The U.S. beer industry generated $470.96 billion in economic output in 2024, holding 1.58% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to the biennial Beer Serves America study commissioned by the Beer Institute (BI) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).

Beer’s economic impact increased by around $61.76 billion compared to the last survey, which covered 2022, when goods and services reached $409.2 billion, with a similar GDP, according to the survey conducted by John Dunham & Associates (JDA), using data from Data Axle, industry sources and government publications. 

The beer industry alone directly generated $179.96 billion in economic output, while suppliers contributed $146.33 billion and induced output amounted to $144.66 billion. 

The total economic output of beer outstripped every alcohol category, BI chief economist Andrew Heritage shared during a call with members of the trade press. 

Amid beer industry volume declines, the growth in economic output was driven by 2 years of inflation, price increases, premiumization, innovation and increased wages and employee benefits such as health insurance, NBWA chief economist and VP of analytics Lester Jones told Brewbound.

“The good news is that beer has kept pace and that demand for beer has been able to support the upward pressure on retail wages,” Heritage added.

The beer industry supported 2.42 million jobs overall nationwide, with $142.5 billion in total wages across the U.S. economy, per the report. 

The beer industry alone was responsible for $54.36 billion in salaries, while $43.42 came from supplier companies. The report noted that retail and brewing job wages outpaced the national average. 

Key employment figures included: 

• 134,543 distributor jobs (+2.5% over the last decade);
• Around 950,000 retail jobs associated with selling beer; 
• More than 43,000 U.S. farming and ag jobs;

• Nearly 77,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs for the production of beer. 

Insiders can go deeper into the report, including a look at beer’s tax burden, smaller states benefitting from industry jobs and consumption trends, as well as how beer’s impact compares to wine and spirits.

Under new leadership for the first time in more than a decade, the Brewers Association (BA) is “relentlessly focused on members and what their needs are,” CEO and president Bart Watson said last week.

Watson spoke to members of the beer-centric media during the BA’s annual Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) in his first press event since taking the helm in January of the largest trade group representing small and independent brewers. 

Craft brewers are facing a potent cocktail of challenges – looming tariffs on ingredients and other inputs, waning consumer interest, encroachment from spirits-based cocktails and cannabis drinks and economic uncertainty spooking drinkers, to name a few. As the BA prepares to meet the moment, Watson underscored that the BA’s approach to serving its members has not changed, even though some of the challenges it is tackling are unprecedented. 

Watson said: “We serve as a gathering place, a place where we can aggregate resources so we can do things for members that they can't do themselves. What those things are might be different than I thought it would be as I took the job. Tariffs weren't on my radar as a thing we would be spending so much of our time on. 

“So the specifics have changed, but the overall vision hasn't that much – that we need to be thinking about in these evolving times what it looks like for our members as their businesses change and evolve, where those new pain points then emerge because of that, and how we can play a role in solving,” he continued.

Insiders can read more from Watson about the BA’s priorities, CBC attendance, the evolution of craft and the playing field with hemp beverages.

Nebraska Brewing Company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The 18-year-old company announced the move on its social media feeds last week, calling the process “not a final chapter, just a new one.” 

The company wrote: “We have chosen this route because we believe that there absolutely is a path to success and a way for us to continue making your favorite beers and serving our community. 

“Times are uncertain with economic and supply chain issues, but we don’t plan on going anywhere. To do that, we need your help.”

Nebraska said it doesn’t anticipate any disruptions in supplying grocery stores or bars, and encouraged drinkers to visit the brewery.

Total bev-alc dollar sales declined 1.5% YoY and 6% WoW in Circana-tracked off-premise channels in the week ending April 27, according to the market research firm. Bev-alc volume declined 2.5% YoY.

The declines were expected due to historical trends of retracement following the Easter holiday, Circana EVP, BevAlc Scott Scanlon wrote. 

Bev-alc categories returned to similar trends to what was recorded before the holiday impact and misaligned comps started:

• Beer dollar sales -0.9% YoY, volume -2.5%;
• Spirits dollar sales +1.5%, volume +4.7%;
• Wine dollar sales -5.8%, volume -6.8%;
• RTD (beer-, wine- and spirits-based) dollar sales +4.4%, volume -0.4%.

Scanlon added: “Upcoming, the data may continue to drift for another week, but historical trends point to slight growth in [the] near term as we approach the summer season. Will be interesting to watch Memorial Day performance[s], specifically beer and RTDs, as the upcoming holiday becomes much more favorable to both. 

“American [domestic] premium and spirits-based RTDs [are] likely to see the greatest growth as segments remain outperformers.”

Domestic super premium beer continued to record the largest dollar sales growth in the category (+6%), accelerating positive trends. Domestic sub-premium was the only other beer segment to record YoY gains (+0.3%). 

Across categories, Scanlon called out brand growth from:

• Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Michelob (dollar sales +8%, volume +7.7%), which recorded the largest YoY growth among the top 10 beer brand families in the latest week;
• A-B’s Busch (dollar sales +7.4%, volume +4.9%), the second largest YoY growth among the top 10;
• Sazerac-owned BuzzBallz (dollar sales +89.9%, volume +100.2%), the largest YoY growth among the top 50 spirits brands in the latest week;
• Gallo’s High Noon (dollar sales +11.7%, volume -0.2%), the third largest spirits brand family in the latest week, behind Tito’s and BuzzBallz;
• Gallo’s La Marca (dollar sales +17.5%, volume +20.1%), which recorded the largest YoY dollar sales growth among the top 50 wine brand families.

Rhinegeist is ghosting alcohol. The Cincinnati craft brewery will add its first non-alcoholic (NA) beer to its portfolio later this summer. 

Ghost is an “affiliated brand” that plays on the “geist” name, meaning ghost or spirit, Rhinegeist CEO Adam Bankovich told Brewbound.

The NA beer is one of two big portfolio additions for Rhinegeist this year, with Cincy Light’s first line extension, Cincy Light Lime (4.2% ABV), rolling out now on draft. 

Brewbound Insiders can read more about both releases and the strategies behind them.

– Tilray Brands CEO Irwin Simon speaking to Fortune about the cannabis-giant-turned-craft-brewery collector’s plans to avoid being delisted by Nasdaq.

Nasdaq warned the Canadian company in March its sub-$1 stock price ran afoul of the market’s minimum bid price. Tilray plans to execute a “reverse stock split” in July to bring its share price above $1, pending shareholder approval, which Simon told Fortune he is confident will come.