Piggybacking off of last year’s positive performance, the U.S. beer market continues to post increases in both dollar and volume sales. According to Chicago-based Information Resources Inc. (IRI), the overall beer category was up 4.8 percent in dollar sales — totaling $33.3 billion — while case sales were up 2.1 percent — more than 1.4 billion — for the 52 weeks ending Dec. 27, 2015, in U.S. supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchandisers, gas and convenience stores, military commissaries, and select club and dollar retail chains.
As Americans flock to the polls this November to elect a new president, consumers also are using their freedom of choice to elect a new way to consume beer. Whether it’s the pending merger between Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), Leuven, Belgium, and SABMiller plc, London, the growth of U.S. breweries or premiumization trends, changes are in store for the U.S. beer market.