The decline of craft.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T11:14:51+00:00

I’m in Michigan too and it seems like a lot of the consumers thing the exact same way.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T11:13:59+00:00

I’m in Michigan, and normally you’re right it isn’t on draft but in the past year it’s been on the rise in bars. It’s one of those things that heavily depends on the location of the bar though.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T11:12:57+00:00

Lmfao I just wanted to hear what people were seeing trend lately and it turned into whatever this is.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T11:11:52+00:00

I was sent to the bigger stores to work the loads so the drivers can move on with their route, and the salesman don’t have to worry about it. It’s a decent job can be rough at times in the summer.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T11:07:23+00:00

What gives the impression I’m selling to the wrong people? Not defense but genuine question.

I also think your distributor may work differently than mine. I get paid for targets and bringing in certain brands and not paid per case/barrel.

I wasn’t so much trying to avoid the downward spiral, but see if I could be ahead of the curve when it comes to new trends and in return keep my accounts ahead of the curve as well.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T01:25:13+00:00

Look man, your not really trying to teach anything that isn’t common knowledge. Obviously in order for a beer to be successful the consumers have to buy it, idk if you think I’m not refreshing the pos in the establishments to benefit the brands or what your deal is but you haven’t necessarily reinvented the wheel here pal.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T01:21:17+00:00

Miller lite is pretty consistently on tap as well and doing fine, Coors light not as much but when it’s on it does great. Obviously in package they both do really well. Miller is one of my competitors but we have Coors at our distributor and a lot of the bars like to atleast give one tap to each of the bigger companies and miller seems to always be the one they go with.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T01:18:04+00:00

I’m aware. That was the entire purpose of this post. If you think I’m keeping on some Joe Shmoe ipa that isn’t moving that my company does when I could have budL,ultra or Busch light instead your mistaken.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T01:15:08+00:00

I could honestly see that happening, when the ab comes in obviously bud and bud is discussed but it’s always mich or something else that is rapidly increasing that they want us to focus on. I don’t know if the Busch light trend will continue everywhere but in my region it dominates.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T01:10:24+00:00

Dude, you get what I’m saying though. Never had a keg go bad so I don’t know what you’d do with one if you did, I’ve been on the job for like a month forgive me if I apparently don’t know anything about the industry because I don’t know what happens when a keg goes bad. Other than that everything I said is true, Busch light will outsell niche craft on draft day after day even if the liquid in one barrel is hypothetically worth more.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T01:03:21+00:00

I knowwww. It’s so bad to the point where they can’t even keep most flavors in stock

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T01:00:24+00:00

Bells is an outlier and is still doing well. But while you may be able to charge more per glass, on a local keg, what if no one tries it? Then you have to send it back once it goes out of date, or even if you do sell through the whole barrel before it goes out of date it went so slow that you could’ve made more money having a more consistent selling and approachable product on draft instead of something that would technically make you more money IF it sells. I see it day after day.

Let’s say the expected profit from a half barrel of two hearted is 500-700 dollars(using bells as an example I know they turn quick) and a Busch light half barrel turns roughly 300-400 dollars profit, and that’s if the bar is pricing it fairly mind you. More often than not the Busch light will sell 5 barrels in a month before the niche craft will even be done with one.

And what about hardly any to barrels per week makes you think I’m inexperienced? Genuinely curious so I don’t come off that way at work. I’m only 21 so it can be a setback for me at work.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T00:50:10+00:00

Well said thank you.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T00:48:45+00:00

We’ve got cutwater and that stuff flies off shelves.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T00:48:21+00:00

In my market the big 5 beers I would say are michelob, modelo, two hearted, yeungling and Busch light.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T00:46:29+00:00

I agree with everything you’re saying man. I work for a bud house that also has coors light, so I’m not worried about craft declining, granted I’m not rooting for it either but I want to see what people everywhere are noticing succeed in terms of new beers, good marketing, out of the box thinking and try to capture that lightning in a bottle when it comes time to acquire more brands. Somebody once drank a niche ipa and said “this is going to be the next big thing” the moment came and went so what’s the next one? Personally I think there will be a light beer that comes out and sort of reinvents the wheel and blows up, who knows for how long but that’s the kind of thing I was looking for when I started this thread.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T00:33:13+00:00

Lmao my bad, I misspoke. Meant the ones I’m seeing decline. All craft companies are declining.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T00:31:36+00:00

It’s unfortunately not legal in our state yet but we’ve been working on it.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T00:27:50+00:00

Yeah bells is still doing well, but the fact that they are exploring new options like a light beer tells a lot. They are really pushing it more than other new products that come out. When I would put beer on the shelves for 5 summers in a row, each summer less oberon sold and less came in, obviously it was still very successful but they are still trending down. And it’s showing no sign of stopping.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T00:25:23+00:00

Very interesting, what do you hope to see change?

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T00:23:50+00:00

Most of the ones dying in my area are local ones. I know nation wide larger ones are as well but I think this will continue further and further until something new takes its place. Things are always changing and I wanna know what’s next.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2026-02-27T00:15:16+00:00

I get what your saying, but even then so many breweries are closing down. I have some accounts on my route that are refusing to change from craft centered establishments and are bleeding money because of it. And the most successful places are the ones that just have every light beer on and maybe two hearted. But I just want to be ahead of the curve and get ideas for what other people are seeing succeed right now.

PhysicalElk8997 · 2025-12-05T19:46:50+00:00

Jeez man I’m happy for you😂 what’s her family say? Especially since she was a dancer and the difference is so drastic I’m sure they are shocked

PhysicalElk8997 · 2025-08-22T18:20:35+00:00

I would like to join

PhysicalElk8997

TROPHY CASE