The Stats paint a picture, it's even more brewtiful!

ParkRun - Sir Barry Curtis #57 30:35 8 days till Camino

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Untappd released their best of the year awards and still unbeaten is Nectaron Hazy Pale Ale. These are more than a popularity contest it's beer drinkers reviewing their brews and rated all of them - good and bad. Honest and in the moment, sometimes at home, sometimes in a bar. Maybe next year there will be a non-alc Lager category too as our Golden lager rating is even higher and leads the NZ Non-Alc beers on Untappd.

We get great reviews on our website, if you are an Untappd user please click here to give us a rating.

The numbers - '24 stats are in. How are we drinking?

Stats NZ call the data - alcohol 'available for consumption'.

It is actually production data where customs excise tax has been paid for alcohol based drinks produced in NZ as well as alcohol based beverages imported into NZ.

Only on excise paid drinks over 1.15% ABV

I point this out for two reasons - the important information here is the trends year on year, and secondly it doesn't include beer, wine, or spirits under 1.15% ABV (like State of Play).

If you want consumption data - this is best viewed as scan data (what is actually purchased by a shopper in grocery and retail stores). This data shows beer slightly up on last year.

Production data is influenced by the stock levels of the big players and the timing of bulk imports - for example there will be a swing of a few percent depending on what month Corona is imported (from Mexico, or maybe its now China, don't know). So it is best to look at the last few years of combined data.

Production/Availability of alcoholic beverages rose slightly in 2024 up 1.2%

Beer up 5.4% (down 4.4% in '23) - this is a great result

Wine down 4.1% (down 2.4% in '23) - this is going down fast

Spirits down 5.5% (down 5.7% in '23) - I had thought this was on the rise

Here's where it gets interesting - the equivalent total volume of pure alcohol fell 3.1% and when this is expressed in the number of equivalent standard drinks per person (over 18) it fell a whopping 4.9% to 1.77 standard drinks per person per day.

Last year total pure alc dropped 3% and equivalent standard drinks down 5.3%!!

This shows a huge change in the alcohol strength of what we are drinking.

We are drinking roughly the same number of units. We are drinking a bit more beer, and a lot less wine and spirits.

So you are thinking all the youngsters are drinking RTDS? production of RTDs was down 3.4% too!!

My key out-take.

We still like a drink - now these drinks are contain less and less alcohol. Moderation for us oldies and perhaps confirming the tought that the youngies are just not interested in alcohol any more.

How about Beer?

Beer between 2.5 - 4.35% grew 34% to 95 million litres. Beer produced between 4.35 - 5% fell 5% to 161 million litres.

Outtake - a lot less 5% Heineken and Steinlager and a lot more Summit Ultra and other 4% beers.

Also beer over 5%ABV grew 3.9% - this is good news for the NZ independent brewers - although its mainly the top four Parrot Dog, Garage project, Moa and Stoke who all competed heavily in the last qtr of the year in this segment.

The last data point really annoys me so i'll explain.

According to Statistics NZ The Up to 2.5% beer fell 7.9%.

This is not true and I even spoke to the communications team at Statistics NZ last year about this. It should say beer produced between 1.15-2.5% fell 7.9%.

The NZ Statistics data is based on excise data. Excise is paid on beer, wine and spirits over 1.15%.

So two things here :

Beer produced 1.15 - 2.5% has declined in every market that has a good alc free segment. And second, add in the big breweries deleting brands Heineken light, Steinlager light, export citrus and this is why you get this number - less brands and a better choice in the adjacent segment - alcohol free.

Lets add the beer volume produced below 1.15% (no excise paid)

Looking at grocery and independent liquor store scan data alcohol free beer is now 3% of total beer. Up from 2.5% last year.

Thats 10,000,000 litres of alc free beer produced in NZ (growing at 25%) that is not counted in this data (that's a big number to be excluded).

So the beer headline could actually say total beer is up 7% and the story of NZ drinkers changing their habits with moderation a great news story.

If I was writing the NZ Statistics headline it would say:

New Zealanders still enjoy a drink, with a sharp shift to lower ABV and moderation.

Foodstuffs EXPO '25 - how is the retail mood?

I'd say this years mood was upbeat.

The Claudelands event centre in Hamilton was packed on Wednesday/Thursday this week. Lots of new products in familiar categories - not so much in the new/emerging categories like last time.

Lot's of small suppliers too - this is the point of difference I see with Foodstuffs. It's not too difficult to play the grocery game for emerging brands - just hard to get to a significant scale.

The store buying teams come through with their red coloured lanyards (these are the ones to connect with) and this year I heard much more openness to offer the right products to meet their local shopper needs.

I shared a stand with Paul from Alta Ego - these are the best alc-free cocktails in NZ, hands down. Check them out HERE

Compared to two years ago at the same expo we now have 5 Six pack SKUs and in 300% more stores! We are in over 150 Pak'n Saves, New World and 4 Squares and we want to grow our range in each store in get in even more stores too.

Now about my ear....

On Tuesday I had a melanoma removed from my left ear.

My mate Andrew had pointed out a mole on my ear that looked a bit funny and that I should get it checked. I did and had it removed and tested.

Turned out a bit more sinister so went back and had a large section removed on Tuesday and a graft applied to rebuild it. Im very happy to have this done and even happier that Andrew had the courage to point it out. I'd been playing quite a bit of golf in my baseball cap and got really sunburnt ears and neck - I don't think this was helpful.

So now I have a nice new bucket hat.

Please get a check - as I had never thought about it.

And buy yourself or significant other a better hat. A round of golf is 4 hours long and sunscreen wears off in 2.

I may be a slow learner but i'm now up to speed on this one. The more we talk about it the more likely we are to get a test.

I'm getting the stitches taken out on the way to the airport to walk the camino!!

Camino minus 10 days.

Yesterday I weighed in at 96kgs - I had achieved my goal of losing 10kgs in 10 weeks. And I really feel it.

Two new habits made the difference - a lot more walking, and stop the eating extras - the inbetween snacks and sugary treats. Thats it.

I did it to feel better, get back into my favourite pants (comfortably) and be a bit lighter for the camino (every KG counts).

Only one more weekend then off to Spain - getting very excited now.

So lt's of admin next week to prepare for financial year end and on Sunday i'm heading to Motueka to smell some fresh hops at hop harvest before flying out on Tuesday.

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What to do with all those Airpoints?

Our full range is available on the Airpoints Store

So if you have some spare points the store is a good option to get a case of Mix packs or even some NEW Golden lager.

Buying Beer in Australia?

So if you are reading from Australia hop online Shiftlanes.com.au or Freespiritdrinkco.com.au to get your State of Play.

Send through your ANYWHERE beer shots please.

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Why reviews matter.? If you have a minute it would be great to hear from you

Here is the link to the review tab for Golden lager

Here is the link to the review tab for? Nectaron Hazy Pale Ale

Here is the link to review Sunbreaker Ale

Here is the link to the review tab for IPA

And if you have a cool photo you can post on one of your favourite social channels and tag @stateofplaybeer? #stateofplaybeer If you want to contact State of Play flick me a note [email protected]

TOGETHER WE ARE BREWING A REBELLION!