Wellness Trends Influence Craft Beverage Market

Cashing in on the "dry January" health-conscious marketing trend for your craft beverage business could expand your customer base and your wallet. Although most regional craft beverages currently produced are not alcohol free, for the famed "dry January" trend, they do have the opportunity to be marketed following a wellness-focused approach.

Craft beverage's largest consumer segment is between the ages of 21 and 40 and is shaping the industry. This market is knowledgeable about their food and beverage choices and is heavily influenced by the wellness industry.

This industry, currently valued at a booming 4 trillion dollars, is beginning to pour product options into the craft beverage market. From CBD-infused lattes to mushroom elixirs, the options available in the low- to no-alcohol category are growing and are predicted to grow by 32% in the United States between 2018 and 2022. This will triple the category's growth as compared to its previous five years.

The Millennial generation, which comprises the majority of the craft beverage industry market, is currently the largest working generation, meaning they will determine where and how our economy will grow. This group is trending towards high-quality, upscale, low- or no-alcohol cocktails. They're taking days off drinking, they're bringing their children with them to go out and they're looking for healthier options. Big alcohol is taking a cue from this consumer segment's preferences and local and regional brands are beginning to diversify their marketing tactics and product lines to further attract customers.

Notably, AG INBev, Heineken, Molson Coors, and Diageo, who owns Guinness, Smirnoff, Tanqueray and Johnnie Walker portfolios, all have made moves to increase their low- and no-alcohol lines. AB INBev is slated to increase volumes in this product line by 20% by 2025. Heineken 0.0 launched in Europe in 2018, Molson Coors acquired a line of kombucha recently and Diageo invested in a new non-alcoholic spirit called Seedlip, making about one quarter of their portfolio non-alcoholic.

Local and regional brands are beginning to focus their marketing on wellness by measuring and prominently displaying the grams of sugar per serving in a product, highlighting specific diets and calorie content. Other brands are opting to reduce sugar content by creating shandy style beverages blended, typically half and half with tea, lemonade or juice or spritzers by mixing alcohol with seltzer.  Others are creating entirely alcohol-free elixirs marketed in alcohol-like packaging to allow consumers to have an elevated choice in their quality of beverage without the addition of alcohol.

Providing low- or no-alcohol options as part of your craft brewery may increase your market by offering a wider variety of products and attracting a broader range of consumers. It provides incentive to partner with other local and regional businesses to offer products you may not necessarily manufacture in your facility like kombucha or a non-alcoholic elixir which breeds collaboration, shared markets and partnerships for the future.

References

"AB InBev: 8% of beer volume now comes from no and low alcohol", Beveragedaily.com

"Big Alcohol Is Bracing for a More Sober Future", bonappetit.com