Craft beer trends down: On-premise alcohol trends through early Oct.

Beer unit growth overall was down 5.8 percent during the latest four weeks vs. down 4.6 percent YTD.

Think of folks at GuestMetrics as stat aggregates. The company gathers data from the point-of-sales (POS) systems at restaurants and bars across the United States, and then analyzes that data to share trends with the beverage industry (and we thank them). So when you want to know how much craft cider sold in the last month compared to craft beer (that info’s below), the big brains at GuestMetrics can tell you. Here’s what they’re saying about the last four weeks.

Traffic for on-premise sales remained weak during the four weeks through 10/4/15 — down 1.4 percent y/y — but above the YTD trend (down 1.5 percent) and above the last 12 weeks (down 1.8 percent).

Share changes between alcohol beverage categories: Spirits unit share of alcohol gains increased from +0.8 percent YTD to +1.3 percent over the latest four weeks. Beer unit share was down 1.0 percent during the latest four weeks (weakening from down 0.8 percent YTD). Wine share was down 0.3 percent (vs. flat YTD).

Total alcohol: Total alcohol units sold were down 3.6 percent during the four weeks (vs. down 2.8 percent YTD)

Beer: Beer unit growth was down 5.8 percent during the latest four weeks vs. down 4.6 percent YTD

Beer segments: Imports’ y/y share change improved to +0.3 percent during the four weeks (up from -0.2 percent YTD); Cider reached flat y/y share gains during the 4 weeks (down from +0.2 percent YTD); Craft’s y/y share gains were below trend: slowing from +0.9 percent YTD to +0.6 percent during the last 12 weeks and +0.3 percent during the latest four weeks; Premium Light’s y/y share loss moderated to -0.8 percent on the four weeks (versus -1.2 percent YTD).

Overall spirits: Spirits unit growth was down 0.3 percent during the latest four weeks, above the -0.7 percent YTD trend.

Spirits categories: Segments gaining y/y share of spirits during the four weeks were Tequila, Irish, Vodka (newly in positive territory), Gin, and Brandy. Bourbons/Blends (including flavored), Rum, Cordials, Scotch were share donors.

Craft spirits: Domestic Craft Spirits y/y share gain increased to 3.0 percent over the latest four weeks versus 2.7 percent YTD.

Overall wine: Wine volumes were -5.5 percent during latest four weeks vs. down -2.9 percent YTD.