• 🍻 94% of NA Consumers Still Purchasing Bev-Alc
• 🌵 CGA Dry January Preview
• 🍎 Cider Sustaining National Cider Month Gains
• 🎙️ Boulevard Launches Podcast
• 🗽 Talea Opens 4th New York Taproom
• 🆕 Lawson’s 2024 Release Calendar

As another Dry January approaches, the non-alcoholic (NA) category has posted “its largest year of absolute dollar growth in five years,” Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association (ANBA) CEO Marcos Salazar shared during the trade association’s webinar earlier this month. 

NA offerings have generated $510 million in sales during the rolling 52-week period ending July 29 in NIQ-tracked scan data, Salazar added. The increase amounts to $121.2 million in year-over-year (YoY) growth (+31.2%). Those sales peak during the July 4 and year-end holidays, but NA’s share of total alc is heightened throughout January, Salazar said.

Food and liquor channels drive 80% of NA growth, Salazar said. The breakdown by channel is led by food (62%, +33.2% YoY), followed by liquor-plus (18%, +22.3% YoY) and convenience (9%, +29.5% YoY).  

NA beer is driving the category, accounting for 86.1% share (+31.7% vs. last year) of NA sales, followed by NA wine with 11.2% share (+18.5% vs. last year), and spirits with 2.7% share (+94% vs. last year), per NIQ data.

Citing NIQ data, Salazar noted that 94% of NA buyers are still drinking alcoholic beverages. He noted that the number was 80% in 2022. Additionally, NA purchasers are spending more on total alcohol than those shoppers who just purchase alcohol, with a $783 to $491 ratio. 

Ritual Zero Proof co-founder and CEO David Crooch pointed to NA beer’s advantage of following its alcoholic counterpart’s route to market. He called NA spirits’ roll out “a bit more confusing,” with more consumer education needed. 

Crooch said: “There’s an extra step when it comes to a non-fully-finished product. You’re using these to create a cocktail. You're not just drinking them straight out of the can or the bottle.”

Mocktail Club founder and CEO Pauline Idogho said that gives ready-to-drink NA offerings an advantage. The challenge, though, is where those items are placed in retail shelf sets.

Gruvi co-founder Anika Sawni noted that her brand had an easier time getting placements for its NA beer offerings due to a longer product history compared to its NA wines.

Sawni said: “The shelf space wasn’t actually dedicated. It’s really this past year and [a] half that we saw huge progress in that.”

To that point, there are now more than 150 NA brands, including 100 beer brands and 400 beer SKUs in the U.S.

Athletic Brewing co-founder Bill Shufelt stressed how NA beer is adding occasions and does not have to be boxed into certain hours of certain days of “busy modern life.”

Shufelt said: “It’s opening a whole different side of the menu that’s not been there before. It’s very inclusive. It welcomes people of all ages into bars and restaurants, social occasions, any day of the week, any time of the day, where beverage-alcohol has always been competing for the same occasions in a zero-sum way. 

“This is the first unlock of occasion growth in decades, if not forever almost, and it’s done in a really exciting marketing fashion.”

Brewbound Insiders can go deeper into the NA beer opportunity on draft, the increase in the number of young people who have never had bev-alc, and expectations for 2024.

More than two-in-five consumers (44%) are “very likely/likely” to participate in Dry January 2024, according to CGA, market research firm NIQ’s on-premise division. 

Of those planning to abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages in January, more than half intend to cease consumption at bars and restaurants (54%). Seventy-three percent of Dry January participants plan to stop drinking at home, while 63% plan to stop drinking at other people’s homes, CGA found.

So what are those consumers drinking instead? Soft drinks were the top choice (62%), followed by sparkling water (30%). Nine percent of people said they would drink mocktails, while 7% said they’d drink non-alcoholic beer and another 7% said they’d drink alcohol-free wine.

The top reasons for abstaining from alcohol in January included a desire “to be healthier and looking to save money.”

CGA’s survey found that 29% of respondents said they successfully completed Dry January 2023, while 8% said they tried and didn’t make it through the month without a drink. The majority (63%) said they did not participate.  

In October, cider grew its share of beer dollars in Circana-tracked off-premise channels +0.25% month-over-month (MoM) – an improvement over the segment’s typical fall seasonal declines. 

The trend change is primarily due to the efforts of National Cider Month, according to leadership at Schilling Cider. 

Schilling co-founder and CEO Colin Schilling, CCO Eric Phillips and EVP of marketing Rachel Thomas joined the Brewbound Podcast during National Cider Month to discuss the campaign. Brewbound caught up with the team a month later to see how National Cider Month performed and how their efforts are showing up in the numbers. 

The Seattle-based cidery spearheaded Cider Month, taking it national for the first time this year, encouraging retailers and fellow cider companies to highlight hard cider in October. The increase in shelf space and ad campaigns gained regional cideries $1.9 million in dollar sales year-over-year (YoY) in Circana-tracked multi-outlet plus convenience stores during October, according to Thomas.

Brands that “actively participated” in National Cider Month were able to grow dollar sales +21% more than other cider brands, Thomas shared with Brewbound. 

However, the “biggest win” for cider has been sustained momentum beyond October, according to both Mary Guiver, Whole Foods global principal category merchant for beer. Whole Foods was a prominent retail partner for National Cider Month. 

In a statement shared with Brewbound, Guiver said: “Cider has remained in the black versus 2022 and remained in that top non-beer share of our dollars – all the way through Thanksgiving week. We are anticipating the growth to continue through the end of the year and beyond.”

Insiders can read more, including data on how Schilling and other cideries fared during and after National Cider Month.

Kansas City’s Boulevard Brewing Company has launched a new podcast, the BLVD Brewcast. 

Boulevard brand manager Adam Hall hosts the biweekly podcast, which will explore the latest goings on at the brewery. 

There are five episodes out now, including two featuring EVP of marketing and sales Bobby Dykstra. The latest is a chat about non-alc offerings.

New York’s Talea Beer has opened a new taproom in Bryant Park, the craft brewery’s fourth location and second to open in 2023. 

Talea, a woman- and veteran-owned craft brewery, operates out of its flagship location in Williamsburg. A second location in Cobble Hill was opened in 2022, followed by a West Village taproom this fall. 

Talea co-founder LeAnn Darland spoke on a Brewbound Live panel in 2022 and talked about the brewery’s taprooms and the importance of the physical spaces they create. The full discussion is available here.

Vermont’s Lawson’s Finest Liquids has shared its 2024 plans, including new packaging formats for one of its core beers. Check out the full lineup in the image above.