Nonalcoholic beer opened a 13.1-point growth gap over craft beer in U.S. retail

Nonalcoholic beer kept growing in U.S. retail channels while craft beer continued to lose ground, according to NielsenIQ panel data cited in a Wednesday, November 11, industry report. In the four weeks ended October 31, nonalcoholic beer volume rose 7.5% from the comparable period in 2025, while craft beer volume fell 5.6%. That left a 13.1 percentage point gap between the two segments.

The same pattern appeared in dollar sales. Nonalcoholic beer sales by value increased 8.9% year over year, while craft beer sales fell 4.1%. The figures suggest that growth in beer retail sales was concentrated in a limited set of categories rather than spread across the broader market.

Other beer segments showed more modest changes. Imported beer posted a 0.3% increase in dollar sales, but its volume declined 1.5%. Domestic superpremium beer rose 2.3% in value and 1.6% in volume, making it one of the few traditional beer categories in the data to grow on both measures.

The figures cover U.S. retail sales tracked by NielsenIQ over a four-week period, not the full beer market for the year. No absolute sales totals were published for the segments, and no comparable year-to-date figures were released with the data. That means the available numbers show the direction and pace of change, but not the total size of each category within the market.

The split between value and volume is also important. Value reflects sales in dollars, while volume reflects physical sales. When a segment grows in value but not in volume, the change can reflect pricing, product mix or other factors, not just higher unit sales. That is relevant for imported beer, which returned to slight dollar growth even as volume continued to fall.

For nonalcoholic beer, growth in both measures points to broader retail expansion during the period. Because volume increased 7.5% and dollar sales rose 8.9%, the segment was not relying only on higher prices to post gains. Craft beer moved in the opposite direction, with declines in both dollars and volume, indicating weaker sales across tracked stores in the period measured.

The data cited in the November 11 report came from NielsenIQ’s U.S. retail panel, but the original NielsenIQ report was not publicly available. The figures reviewed were those published in a secondary report by Vinetur. That limits independent verification of the full methodology and any additional breakdowns that may have appeared in the original release.

The report also notes that the panel does not represent total national consumption and excludes cider, flavored malt beverages and hard seltzer. As a result, the numbers should be read as a snapshot of tracked retail beer sales for the four weeks ended October 31, not as a full measure of all alcohol purchases in the United States.