The year’s not over yet, but BeerBoard is out with a report that overall pour volume was up 7.1% in 2019.
Domestics were up 1.6%, BeerBoard says, to finish the year at “a healthy 53.1%” of pours. Craft was down a nominal 1%, with a 32.7% share, and imports eased 0.5% to a 14.2% of share.
Pours in the Northeast were down 3.4%, but everywhere else saw increases ranging from 2.8% in the Great Lakes states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin to 15% in California.
The Top 10 brands (in order) were Bud Light (+5.3%), Miller Lite (+7.9%), Coors Light (+10.8%), Michelob Ultra (_12.8%), Blue Moon (-2.7), Dos Equis (-9.1%), Modelo Especial (+11.2%), Budweiser (-5.3%), Lagunitas (+13%) and Stella Artois (-10.6%).
The BeerBoard report finds Light Lager is trending upward. After seeing its share stripped away, little by little, the past few years, the No. 1-ranked style grew by 3.2% this year.
Lagers, the No. 2-ranked style, was down 4.7% overall despite some strong performances from the Mexican style lagers.
Following a one-year dip, IPAs bounced back and was up 5.4% in 2019. After growing 15.5% in 2017 to 8.8% share, the popular style was relatively flat in 2018 (8.6%) and was at 9.02% in 2019.
Wheat/Hefeweizen had enjoyed a two-year surge, climbing from the No. 8-ranked style in 2016) all the way to No. 4 last year. Wheat/Hefe was down 9.7% in 2019 and fell to No. 5 overall. Belgian Wit/White Ales took hold of the No. 4 position despite realizing a 3% drop for the year, BeerBoard said.