An ongoing point of frustration within the contemporary American brewing industry is the vast chasm between what drinkers say they want, and what they actually buy. For example: sessionable alcohol-by-volume beers. Even though stroller dads get their Vuoris in a bunch lamenting the lack of broad availability of full-flavored, mid-ABV craft beers, the sales data suggest that they simply don’t buy those beers in meaningful volumes.
My colleague Kate Bernot has reported extensively on this phenomenon of beer market polarization, wherein the poles are stovepipes of nonalcoholic beer on one end, and 9.5 percent double IPA on the other. The other day I forwarded her a pitch I’d received for a beer brand based on the premise that there was an army of thirsty drinkers out there desperate for 2 to 4 percent-ABV beers. I could practically hear her scoff through the screen. It’s a nice idea, but there’s no there there.
The “beyond beer” market — into which I will lump NA beer, flavored malt beverages, and other malt-based, non-core beer alcoholic drinks — has bucked traditional beer trends in many ways, and when it comes to ABV polarization, it is charting a similar course. Which is to say, NA beer and high-powered hard seltzers are going gangbusters. “Beer appears to have a ‘Stuck in the Middle’ issue,” proclaimed Bump Williams in a memo to clients of Bump Williams Consulting earlier this month, citing the “momentum of the extremes” that continues to stratify fermented adult beverages by strength. The
