For many years, light lagers were the top-selling beer category among U.S. consumers until hard seltzer — with its even lower calories, lower carbs, and easy-drinking flavor — started to gain share against light lagers and became the top-selling beer subcategory on Drizly in 2019.
“It is impossible to ignore the impact that hard seltzer’s rise to prominence over the past few years has had on the light lager category,” says Liz Paquette, Drizly’s head of consumer insights.
What’s more, major light lager brands have launched their own hard seltzers to remain competitive, such as Bud Light, Corona, and Coors. “This has caused some fans of the brands to shift from light lager to hard seltzer purchases,” says Paquette.
Yet for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, light lager is gaining share. Light lager has an 18% share of the beer category in 2022 to date, compared to 17% in 2021, 15% in 2020, and 19% in 2019.
Despite sales share shifts, the top-selling light lagers on Drizly have remained relatively stable. Sales are dominated by nationally-sold brands from large companies like Anheuser-Busch and Molson Coors, and most of the brands themselves are American-made (with the exception of options from the Mexican brand Corona).
According to AB-InBev, Michelob Ultra was the fastest growing product in the first quarter of 2022 in the company’s core beer portfolio — a set of beer brands that saw approximately 15% growth in the same time period. Both Coors Light and Miller Lite grew in the last quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022. In a sign that the light lager market is heating up, MillerCoors reports that the first quarter of 2022 was the best combined industry share for Coors Light and Miller Lite in five years.
The top SKUs have stayed relatively consistent compared to the same time last year. Only Corona Premier Light moved up one spot year-over-year, taking the number five position from Corona Light.
Here are the top-selling light lagers so far this year on Drizly:
- Bud Light
- Coors Light American Lager Beer
- Miller Lite Lager Beer
- Michelob Ultra
- Corona Premier Mexican Lager Light Beer
- Corona Light Mexican Lager Beer
- Busch Light
- Natural Light
- Bud Light Lime
- Michelob Ultra Pure Gold
And here are the five fastest-growing light lagers on Drizly, year-over-year:
- Bud Light NEXT
- Stroh’s American Lager
- Cooks Light
- Busch Ice
- Seismic Tremor California Light Lager
Twelve-packs are the most common purchase size in the subcategory with a 37% share on Drizly, followed by 24-packs (22% share) and 30-packs (17% share).
The overwhelming majority of light lagers purchased on Drizly are cans, which have a 71% share compared to a 25% share for bottles and a four percent share for aluminum bottles.
Denver, Boston, New Jersey, Phoenix, and Baltimore all over-index on the subcategory. And while light lager is no longer a top 10 selling subcategory overall on Drizly, it still makes it into the top 10 overall sellers on Drizly in key markets like Boston and New Jersey.
Men tend to purchase light lagers more than women, Drizly says, with a 56% share compared to a 44% share in 2022 to date. This is in line with beer buyer share overall (not counting hard seltzer), in which men have a 55% share compared to a 45% share for women.
Older consumers also over-index on light lager purchases on Drizly. Baby boomers have a 13% share (compared to an 8% share overall on Drizly) and Gen X has a 33% share (compared to a 26% overall share). Gen Z only makes up a 5% share of the light lager subcategory (versus a 7% overall share), while millennials have a 49% light lager share (compared to a 59% overall share). However, in the past year, Gen Z share has increased by one percent as more in the generation reach legal drinking age.