It’s the latest downtick since the Oct. 23-25 weekend when 92% of beer-pouring on premise establishments were open, BeerBoard said.
But the average number of taps stopped a two-period slide, holding firm at 16 handles per location nationally. Florida averaged 18 taps per location, while Georgia, New York, South Carolina and Texas all checked in with a repeat average of 16 handles per. Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Nevada are still wading through new restrictions, causing fluctuations in their average.
Percentage of Taps Pouring also stemmed the tide and held solid at 59%, the same as the prior period, BeerBoard said. Tennessee (+3.0%), New York (+1.8%) and South Carolina (+1.4%) saw nominal growth. Managing heavy restrictions, Minnesota (-54.5%) and Nevada (-9.5%) saw significant declines.
Volume saw a positive return for December 4-6, climbing +4.4% nationally. New York (+12.8%), Tennessee (+9.1%) and Florida (+6.4%) saw healthy growth for the period. Nevada, which introduced new restrictions for the on-premise, declined -31.6%.
In Volume share, Domestics saw a very modest bump of +1.4% for the period of December 4-6. It siphoned that growth away from Imports (-0.7%), which had previously ticked up slightly over the prior two periods, and Craft (-0.6%). Tap Share was flat, while the Top Five styles remained unchanged again (and has not deviated from the current lineup of Light Lager, Lagers, IPA, Belgian Wit and European Lagers since early September).