Seasonal Beer Survey: Summer Most Popular Season for Beer

With the holiday season in full swing, it’s time for many hosts and hostesses to stock up on libations for their holiday gatherings and family parties. And some of those consumers might be likely to purchase seasonal beer flavors geared toward the holidays. In fact, according to the Brewers Association, this time of year offers an interesting shift in beer buying habits. So how many consumers are likely to purchase seasonal beer this holiday season? And what other seasonal flavors might appeal to consumers? We asked 1,000 respondents about their beer buying habits and their thoughts on seasonal flavors.

Beer Drinkers

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 13% said they’ve enjoyed beer within the past day. 14% have done so within the last week. 10% last drank beer within the past month. 8% have within the last three months. 4% have within the last year. 11% said that it’s been more than a year since they last consumed beer. And 40% said they aren’t beer consumers at all.Of those who are at least occasional beer drinkers, 42% said that they’re likely to drink beer more often in the summer months than they are during the rest of the year. 10% are likely to drink beer most often in winter. And 9% drink more beer in the spring and fall. 47% said that they drink beer equally throughout all of the seasons.

Seasonal Beer

More specifically, just 11% of beer drinkers said that they always drink beer that has seasonal flavors, like pumpkin beer during the fall months. 6% drink seasonal beer most of the time. 25% do so about half the time. 11% said they rarely ever drink seasonal beer. 28% never do. And 19% said they’ve never even tried seasonal beer flavors. Sam Adams was by far the most popular beer brand known for its seasonal flavors. Others also mentioned Budweiser, Blue Moon, Heineken, Shock Top and Sierra Nevada.

Winter Flavors

When it comes to the upcoming holiday season, seasonal beer consumers are likely to look for Christmas and holiday-inspired flavors. In general, 30% of beer drinkers said they’re at least somewhat likely to purchase seasonal beer options this winter or holiday season. Pumpkin, apple, ginger and Christmas-inspired flavors were named as some of the most popular options for beer consumers this winter.

Key Takeaways

It seems that a fair amount of beer consumers are likely to purchase seasonal flavors this holiday season. So offering holiday-inspired flavors could be a good strategy for beer brands looking to attract more customers during this time of year. However, summer is by far the most popular time of year for beer drinkers. So coming up with seasonal flavors geared more toward that time of year could help beer brands drum up even more customers. And then if those same companies come up with a variety of other seasonal flavors for the rest of the year, much like brands like Sam Adams do, it could create some brand loyalty throughout the entire year.You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Oktoberfest in January by John McStravick under CC BY 2.0What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.