inextricably linked to its musical history (if you like Bruce Springsteen, you should thank it), and its eponymous brewery is no different. Asbury Park Brewery founder Bob McLynn first encountered beer culture while touring Germany with his band, and founded Crush Management, which represents artists such as Green Day, Lorde, Miley Cyrus and Fall Out Boy.

McLynn discusses getting into craft brewing, opening a new brewery and taproom, hosting Jon Stewart’s band and much more in the latest installment of Brewbound’s A Round With – a weekly Insider-exclusive Q&A series with industry leaders.

Insiders can read more from McLynn, including how the brewery has benefitted from New Jersey’s restrictive taproom laws being lifted, collaborating with Rutgers University and The Stone Pony and what’s keeping him up at night.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for beer at home remained unchanged in June at +3.1% year-over-year (YoY), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Become an ins

Become an Insider to get insights into how beer's price increases compare to the rest of bev-alc, as well as which two segments have taken more than $1 in increases this year. 

Following a long July 4 holiday weekend, the Brewbound team shares how they celebrated Independence Day. 

Jess provides a Jersey Shore report, including whether there was enough Surfside supply. 

Zoe shares the results from her July 4 darty on how newer beverages such as Surfside, Sun Cruiser, The Beast Unleashed, and Happy Thursday performed with the under 30 crowd. She also notes the prevalence of High Noon in Boston’s party districts. 

Then the conversation turns to social media platform TikTok opening its platform to beverage-alcohol advertisements. Jess explains why now and what bev-alc companies should consider. 

The team also discusses non-alcoholic beer maker Athletic Brewing’s $50 million equity financing round and rumored valuation. 

Listen here or on your preferred podcast platform. And please like, rate, review and subscribe to the podcast and hit the notification bell to make sure fresh episodes keep hitting your feeds.

The Brewbound Live business conference returns December 11 and 12 in Marina del Rey, California.

Brewbound Live will feature beverage-alcohol industry leaders taking part in business-focused conversations, data presentations, networking and much more across two days at the Marina del Rey Marriott.

Speakers for this year’s conference include:

• Russian River co-owner Natalie Cilurzo;
• Deschutes Brewery CEO Peter Skrbek;
• National Beer Wholesalers Association chief economist and VP of analytics Lester Jones;
• Draftline Technologies founder and president Jennifer Hauke
• Gulf Distributing senior VP of legal and government affairs Rebecca Maisel
• 3 Tier Beverages consultant Mary Mills
• NIQ director of thought leadership for bev-alc Kaleigh Theriault
• Bump Williams Consulting VP of business development BK Krueger
• Full Circle Brewing owner Arthur Moye.

Additional speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Register for Brewbound Live 2024.