In 2022, Americans spent more on spirits than on beer for the first time. Then beer consumption hit the lowest level in decades in 2023, dipping below 200 million barrels for the first time since 1999.

It’s a trend that’s fueled by a wide variety of factors, including fewer younger drinkers than five years ago, exploding growth in craft breweries in the 2010s, competition from other alcoholic beverages like seltzers and ciders, inflation slowing consumer spending, and more consumers selecting non-alcoholic options, among others.

While the declining trend hasn’t gone unnoticed in northern Michigan, it’s manifesting in different ways for area breweries, and they’re taking different approaches to avoid the fate of more than 385 small, independent American craft brewers that went under last year. In this week's Northern Express, sister publication of The Ticker, local brewers weigh in on how the trend has affected their numbers in recent years, how they're using food, new varietals, and NA products to appeal to more customers, and how they're weathering the impacts of climate change (from both a harvest and tourist perspective) on their operations.

The Northern Express is available to read online, or pick up a free copy on newsstands at nearly 700 spots in 14 counties across northern Michigan.