Trends

Among the current shifts in beer packaging and design: going small for cans and ABV, leaning into flavor and line extensions, and getting nostalgic.

There are beer styles, and then there are lifestyles. One of today’s biggest branding shifts centers on occasion—proposing to consumers when, where, and how they might enjoy your beer.

Should a low-ABV beer be high on your brewing schedule? Here, brewers who are crafting “mid-strength” ales and lagers—in the neighborhood of 3 percent ABV—weigh in on whether they might thrive among stronger and nonalcoholic options.

From pandan to seaweed, there are certain flavors catching on with consumers. For breweries willing to experiment, it might be possible to capture some of that buzz.

Is it true that younger people are drinking less beer? And are there fewer beer drinkers than there used to be? Let’s consider some numbers that might undermine those assumptions.

In this excerpt from their conversation for Craft Beer & Brewing Podcast Episode 400, editorial director Jamie Bogner and WeldWerks founder Neil Fisher look back on the industry’s past decade, looking for light to shed on its present and future.

Amid craft lager’s surge, smaller maltsters are sending up signals for an unlikely trend, producing small batches of unusual smoked malts made with a variety of woods. Brewers dig it, too—but will drinkers follow?

Beer is already made from plants, and foraging for local flavor is nothing new to terroir-focused breweries. So, what does it mean to brew with botanicals—and could your brewery capitalize on the trend?

Besides homebrewing, it’s the way that some of us got into craft beer in the first place—collecting, saving, and (usually) sharing bottles that would be kept in the cellar. But the culture has shifted, and the industry has shifted with it.

Beer-drinking habits continue to evolve in unexpected ways, whether it’s adding nonalcoholic drinks to a beer purchase, younger drinkers being more likely to prefer packaged beer over draft—are bottles getting cool again?—or beer consumption itself defying common assumptions, such as the modest increase among our (admittedly self-selected) audience. Here, we plot a few interesting points.

Chasing flavor-driven trends on retail shelves is certainly one way to pursue growth. Yet smaller breweries may find more success by recommitting to an identity grounded in intentional brewing.

From nostalgia and augmented reality to big cans and clear communication of flavor, here’s how today’s breweries are standing out on increasingly crowded retail shelves.

The chief financial officer turned chief marketing officer at Chicago’s Revolution Brewing, known for dabbling in hot takes via his humorous social-media presence @beeraficionado, offers his perspective on the trends facing craft beer in 2023.

Consumer preference around packaging format is a moving target. Here, we visualize packaging on a global scale as well as recent movement in consumer trends in the United States.

In demand and on trend, hop water is proving to be a low-effort, high-reward offering for many small breweries.

Sales of imperial IPAs are outpacing their standard-strength counterparts. Yet breweries need to find the right packaging mix, price point, recipe, and marketing to keep margins in line.

Are proper craft-beer bars and bottle shops in danger? As thousands of breweries coalesce around profitable taprooms and a handful of trendy styles, craft beer may be losing a piece of its soul. Greg Engert of the Neighborhood Restaurant Group explains.

Our latest in a series on small breweries going beyond beer: From a young brewery built to anticipate the latest trends, the Lulz brand of seltzers finds success by embracing big flavor while shedding all beery pretensions.

Donna Wamsley of Seattle-based SoRSE Technology—a specialist in figuring out how to get flavors into our foods and drinks—talks consumer trends and what’s on the horizon for the beer industry.

When uncertainty rules the day, brewhouse-equipment purchases need to offer trusted ROI. Breweries should look for equipment that solves today’s problems—but also tees up future flexibility.