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After starting the first 2 months of 2026 in positive territory, craft beer $$ are now down slightly in yr-to-date Circana multi-outlet + convenience scans thru Mar 22. Both craft and the total industry softened slightly in latest 4-wk stretch. Total beer $$ now up 1.2% yr-to-date with volume down 0.5%; craft dollars fell just below flat (-0.3%) with volume off 2.1%. Still, that's much better than segment $$ down 4.3% and volume -5.8% in full-year 2025 scans. And recall, these trends don't include non-alc, tracked separately in Circana and up 17% YTD. Yet as Q1 trends markedly improved compared to full-yr 2025, craft's YTD share loss is actually slightly steeper than it was throughout last yr. Craft shed 0.16 pts of $$ share with volume -0.12 pts YTD; in 2025 it lost 0.15 share and 0.1 share, respectively. For 4 wks, total beer $$ up 0.5% with volume -1.3%. Craft $$ dropped -1.8% and volume slipped 3.5% in that stretch, shedding ~0.2 share of each in that period. But on bright side, several top craft suppliers started the year off strong, including Kirin-Lion $$ up 5.4% YTD, Sierra Nevada +2.4% and Athletic (counted separately from craft) +19.3%. C-Stores Still Strong, Foodstores Still Soft Channel divergence remains front and center for craft segment. It's still strong in c-stores, where both $$ (+3.3%) and volume (+1%) remain up YTD. But foodstores, where bulk of craft sales take place, continue to drag trends. Dollars down 2.4% and volume -3.6% YTD in that channel. For 4 wks, craft cases slipped 5% in foodstores as segment shed 0.4 share there. (Tho again, non-alc more developed and still up double digits in grocery.) Craft held share in c-stores with volume -0.7% during that stretch. IPAs Kept Climbing; Up ~2 Pts to 55.5 Share Sans Seasonals and Variety Pks It's same old story on style side as IPAs continued to dominate. Up 3.2% and 1.9 pts to a whopping 55.5 share of segment YTD. And that's not even including seasonal or variety pk IPAs. No other style gained more than 0.1 share. But beneath that behemoth are several smaller styles pickin' up steam. Craft light beer (+7.9%), pilsner (+5.8%), wheat beer (4.3%) all up mid to high singles, with even porters (+4%), strong ales (+3%) and saisons (+1%) up off very small bases. Voodoo Ranger Imperial, Juice Force Gaining Ground on Blue Moon Belgian White Still early in the year, and standings will no doubt shift thru summer and end of year. But among top brands there are some interesting shakeups afoot. A pair of Voodoo Rangers are hot on the heels of Blue Moon Belgian White for biggest brand in off-premise YTD craft scans. Flagship Blue Moon brand fell 6% to $47 mil in these channels as VR Imperial IPA grew 6.4% to $44.1 mil and VR Juice Force jumped 11.3% to $41.4 mil. (Blue Moon Light down 15.6% to $5.2 mil by YTD dollars, tho still-mostly-incremental Blue Moon Extra tacked on $1.8 mil in c-stores thus far.) Elysian Space Dust Passed Sierra Pale as #5 Craft Brand by Circana $$ YTD Then too, in at least a momentary milestone to start the yr, Elysian Space Dust passed Sierra Pale to become the #5 craft brand by off-premise scan $$. Up 10% to $18.8 mil total vs Sierra Pale flattish, -1.1% to $17.9 mil. (Sierra Hazy Little Thing still well ahead at #4, chuggin' along at +7% to $29.6 mil.) Space Dust doing most of its damage in c-stores, where it's up 17%. The brand also passed portfolio mate Kona Big Wave to start 2026, which fell 1.7% to $13.7 mil. Lagunitas IPA +4% YTD; Little Sumpin Sumpin Onto Somethin' at +17% Lagunitas IPA shot past Kona as well, becoming the #8 craft brand in Circana MULC scans for the time being. Its $$ up 4% to $14.9 mil. Not too far behind #7 Shiner Bock: $$ -3.5% to $16.3 mil, dropping to -7.8% for latest 4 wks. Meanwhile, after getting back to growth last yr, Lagunitas' Little Sumpin Sumpin is up big to start 2026 with $$ up 16.5%. It's the fastest-growing craft brand of any in the top 30 YTD other than New Belgium's Fruit Force, which is up 48% YTD after declining nearly 40% in calendar 2025. Goose Tropical Beer Hug, Wicked Weed Pernicious and Georgetown Bodhizafa Still Strong but Slowed Among other top growers, Goose Island Tropical Beer Hug, Wicked Weed Pernicious and Georgetown Bodhizafa are all still up double digits YTD. But each slowed significantly in latest 4 wks, including Beer Hug down to +3%, Pernicious +5% and Bodhi +5.5%. (Notably, Goose Island Big Mango Beer Hug added mostly incremental $1.8 mil in c-stores YTD.) And further down, Rhinegeist Truth is now among the top 30 craft brands across Circana MULC after cracking the c-store specific list last yr. Its sales dropped slightly, -1.3% to $4.2 mil YTD, putting it just ahead of New Belgium's Fat Tire and Voodoo Ranger IPA. Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect the correct sales figure for Sierra Nevada's Hazy Little Thing.

Craft $$ Dipped Below Flat YTD; Trends Still Much Better Than '25; Share, Not So Much

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