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Young Americans Choose Cheap Beer Over Craft
Image courtesy of Miller High Life // Illustration by Kate Walker
Consumer tastes have officially shifted from complex, fancy craft beers back to the basic brews that once defined the American fridge.
Why It Hits: Overall beer demand is declining, with US production falling 1.2% last year as younger consumers reach for trendier beverages like canned cocktails or health-conscious spritzers. Coupled with tighter wallets and the growing no-alcohol movement, American drinkers are ditching complexity in favor of affordability and nostalgia.
Behind The Bottles: Young people’s taste in beer is starting to look a lot like their dads’ from decades past.
Michelob ULTRA is now the top-selling beer in America, followed by classics like Budweiser, Miller High Life, Coors, and Busch Light.
New entrants like the Kelce brothers’ Garage Beer, Montucky Cold Snacks, and Easy Rider are also finding success with no-fuss, low-calorie pilsners and lagers… with a lime option for a little added flair.
These brands lean into bulk sales at retailers like Costco and Sam’s Club, underscoring drinkers’ desire to get more bang for their buck — in quantity, if not quality.
Last Sip: It’s hard to overstate how significant the craft-beer boom was over the past two decades, launching hundreds of new brands and innovating flavor profiles and alcohol content. Drinking craft became a cultural signifier of coolness for the hipster generation… but the category seems to have hit a saturation point. According to CFRA Research, more breweries have closed than opened in the past 18 months — signaling a market hangover. No wonder craft brewers are trading their sours for pilsners.
Next Round: When tastes change, so does marketing. And as the Kelce brothers’ very bro-centric campaigns for Garage Beer show, beer advertising is swinging back to appealing to the “average” American guy… whatever that means in 2025.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.