Valuable insight into what craft beer consumers are thinking
Each year, for the past nine years, the Brewers Association (BA) has conducted a Harris Poll to help provide some insight into the minds of craft beer consumers. The results of the 2024 poll are in. The annual poll surveys people the BA defines as craft beer drinkers: those who drink craft beer at least monthly or several times a year. The BA recently shared the results of this year’s poll, as well as some other valuable information, via a webinar. (Image above via unsplash.com.)
In this article, I am going to focus on a few bits of important information along with my takeaways. Brewbound covered the webinar in depth here. If you are deeply interested in this kind of information, consider subscribing to Brewbound.
Do you drink more or less craft beer than you did a year ago?
For the first time since 2015, the number of poll respondents who said they drink less craft beer than they did a year ago surpassed the number of respondents who said they drink more craft beer than they did a year ago. According to Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association, “In 2015, people were leaning in, they were moving more centrally into the category. In 2024 there’s more of a balance between people leaning out… and people who are still leaning in.”
The poll showed that 26% of craft beer drinkers said they were drinking less in 2024 compared to 2023. Last year, 25% of respondents said they were drinking less. The downward trend continued this year.
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My takeaway: Telling people they shouldn’t drink less is a bit like telling cigarette smokers they shouldn’t quit, or telling people to stop exercising and eat more fatty foods. We must find a way to effectively operate within whatever responsible boundaries people set for themselves. Less does not mean none.
If not craft beer, then what are you drinking?
Statistically, folks who frequently drink wine and liquor are more likely to stay firmly in their lane. Craft beer drinkers are different. According to the Brewers Association, craft beer drinkers are more omnibibulous than other drinkers. That is, craft beer drinkers are more likely to drink outside the craft beer category. “People drinking craft more frequently are more likely to drink frequently in a lot of other categories,” said Watson.
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Craft beer is a category of beverage alcohol. Other categories include import beer, domestic beer, hard cider, hard seltzer, wine, liquor, fermented malt beverages, and RTD (ready-to-drink) canned cocktails. Watson said that on a scale of 0.0-1, craft beer has its closest correlation with imports (0.7) and domestic beer (0.61), followed by hard cider (0.56), ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktails (0.55), and hard seltzer (0.54).
This is not conjecture or anecdotal evidence. It’s a fact. Craft beer drinkers are also drinking other things. Not any one other thing, but all of the other things. Today’s craft beer fan is also a fan of some or all of the other beverage alcohol options.
My Takeaway: Brewery taprooms and beer-focused bars should pay attention and consider expanding their menu to offer customers options beyond beer. Keep it the same quality as the beer you serve, but offer other options. You take such great pride in the beer you serve; give similar consideration to the wine, cider, seltzer, and liquor you serve. “If they don’t want to drink the beer we brew, they can go somewhere else.” That attitude doesn’t work these days.
More craft beer drinkers, but they’re not drinking as much
Pretty simple. More people drink craft beer these days, but they drink it less frequently. “Even as craft growth has stalled in recent years, the percentage of people who say they’re purchasing craft in the last 30 days, or drinking craft at least several times a year, is still going up,” said Bart Watson. “So that slowdown isn’t necessarily driven by the size of the total pie. It’s going to be driven by other things.”
My takeaway: The pie is being sliced into more, smaller pieces. See the previous section.
Still a White Guy Thing
According to Scarborough data shared during the BA’s recent webinar, 70% of craft beer drinkers are male and 80% are white. These canyon-like demographic divides are significantly worse in craft beer than they are in other beverage alcohol categories. That is, other types of alcohol attract more ethnic and gender diversity. Try as we might, craft beer is still a white guy thing.
My takeaway: Pigeonholing craft beer and painting ourselves into a white corner of the men’s room is a recipe for extinction. Inclusivity is more than a noble concept. It’s not just a feel-good thing. It is a path forward. Today, about 40% of the U.S. population identifies itself as non-white. That number is growing fast. Fostering diversity is the right thing to do and it is the smart thing to do. Individual breweries and businesses need to consider this. The industry as a whole needs to consider this.
They Don’t Like the Taste
Of the people who do drink alcohol, 29% do not drink craft beer. Of those consumers (alcohol consumers who say they do not drink craft beer) the largest percentage said they don’t like the taste of craft beer: more than 50% said they avoid craft beer because they “don’t like the flavor.” That far surpassed any of the other reasons cited for not drinking craft beer. About 15% said they “don’t know enough about craft options to decide what to consume.”
My takeaway: Those two statements, “don’t like the flavor” and “don’t know enough about craft options,” are inconsistent. There’s something for us to work with in there. Education? A new way of describing styles and flavors? Craft beer is all about different flavors so we need to find new ways to direct people to the flavors they like and dispel the theory that all craft beer tastes the same.
“Don’t know enough about craft options to decide what to consume.” This statement relates to another issue: paralysis of choice. Some alcohol consumers get paralyzed by all of the choices craft beer offers. They are overwhelmed by a tap list that is 30 beers deep. The vast choice of unfamiliar and unknown things makes them feel uncomfortable, or even stupid. To them, “New England style hazy with Sabro and Mosaic” sounds like a foreign language. We need to simplify the choices and help people discover flavors that they like.
Conclusion
On some level, everyone in the craft beer industry needs to not only pay attention to this kind of data and information but also work with it. Find a way to apply it. Times are changing. Consumer habits are changing. They always do. The only option is to adapt and evolve. Jessica Infante’s article on Brewbound went into all of this in much greater detail. I recommend it for those of you intrigued by this kind of stuff.
