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Import lagers are nearly 97% of all imported beer in US scans, per NIQ xAOC + Liquor + Conv data for 52 wks thru Mar 7, Bump Williams Consulting's Dan Wandel found in latest data deep dive, following up on his past analysis of American lagers. Guinness stouts and Belgian ales make up most of the rest, growing nicely these days. Import lager sales dipped 2.3% to $14.4 bil for 52-wk period, including growth thruout early 2026. Yet imports outperformed in group of 34K indie retailers "primarily" in "urban, multicultural communities across the United States" tracked by Natl Retail Solutions (NRS), Dan found. Sales grew 0.3% for 52 wks in NRS tracked stores. Editor's note: BWC analysis of NIQ import data includes international brands now brewed in the US and no longer imported like Stella, Labatt, Sapporo, Peroni, Foster's and Beck's for Belgian, Canadian, Japanese, Italian, Australian and German brands.Mexican Lagers 85 Share of Total, Down Just 1.3% for 52 Wks; STZ Over 80% of Mexican Lagers Breaking it down by country, Mexican lagers make up 85 share of total import lagers tracked in NIQ data. Down just 1.3% for 52 wks thru Mar 7, they managed to gain 0.9 share pts of import lager $$ vs yr ago. So all other imports were collectively down more than 7.5%. Constellation 80% of Mexican import lagers (over 2/3 of total import lagers), and rose 1.1 share pts within the Mexican lager segment, extending its dominance. Its share of Mexican lagers is even higher in NRS-tracked indie accounts, Dan noted. Heineken USA's Dos Equis/Tecate make up most of the rest of in scans, 11.3 share, down 0.9 pts, followed by AB's Estrella Jalisco down 0.3 pts to 3.8 share and MC's Sol down 0.1 to 1.7 share. All other brands from ~136 vendors are collectively a bit healthier, growing sales and grabbing an additional ~0.1 pts to 3.1 share of Mexican lagers. Notably, two smaller Heineken-owned brands, Carta Blanca (+23%) and Indio (+38%), were two of the top 15 import lager growth fams.Japan & Italy Lagers Leading International Growth; Guatemala, Haiti & DR Up Too; 3 German Lagers Among Top 15 Gains Most top international/import countries saw their lagers collectively decline in US scans for 52 wks, but a handful bucked the trend. Japanese lagers grew fastest, up 19%, led by Sapporo family up 20.4% for period, posting the 3d largest $$ gain among all international lagers for 52 wks, behind only Pacifico and Victoria. Sapporo is 11th largest international lager fam, right on the tail of another growth fam, Peroni, which grew 7% for period. Italian lagers collectively grew a bit faster, +8%, bolstered by 34% growth from Birra Morreti, sold thru US Beverage, continuing its multi-year growth streak off a smaller base. And gotta note, Sapporo isn't the only Japanese lager driving growth. Asahi grew even faster, up 26% off a smaller base, as its production mostly shifted to US too.Guatemala (+12%), Haiti (+10%) and Dominican Republic (+6%) were other international lager countries in growth mode for 52 wks, tho they're much smaller overall, between 0.1-0.2 share of total international lager $$ in scans. Still, Guatemalan brand Famosa impressively posted the 4th largest $$ gain, ahead of Peroni fam. Another Heineken-owned brand, Haiti's Prestige (+10%) is driving virtually all of Haiti's lager growth. And AB's Presidente quietly grew 6%, driving DR growth. While German lagers didn't grow collectively, they managed to hold share of total import lagers thanks to Bitburger (+11%), Paulaner (+5%) and Radeberger (+31%) fams.International Light Lagers Down 11%, Improving; Flavored Import Lagers Up 7% but Sunbrew Driven International light lagers "remain challenged," Dan wrote, as sales slipped 11% to $650 mil, shedding 0.5 share of import lagers to just 4.5 total in NIQ data. Top 9 light import fams are all declining for 52 wks, he shared. Repositioned Corona Premier and Modelo Oro, plus Labatt Blue Light, were each down high singles. Corona Light, Tecate Light and Amstel Light were each down low-to-mid teens. Heineken Light was down high teens, Heineken Silver slipped 39% and Medalla Light (Puerto Rico) dipped just 5%. Labatt Blue Light Lime was the only growth brand in the top 10, up 26% off a small base. Gotta note, both Corona Premier and Modelo Oro trends improved considerably in recent periods since changing up their pricing positions.On the flip side, flavored international lagers posted a hearty 7% gain for 52 wks, snagging 0.6 pts to 7 share of total import lager sales. This subcategory is still dominated by cheladas, making up 91% of their sales. Modelo Cheladas are the vast majority (90%) of total cheladas, and they slipped last yr. So bulk of flavored lager growth came from new Corona Sunbrew, which makes up 7% of all flavored import lagers. Will be interesting to see how flavored lager trends change as Sunbrew laps last yr's launch.Single-Serves Rose 3.6% to $3 Bil, Over 1/5 of Import Lager Sales; Multi-Pks Down 3.7% Last but not least, Dan highlighted the continued growth and rising prevalence of single-serves for import lagers. Single-serves rose 3.6% to $3 bil, gaining 1.2 pts to 21 share of total import $$ for 52 wks. Their share is even higher in NRS indie stores, up to 27% of total import sales in those stores. In scans, 24-25oz packs drive the bus, collectively up 0.7% and still accounting for 62 share of import lager singles. But 32-34oz is the fastest gainer, up 16% and up to 24 share of import singles, seemingly driven by Victoria.On the other hand, all import lager multi-packs were collectively down 3.7% to $11.3 bil for 52 wks. Down 1.2 share pts to 78.85 share. Unique pack sizes like 3pks of 24-25oz and 4pks of 15-16oz both grew 4%. And standard 24pks outperformed the category, down just 1.4%. Yet all other top multi-pack sizes dipped and lost share, including 12pks -5%, 6pks and 24pk 7oz each slipped 4% and 18pks were off 6%.

Import/International Lagers -2% to $14.4 Bil in NIQ for 52 Wks; Outperforming in Indie; BWC Deep Dive

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