US: Craft beer now 30% of Costco’s beer sales

(TheDrinksBusiness) - US retail giant Costo has announced that craft beer now accounts for 30% of the company’s total beer sales.

Though it’s not only at Costo that craft beer is gaining shelf space – sales of micro brews are on the up in supermarkets and licquor stores in New Zealand.

The New World supermarket chain has seen steady growth, with craft beer now representing 13% of total beer sales, up from 9% two years ago.

At Countdown, a supermarket chain owned by Woolworths, craft beer now accounts for 10% of total beer sales; a figure that is set to rise.

“In the past few years we’ve seen a steady increase in the popularity of craft beer in our supermarkets,” said Katherine Klouwens, a spokeswoman for New World.

“While the beer category has seen an overall slowdown, craft beer is one segment which is showing growth,” she added.

Craft beer also seems to be taking hold in rural areas of the country as customers turn to boutique brews in pursuit of something hand crafted.

“It’s like with the rise of wine or better coffee, it starts off in the cosmopolitan centres but the wave soon carries,” said Wellington-based beer writer Kieran Haslett-Moore.

Earlier this year db reported that craft beer is becoming increasingly more like wine, with the traditional 12-ounce bottle being replaced with 75cl wine bottles and even three-litre Jeroboams.