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What types of beer different consumers go forWhat types of beer different consumers go for

NRN breaks down beer trends by age and sex

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

November 19, 2015

2 Min Read
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Craft beer continues to be a growing part of the beverage market, with consumer research firm Mintel predicting a 22-percent increase in dollar sales growth in 2015, for total sales of $24 billion. But according to data from iPourIt, a provider of self-serve beer and wine technology, different customers buy their beer differently, with aficionados of more obscure varieties willing to spend more for each beer and women tending to drink lighter styles.

The first two charts below are taken from data iPourIt collected from 43 locations in 23 states, accounting for about 500,000 unique users over the past two-and-a-half years. The third chart, on the difference between what men and women drink, is taken from a single client serving 64,000 distinct patrons.

Average age by beer style

Beers that are newer to the market, such as gose and sour beers, tend to skew younger than more established types like lagers and amber ales.

Average price based on beer style

You can charge a lot more for lambic, sour beer and mead (technically not a beer, but a fermented honey beverage) than you can for lagers and amber ale, according to iPourIt, which found customers spending an average of $5.88 per pint of lager, and $12.87 for a pint of lambic.

Difference in the beers men and women drink

About 20 percent of men and 14 percent of women drink craft beer, according to Mintel, but iPourIt found wider gaps when it comes to preferences, with men far out drinking women when it comes to India Pal Ales, Brown Ale and Pilsner. The gap narrows with seasonal beers, hefeweizen and blondes. Women, who account for about 36 percent of the sales volume on this chart, outdrank men when it comes to cider (technically not beer but generally classified as such for sales purposes) by 16 percent.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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