Beer Marketer's Insights - IPA Back to $$ Growth & Share Gains of Total Beer in Spring Scans, Driven by C-Store Growth

One of the biggest reasons for improving craft trends in latest scans: #1 style IPA returned to $$ and share growth of total beer for 2d straight 4-wk period. Recall, IPAs have continued to gain share within softer craft segment all along, but lost share of total beer in 2022 tracked off-premise channels as $$ sales dipped 2% in Circana multi-outlet + convenience data. IPA trend continued to lag total beer in Jan-Feb 2023 with $$ down 0.7%, volume down 5.6% YTD thru Feb 26. Yet IPA $$ grew 1% for 4 wks thru Mar 26, outpacing beer's +0.5% $$ gain. And IPA $$ grew 4% for 4 wks thru Apr 23 vs beer $$ up 3% for period. IPAs Snagged 0.17 Share of Beer in C-stores for 4 Wks C-stores continue to be the main driver for recent IPA growth. In c-stores, IPAs grew 8% by $$ YTD including +10% for latest 4 wks thru Apr 23. IPAs are now comfortably over 60 share of craft segment in c-stores for the year. But more importantly, IPAs gained a whopping 0.17 share of beer $$ in c-stores to 3.85 total for latest 4 wks; now +0.08 share YTD. A lotta that growth is driven by top players like New Belgium, AB and Sierra Nevada. While NBB Voodoo Rangers and Goose Island Beer Hugs remain the main drivers, several more top IPAs saw sizable improvements for 4 wks, including: Sierra Hazy Little Thing IPA (+18%), Bell's Two Hearted (+5%), Elysian Space Dust IPA (+6%) and Georgetown Bodhizafa IPA (+27%). Each of these brands saw 4-wk trends pop anywhere from 4 to 12+ pts vs YTD. Plus, brands like Cigar City Jai Alai (+5%) and Rhinegeist Truth (+3%) continued to grow for 4 wks in c-stores. And gotta note, lower-ABV brands/styles saw big improvements in c-stores for 4 wks too: Firestone 805 Blonde (+0.8%); Kona Big Wave (+55%), Leinenkugel's Shandy Seasonal (+19%) and 10 Barrel Pub Lager (+33%). So it ain't just high-ABV and IPA gaining ground here.Improvement in Foodstores Too; Flattish Share for 4 Wks Yet IPA improvements are showin' in most developed channel, foodstores, too. IPA $$ were flattish (-0.3%) for 4 wks thru Apr 23 vs down 3.5% YTD. So IPAs held flattish share of total beer for 4 wks, still holding 8 share of beer in foodstores, which is about the same size as total subpremium or superpremium share, and over 1-pt ahead of FMBs in the channel. Sierra Hazy Little Thing IPA and Torpedo IPA each grew 5% for period in natl foodstores; a particularly significant improvement for Torpedo, which was down 4% YTD. Stone IPA also grew 3% for 4 wks vs 2% decline YTD. Elysian Space Dust (+3%) and Wicked Weed Pernicious IPA (+10%) continued to grow for period. And several other top IPAs saw declines moderate considerably in foodstores for 4 wks, including Lagunitas IPA and Lil' Sumpin', Founders All Day IPA, Bell's Two Hearted, Cigar City Jai Alai, and Voodoo Ranger IPA. Tho Lagunitas top IPAs still down tuff double-digits for period.Something Happenin' Here? Net-net, IPAs now make up 48 share of total craft $$ in Circana MULC data, including over 61 share in c-stores and over 42 share in foodstores. IPA $$ grew just 1% with volume down 3% YTD thru Apr 23. Still shed 0.08 share of total beer $$ for the year, but improved to +0.05 for 4 wks and flat for 12 wks. Is this the beginning of IPAs getting back to growth in tracked off-prem channels?

IPA Back to $$ Growth & Share Gains of Total Beer in Spring Scans, Driven by C-Store Growth

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