Draft beer can be one of the most profitable drinks in a bar. With profit margins between 75 and 80 percent, you don’t want to sleep on this offering if your brand is in the business of booze.
On average, alcohol sales make up around 30% of restaurant sales, showing the massive opportunity restaurants have to make money and keep their customers happy with a robust beer, wine, and spirits menu.
To reach these profits and sales, this blog post explores what’s driving the beer industry. Here are the beer trends, tastes, and pours that are currently dominating the craft beer industry.
Tap Into A $250 Billion Craft Beer Industry
Consumer experimentation
It’s more important than ever to stay current with beer trends because the modern drinker hardly seeks to drink the same beer twice. Jeff Browning, master brewer of Brewport brewpub, aptly remarks, “All beer drinkers are polygamists.”
In order to appeal to a craft brew drinker, your beer menu must be varied. If you get this right you can sell a lot of beer and make a lot of money. According to the Restaurant Business, 33% of alcohol drinkers who visit restaurants regularly report that they are more likely to order beer when offered a large selection of beer company brands.
Best beer pairings
We’ve all heard of wine pairings, but have you considered that the same approach works for other beverages, too? Offering a curated pairing menu is a great way for your customers to enjoy new experiences and for your restaurant to upsell different products.
As craft beer has taken the industry by storm, its foothold on fine dining menus is becoming more popularized. And with the advent of culinary beer-focused breweries, beers are now brewed with food pairings in mind.
Update your menu and educate your staff on the best beer trends to be able to pair each dish with a delicious, complementary drink—whether wine, beer or other options.
Local breweries with craft beer
The term ‘craft beer’ gets thrown around a lot. Simply stated, craft beer is beer made in a traditional, non-mechanized way by a small, local brewery.
The idea that people take great pride in drinking locally is important for restaurants to know. Restaurants need to highlight and educate their staff about the local breweries and market this knowledge to their diners.
People feel more connected to their order knowing that they are supporting their local economy and have a cultural tie to the beer they are drinking.
Raise The Bar With These Beer Categories
Brewers have done extensive hop research, and you can capitalize on it. Here are the trendiest types of beers in 2023:
Sour beers
Some may react to this trend with a pinched face, but sours are making their way into the mainstream beer culture. From fruit-infused sours to dry-hopped sours, tart and hoppy flavors should be on your drink menu.
Chili beers
Heat up your drink menu with the latest beer to hit shelves, the chili beer. Brewers are adding the fiery warmth of chilis to cool golden styles and light ales. From hot pepper oils to an actual jalapeno chile, spiciness adds a whole new dimension of flavor.
Coffee beers
Beyond the typical coffee-infused stout, coffee is making its way into a number of different style beers. From light bodied cream ales to IPAs – brewers are creating coffee beer to be served morning, noon, and night.
Juicy IPAs
“Juicy” has been used to describe beers that have flavors of certain tropical flavors and aromas. This includes, tastes and smells of mango, papaya, passionfruit and pineapple.
Are IPA drinkers really ready to trade in notes of pine for notes of mango? It looks as though they are, and on BeerAdvocate‘s list of the Top 250 beers in the beer market, 53 of the 80 single or double IPAs can be described as “juicy.”
Ciders
Over the last few years, cider has made its way to brewers, liquor stores, and even fine dining menus. With an increasing demand, the cider beer trend is here to stay. The global cider market was valued at 5 billion U.S. dollars (USD) in 2021, and is anticipated to reach 6.72 billion USD by 2030 at a CAGR of 3.34%.
Craft pilsners
Pilsners are making a comeback in the craft beer industry. While the reign of IPAs and crazy infused beers aren't over, brewers are reintroducing light and easy low alcohol into the menu.
Not to be confused with the watered down Pilsners – true-to-form German or Czech pils pack a modest punch and are perfect for veteran drinkers.
Session beer
Low alcohol beers are a growing trend and cater to people who want to drink more for less buzz. This is perfect for restaurants that want to sell more drinks and ensure that their diners are enjoying themselves responsibly while having a more memorable experience.
Non-alcoholic beer
Another beer trend is non-alcoholic beer. This trend is great for people who love to socialize but do not like the taste of alcohol or want to enjoy a nice tasting drink without the side-effects of alcohol. This crafted beer trend is steadily on the rise and could reach its year-to-date high in 2023.
Turn to Revel Systems® for Your Local Brewery Needs
Revel Systems can help your beer company and its business needs. With a cloud POS, Revel helps you streamline your front-of-house and back-of-house operations to provide fast speed of service and a flexible tech stack that will help you deliver the best customer experience.
Contact a sales rep today to learn more.
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