USA: First-half beer sales down about 0.5%, June Beer Purchasers’ Index shows

Beer’s long reign as America’s favorite cold beverage is showing some cracks. Industry reports for 2025 confirm what many brewers have been whispering for a while now: demand for beer is sliding, and some segments are taking harder hits than others, American Craft Beer reported on September 8.

Overall, U.S. beer sales are down about 0.5% year-to-date, roughly $200 million in lost sales, bringing the total to around $39 billion according to the June Beer Purchasers’ Index. That’s not catastrophic, but the declines aren’t evenly spread. Domestic premium beers—brands like Budweiser and Coors—are down a sharp 5.6%, wiping out more than half a billion dollars in sales.

And craft beer, once the engine of growth, has also dipped 3.3% in dollar sales, its market share shrinking to around 10%. Just last week heritage brewer, 21st Amendment announced that it would be shutting down operations after almost a quarter century of brewing.

But not all corners of the market are struggling….

Imports are bucking the trend, climbing 4.1% and now making up nearly a quarter of the market, worth about $10 billion. Flavored Malt Beverages (FMBs), the “anything-but-beer” category that includes hard seltzers and canned cocktails, are up 7%, already edging out some lower-tier domestic beers.

And perhaps most surprising, non-alcoholic beer is exploding—sales are up almost 30%, adding $91 million and officially claiming 1% of the beer market for the first time.

For craft brewers, the story feels a little grimmer…

Production volumes are down 5%, shipments have slid nearly 6% (the equivalent of 3.7 million fewer barrels), and even the number of breweries operating has fallen slightly. In grocery and convenience stores, craft’s dollar sales dropped 6.3% and volume sales sank 7.2% in just the past month. Distributors are also pulling back, with the Beer Purchasers’ Index for craft collapsing to 15, well below the 50-point growth mark.

Industry watchers say the shift reflects how consumers are drinking differently, not necessarily less. Younger drinkers are more likely to explore new categories—whether that’s Mexican lagers, non-alcoholic IPAs, or ready-to-drink cocktails—while older drinkers have cut back due to health, budget, or both.

“Beer isn’t dead,” according to Tom Bobak at American Craft Beer. “It just has more competition than ever before, and consumers aren’t as loyal as they used to be.”