Press Release:

A recent survey of alcohol consumer behaviors in the United States among people who consume any type of alcoholic beverage at least once a week provides insight into the factors driving the rapid growth of the alcoholic cider category, how people perceive the cider category, and what would make people drink cider more often in the future.

Among people who have been drinking more cider, the top reason given is new brands (35%) and new flavors (31%). Women are especially likely to cite new brands (47%) and new flavors (39%). Among men, the top reasons for drinking more cider is they have grown to like its taste (33%) and they have found more occasions to drink it (25%). Many men also cite new brands (23%) and flavors (23%), and many say drinking more cider because they are getting tired of drinking other types of alcohol (21%).

The cider category suffers from a large perception gap between drinkers and non-drinkers. People who drink cider regularly (at least once a week) have a positive opinion: they think cider tastes great (36%), is fun to drink (31%) and is high-quality (26%). In contrast, people who don’t drink cider at all have a very negative opinion with only 5% thinking it tastes good and 22% saying that cider is “not for people their age.”

The survey also asked what would make people drink cider more often. Among people who current drink cider regularly (at least once per week), the most popular answer was “if it was available in more bars and restaurants”, cited by 26%. This was also the #1 answer among people who drink cider occasionally, with 17% of them saying increased availability in on-premise channels would make them consume cider more often. Both regular and occasional drinkers also were likely to say that increased availability of cider in stores would also make them drink it more often, (19% of regular drinkers and 15% of occasional drinkers).

Among people who don’t currently drink cider at all, 10% of them said they would drink cider more often if it tasted better and 8% said that if cider was more popular they would drink it more often. However, 68% of them said that “nothing” would make them drink cider more often.

“The rapid growth of the cider category is being fueled by the explosion of new brands, flavors and varieties, especially among women, while many men are discovering that the cider category offers a great alternative to beer, wine and spirits,” said David Decker, President of Consumer Edge Insight. “Expanding distribution of the cider category among both on-premise and off-premise channels will be key to driving consumption growth among both regular users and non-users. Driving consumption growth among non-users will require investment in improving the category’s image, although new brands that expand the category’s appeal to a more diverse group of people will also help.”