Why Some in the Alcohol Industry aren't Smiling

You may hear the buzz about craft cocktails, craft beer, and premium wine sales. It would seem like everyone in the alcohol biz (producers, wholesalers, retailers) is sitting happy. Well, the trends aren't making everybody smile.

Going back about 20 years to 1999 the U.S. market shares broke down this way (rounded to the nearest 1%):
Beer      55%
Spirits   28
Wine     16

In 2017 it looked like this:
Beer      46%
Spirits   37
Wine     17

Over that time the revenue for beer is up over 50%, sprints up over 150%, and wine up 100%.

This "bud's" for you? Oh oh, Budweiser

When you look at the craft beer revolution over the last 20 years you can see why Big Beer is
worried. It also appears that when cocktails became cool again it took its bite out of beer sales.  Why else should Big Beer be worried? When I typed "Bud" into a Google image search looking for pictures of Budweiser cans and bottles I got pics of marijuana buds.  Oh oh.