Holding its Own

摘要

The beer market, as with most of the beverage world, had another challenging year as the lagging economy continued to impact consumer buying decisions, prompting many to either forego spending hard-earned dollars on alcohol or choosing to drink less expensivernbrands. However, the state of the beer industry is not all bad news. Although the domestic beer market was down 2.7 percent by volume, according to Beverage Marketing Corporation, gross revenues were up 1.3 percent. Some of this revenue growth could be attributed to the strong growth in craft beer, which outperformed the overall beer market again, and was up 7.3 percent by volume and 10.3 percent in sales, according to the Brewer's Association. This signals consumers are increasingly expanding their drinking preferences to include more specialty beer options.