Craft beer shipments are now exceeding the shipments of Budweiser, the brewery’s flagship lager, and proclaimed “King of Beers.”
Now, if you look at the Wall Street Journal infographic above, it paints a pretty sexy picture of the craft beer taking a bite out of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s famous lager. However, don’t forget Bud Light, and the “Ritas” series of releases are adding to this this decline.
If you’ve been reading Beer Street Journal over the past few years, you’ve read articles about A-B shipment decline, and the speculation surrounding lower sales. A little perspective on the decline of “Bud Heavy“- Budweiser’s peak was 25 years ago in 1988, when shipments were 50 million barrels a year, down to just 16 million barrels in 2013.
The U.S. beer market is about a $100 billion dollar business each year. Craft beer captures a little over 7% (estimated) of that market. So does Budweiser.
U.S. craft beer shipments just broke 16.1 million barrels annually, now edging Budweiser shipments. (Just that beer, not Bud Light, or other offerings.)
Anheuser-Busch hopes to capture the attention the 21-27 year old drinking demographic (the area of most decline) with the launch of tequila meets beer offering – Oculto coming in 2015.
