Historic slide in beer sales

So it’s not the recession but unemployment which drives beer sales south. Brewers think that there are two major forces at work: unemployment in general, and more specifically unemployment among the 21 to 35-year-old consumer bracket which has been disproportionately hit. That category of people has a 15- to 16-percent unemployment rate in the U.S. Unfortunately it’s the self-same consumer group which has been most willing to buy premium beers.

For MillerCoors, the Molson Coors/ SABMiller joint-venture, the strategy has not been to focus on specific categories - below-premium, for example – to stimulate sales but to invest in brands across all categories.

Still, the company’s major below-premium brand Keystone Light could benefit from consumers trading down because it retails for about 30 percent less than the industry average.