Off-premise craft beer sales grew 19 percent in 2013

According to IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm, craft beer sales in U.S. retail channels grew 19.2 percent in 2013. Sales totals topped $1.8 billion within the IRI retail footprint. These sales moved the total off-premise beer market share needle 0.86 share points.

In 2013, total dollar sales for the entire beer category grew 3.2 percent. IPAs were once again the biggest winner, growing 44 percent, according to IRI’s data.

These numbers provide a nice shot in the arm compared to the on-premise stats provided last week by GuestMetrics. Be sure to check out the full report, but here is the tidbit on alcohol:

Consistent with the weak traffic trends, volume trends for the alcohol categories were also quite weak in on-premise during 2013. Beer volumes were down 4.0 percent for the full year compared to 2012, with volumes down 5.2 percent during 4Q, and 7.3 percent for the final four weeks of the year. Spirits volumes were slightly better, but still weak, down about 2.5 percent for the full year compared to 2012, and also experienced a weak end of the year with volumes down 3.8 percent in 4Q and 5.8 percent during the final four weeks. Lastly, wine, which had started off the year on a strong note but then softened throughout the year, had volumes down about 1 percent for the full year, and also closed out the year on a weak note, with volumes down 2 percent in 4Q and around 4 percent for the final four weeks of the year.