Under pressure, but not out of options: beer in 2026

Beer is continuing to reap the rewards of consumers leaning into premium-and-above brands, despite volume declines in key markets – but the impact of the Middle East crisis is casting a shadow over the category’s future performance.

According to preliminary IWSR data for 2025, total beer volumes (in the world’s leading 21 markets/T21) fell by -1%, but value* grew slightly despite a reduction in the number of serves. Volume declines were driven by the large markets of the US and Brazil, while leading growth destinations included South Africa and India – and stout recorded solid gains in its core markets.

“The investment by global brewers in premium-plus propositions is yielding dividends across both developed markets such as the UK, France and Canada, and developing markets including South Africa, India and countries in Latin America,” reports Roisin Vulcheva, IWSR Senior Beer Insights Manager. “Beer continues to benefit from consumer willingness to upgrade to more premium offerings – particularly no-alcohol beer, which has seen strong growth in almost all of the T21 markets, and which skews premium-plus.”

In 2025, no-alcohol beer volumes grew by +8%, versus a -1% decline for the overall category. 29% of no-alcohol beer volumes were in the premium-plus price bands in 2025 (T21), up from 20% in 2019.

Diversification and innovation

Companies are employing a number of strategies to respond to shifting dynamics in the beer category, including diversification and innovation. This can mean geographical expansion – for instance, Asahi moving into Africa, and Tilray’s acquisition of BrewDog’s UK/Ireland, US and Australia operations – or strategic divestment, such as Diageo’s sale of its Guinness Ghana Breweries stake to Castel Group and Heineken’s divestment of its DRC brewing operations (selling to local owners while retaining brand licensing), and winding down of large-scale production in Singapore.

Meanwhile, breweries are launching new products designed to tap into current consumer trends, via flavoured beer variants, innovation in the no-alcohol space (including flavours and blending with soft drinks, especially in the UK), as well as no-sugar and no-/low-calorie and functional offerings, such as Heineken’s Outdoor Brewing, to address health and wellness concerns. Sweeter flavoured products also aim to exploit RTD-adjacent trends.

According to IWSR’s Radius innovation tracker, fruit-forward flavours are at the fore, from orchard fruits to peach, apple and pear, while cherry and berry variants are building clear cross-category momentum, appearing not only in beer, but also in spirits and RTDs.

“The fragile state of the market has prompted more restructuring and further diversification beyond beer during the last year, as brewers have looked to spread their bets,” explains Vulcheva. “Brand owners are redefining their core with a renewed focus on fewer, stronger brands and smarter distribution, with many closing breweries, aiming for more depth over breadth.”

Growth trends in Asia

Asia Pacific is the largest beer region in volume terms, accounting for around a third of beer volumes consumed globally each year.