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The Demographics of Beer
Even though its growth has been relatively flat in recent years, beer represents the largest segment of the beverage alcohol industry. Admittedly, the beer industry has been losing share to the wine and spirits segments, however, beer industry overall sales volume and retail dollar sales are gargantuan and eclipse the other two segments combined. In 2004, in fact, the beer industry grew by 0.7% to 2.84 billion 2.25-gallon cases, with total retail dollar sales (including on- and off-premise) gaining to $82.2 billion.
Percentage of Persons Who Drink Beer by Race and Ethnic Origin
| Category | White | Black | Asian | Hispanic* | All Races |
| Regular | 27.5% | 27.6% | 18.8% | 26.3% | 27.3% |
| Light | 30.9% | 17.8% | 14.1% | 27.0% | 28.5% |
| Malt Liquor | 2.8% | 13.7% | 2.6% | 5.4% | 4.3% |
| Ice | 5.6% | 12.1% | 3.4% | 7.0% | 6.7% |
| Imported | 24.8% | 23.3% | 28.3% | 35.2% | 25.3% |
| Non-Alcohol | 3.6% | 7.0% | 5.7% | 8.0% | 4.4% |
| Micro/Specialty | 10.5% | 3.7% | 9.0% | 8.7% | 9.4% |
| Adult Population (millions) | 157.1 | 23.2 | 7.9 | 22.6 | 199.2 |
(*) Can be of any race.
Source: Simmons Market Research Bureau; Fall 2003 Study of Media and Markets.
In keeping with recent trends, the light and imported beer segments have continued to gain, basically at the expense of the premium and popular beer segments. Interestingly, the demographics of which consumers drink which types of beers can shed some light on these growth patterns. For instance, it’s no coincidence that Mexican beer sales (and imported beer sales) have been growing along with the growth of the Hispanic population in the U.S. The U.S. Census Bureau recorded the population change for Hispanics at 57.9% from 1990 to 2000, and it predicts double-digit growth through 2007. Along these lines, the following charts show some of the consumer characteristics reflected in beer sales, including racial and ethnic consumption trends, and percentage of beer drinkers identified by gender and age for a selection of leading brands in different beer categories.
Percentage of Beer Drinkers By Gender and Age Group, Top Brands
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Age Groups
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| Brand | Male | Female | 21-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55-64 | 65+ |
| LIGHT BEER | ||||||||
| Bud Light | 60.2% | 39.8% | 13.0% | 25.8% | 25.5% | 16.1% | 9.2% | 10.4% |
| Coor’s Light | 60.4% | 39.6% | 7.7% | 25.8% | 22.8% | 20.7% | 12.6% | 10.4% |
| Miller Lite | 60.9% | 39.1% | 6.4% | 25.6% | 22.2% | 22.9% | 12.3% | 10.6% |
| Michelob Light | 58.4% | 41.6% | 9.6% | 16.4% | 23.7% | 22.4% | 12.3% | 15.6% |
| Busch Light | 71.5% | 28.5% | 4.2% | 21.6% | 22.2% | 21.8% | 11.6% | 18.6% |
| Michelob Ultra Light | 46.4% | 53.6% | 3.8% | 26.1% | 32.0% | 21.1% | 8.7% | 8.3% |
| Corona Light | 51.7% | 48.3% | 7.1% | 32.1% | 25.4% | 15.6% | 10.6% | 9.2% |
| Amstel Light | 54.7% | 45.3% | 7.3% | 19.3% | 29.3% | 20.5% | 15.1% | 8.5% |
| Miller Genuine Draft Light |
54.9% | 45.1% | 4.8% | 19.8% | 28.1% | 22.5% | 7.7% | 17.1% |
| Natural Light | 73.2% | 26.8% | 6.9% | 19.5% | 29.2% | 21.0% | 14.2% | 9.2% |
| Total Light Beer | 58.2% | 41.8% | 8.3% | 23.4% | 25.3% | 19.6% | 11.9% | 11.5% |
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Age Groups
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| Brand | Male | Female | 21-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55-64 | 65+ |
| DOMESTIC REGULAR BEER | ||||||||
| Budweiser | 72.1% | 27.9% | 12.2% | 23.3% | 25.6% | 18.4% | 8.8% | 11.7% |
| Coors Original | 63.6% | 36.4% | 11.2% | 19.8% | 19.0% | 22.3% | 13.2% | 14.5% |
| Miller Genuine Draft | 66.7% | 33.3% | 6.3% | 20.6% | 26.6% | 22.5% | 12.8% | 11.2% |
| Michelob | 62.6% | 37.4% | 7.6% | 14.7% | 23.7% | 25.1% | 15.0% | 13.9% |
| Sam Adams | 65.0% | 35.0% | 8.2% | 28.3% | 27.5% | 19.2% | 10.1% | 6.7% |
| Miller High Life | 68.2% | 31.8% | 7.2% | 13.6% | 27.2% | 23.9% | 13.0% | 15.1% |
| Busch | 73.1% | 26.9% | 7.2% | 15.2% | 28.6% | 16.9% | 21.7% | 10.4% |
| Rolling Rock | 62.4% | 37.6% | 12.8% | 29.3% | 25.2% | 16.6% | 9.8% | 6.3% |
| Milwaukee’s Best | 66.9% | 33.1% | 6.5% | 16.5% | 26.7% | 25.3% | 9.9% | 15.1% |
| Total Domestic Beer | 67.6% | 32.4% | 9.2% | 21.6% | 24.8% | 20.1% | 11.8% | 12.5% |
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Age Groups
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| Brand | Male | Female | 21-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55-64 | 65+ |
| IMPORTED BEER | ||||||||
| Corona | 61.9% | 38.1% | 12.5% | 28.2% | 28.1% | 16.8% | 8.8% | 5.6% |
| Heineken | 68.4% | 31.6% | 11.7% | 24.8% | 23.3% | 20.2% | 10.1% | 9.9% |
| Guinness | 72.7% | 27.3% | 9.1% | 31.2% | 24.0% | 18.5% | 10.5% | 6.7% |
| Bass | 66.4% | 33.6% | 10.6% | 25.7% | 23.6% | 21.1% | 11.5% | 7.5% |
| Beck’s | 68.4% | 31.6% | 8.3% | 15.3% | 30.4% | 22.7% | 14.0% | 9.3% |
| Dos Equis | 56.5% | 43.5% | 9.0% | 26.3% | 26.1% | 15.4% | 14.1% | 9.1% |
| Labatt | 70.4% | 29.6% | 16.6% | 19.3% | 29.7% | 14.2% | 7.8% | 12.4% |
| Tecate | 55.6% | 44.4% | 6.2% | 31.2% | 22.8% | 25.2% | 8.3% | 6.3% |
| Foster’s Lager | 77.5% | 22.5% | 7.2% | 21.0% | 27.1% | 23.0% | 14.3% | 7.4% |
| Harp | 70.6% | 29.4% | 8.6% | 40.5% | 28.6% | 11.7% | 5.5% | 5.1% |
| Molson Canadian | 75.8% | 24.2% | 9.6% | 24.6% | 30.5% | 19.5% | 7.4% | 8.4% |
| Total Imported Beer | 64.0% | 36.0% | 10.2% | 25.3% | 26.3% | 19.3% | 9.6% | 9.3% |
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Age Groups
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| Brand | Male | Female | 21-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55-64 | 65+ |
| ICE BEER | ||||||||
| Bud Ice | 74.1% | 25.9% | 10.5% | 29.1% | 37.4% | 12.6% | 4.1% | 6.3% |
| Icehouse | 63.5% | 36.5% | 6.9% | 28.9% | 30.6% | 19.9% | 8.0% | 5.7% |
| Total Ice Beer | 68.7% | 31.3% | 8.7% | 24.7% | 31.2% | 20.1% | 8.0% | 7.3% |
| OTHERS | ||||||||
| Sierra Nevada | 61.8% | 38.2% | 10.4% | 37.7% | 22.2% | 17.3% | 9.4% | 3.0% |
| O’Doul’s | 68.8% | 31.2% | 2.5% | 12.9% | 23.6% | 20.1% | 19.1% | 21.8% |
| Smirnoff Ice | 45.2% | 54.8% | 22.6% | 29.8% | 25.1% | 13.5% | 6.7% | 2.3% |
| Mike’s Hard Lemonade | 41.3% | 58.7% | 17.6% | 33.5% | 26.9% | 13.3% | 6.1% | 2.6% |
| Bacardi Silver | 40.1% | 59.9% | 18.9% | 34.5% | 23.4% | 14.0% | 5.7% | 3.5% |
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