Beer has long been a workhorse for convenience stores. Whether it’s a six-pack from a frosty beer cave or a tallboy can from a cooler door, beer is what most Americans imagine when they think of quickly grabbing an adult beverage on the go. 

But beer has been ceding its historically dominant ground in convenience stores to other categories, with both wine and spirits increasing their share of alcohol dollars compared with a year ago. Beer dollar sales fell nearly 1.5% in convenience stores in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the year prior, per NIQ data, while wine and spirits have grown by 11.9% and 8.6%, respectively. This mirrors broader sales struggles for beer, which has been losing share of alcohol servings to other categories for decades. 

Don’t count beer out, though. Yes, drinker preferences are evolving along with greater variety in the cooler, but beer is dynamic, too. The new reality requires a strategic, intentional approach from both retailers and suppliers. Operators are increasingly curating their beer selections to be more focused on high performers versus long-tail. Brewers are responding to those demands, in some cases with channel-specific innovations. On both sides of the relationship, the beer section of c-stores has become a highly competitive space that necessitates a distinct approach. 

“Even in a declining category, there are winners,” said David Knospe, vice president of marketing for New Belgium Brewing. 

Thanks to sales of its Voodoo Ranger line of Imperial IPAs, convenience stores generate a larger share of sales for New Belgium than all other retail channels combined. Knospe said the brewery now begins with the specific needs of c-store shoppers in mind when developing new products for that space, rather than trying to shoehorn in an existing portfolio. 

“Retailers are extremely sophisticated in this,” Knospe said. “Rather than asking whether they should be taking on another craft 19.2 [ounce can], they’re asking, ‘What is the productivity level of that craft 19.2, and what can it add to my store?’”

It’s an acknowledgment of how crucial convenience stores are to beer—a feeling that’s largely mutual. Beer volume in these stores may be down, but shoppers expect to be able to find their favorite brands, as well as discover what’s new in beer, at their familiar locations.

“Beer will continue to play an important role in driving traffic and sales inside the c-store channel,” said Chris Stewart, vice president of merchandising for Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s. “While we are seeing sales and volume trends return to pre-Covid levels, this is a critical category that impacts total store performance.” 

Imports Beyond Mexico

While the mainstream segments of domestic premium and below-premium beer are driving the largest overall dollar declines in c-stores, imported beer—particularly Mexican beer—has been on a tear for years. Led by Constellation Brands’ portfolio, which includes Modelo Especial and Corona, Mexican beers have become simply “beer” for today’s drinkers. 

Yet there’s evidence that some of this momentum is cooling. According to NIQ data analyzed by 3 Tier Beverages, Mexican imports are essentially flat—down 0.2% this year in c-stores. Still, five of the top 10 growth beer brands for the channel are Mexican imports, with Pacifico and Corona Familiar the top two growth brands. Notably, beers imported from Guatemala, particularly Famosa, are surging, too, up 81% in distribution points so far this year. Danelle Kosmal, a consultant with 3 Tier, said retailers should consider stocking brands that reflect the Hispanic population in their local areas.

“Hispanic populations in particular have been a core shopper segment for convenience stores, and bringing in brands that are familiar or resonate greatly with the Hispanic beer drinker is a big opportunity,” Kosmal said. “Across total off-premises outlets, we are also seeing growth in beer brands from other Central American countries and the Caribbean, all of which offer new opportunities for convenience stores.”

Japanese brands also show promise. In recent years, Japanese beer makers have targeted the United States for greater expansion, with Asahi acquiring a large manufacturing facility in Wisconsin last year and Sapporo moving all its brewing for the U.S. market to domestic plants. The increased attention has paid off for those brands, with Japanese beer up 7% in c-stores through mid-July. Single-serve cans offer more runway for these beers, Kosmal said. 

Craft’s Narrowed Focus

The profusion of craft breweries over the past decade has stabilized, and so have many c-stores’ craft selections. Today, retailers are looking for proven winners and are concentrating their assortments on known brands with strong velocities. 

“Those exploratory days of having seven different IPAs on the shelf that are all kind of shades of the same idea seem to be contracting a bit,” said Knospe. “Stores are trimming the long tail across everything, not just craft beer.” 

In response, craft brands are presenting a more narrow slate of innovation to the channel. New Belgium didn’t release a new product for c-stores in 2025, the first time in years that it hadn’t done so. Instead, it chose to prioritize support for brands such as Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA and Voodoo Ranger Juice Force IPA, which are top 30 brands in c-stores nationally. Knospe said only 45% of convenience stores stock the Imperial IPA or Juice Force, indicating that there is room to grow points of distribution for those reliable brands, rather than asking retailers to get behind a less-proven new product. 

This isn’t to say New Belgium won’t innovate for the channel, but Knospe said a new product can’t be only for existing beer shoppers—it must be a “really thoughtful, choiceful innovation that feels like it’s tailored to bring in a new customer here.” To that end, he teases a new, c-store-specific Voodoo Ranger product that will launch in February 2026. 

Sierra Nevada, another leading national craft supplier, is also putting weight behind core, proven brands. This summer, the brewery rolled out a reformulated version of its Big Little Thing IPA that was intended to compete more successfully in the crowded Imperial IPA space. The new Big Little Thing boasts a higher ABV—9.5%—and what Sierra Nevada Chief Commercial Officer Ellie Preslar calls a “little bit juicer, more approachable” flavor. The effect was positive, with the brand turning toward positive volume, dollars and depletions. 

New Frontiers in Single-Serve

There’s no denying the power of singles with c-store shoppers. Singles account for 24% of beer dollars in c-stores; among all packages, they were the largest contributors to dollar growth (up 1.8% through mid-July, compared with the year prior), according to NIQ data. 

Singles represent an important, relatively low-cost trial opportunity not only to try new brands but also to add an incremental purchase. Casey’s has tracked a growing trend of so-called “and” purchases—in which guests are buying beer, RTDs or flavored malt beverages alongside a secondary alcohol product tailored to specific occasions. 

“For example, a guest might pick up a case of beer and a small-format spirit like Fireball for a social or celebratory event,” Stewart said. “This evolving behavior underscores the importance of offering a well-curated assortment that supports both everyday and occasion-based consumption.”

For beer, single-serve has historically meant 16- or 19.2-ounce cans. And while the 19.2 is still most stores’ bread and butter, new formats are making inroads. This year, New Belgium debuted 7.5-ounce cans, dubbed Mini Rippers, of Voodoo Ranger Juice Force and Tropic Force IPAs. They launched in eight-packs, but it quickly became clear that stores were breaking apart those packs to sell them as singles in dump bins or can racks. 

“When you think of what’s happening in the next cooler door over, with shots and BuzzBalls and all that—the quick-consumption products that are so popular in c-stores—it kind of brings beer into that moment,” Knospe said of Mini Rippers. 

New Belgium has learned a similar lesson from Lightstrike, a “hard refresher” in resealable 16.9-ounce sports bottles. It launched in January, primarily in four-packs at grocery stores. As with Mini Rippers, some stores began selling Lightstrike as singles, which encouraged New Belgium to move them into loose packs designed to sell one at a time. Velocity picked up “considerably” after they were introduced, Knospe said.

Individual packages are particularly important in emerging categories, such as hard refreshers, in which consumers may not feel confident they’ll like the product. A lower-cost, single-serve option requires less spend (and fridge space at home), which can increase trial. 

NA Beer’s Big Growth From a Small Base

Nonalcoholic (NA) beer has been a welcome bright spot for the beer industry. It’s one of the fastest-growing subsegments of beer in total retail, but its adoption in c-stores has been slower than in grocery or other channels. NA beer sales in convenience stores (up 24%) are outpacing dollar growth in grocery (up 19.7%). However, those sales are growing on a much smaller base—NA beer makes up just 0.3% of beer dollars in convenience—compared with its share in grocery, which is 3.4%. 

“With this smaller presence in c-stores, non-alc beer has a lot more room to grow in beer’s biggest channel,” said Kosmal. “In recent years, many leaders in the non-alc space prioritized grocery and liquor stores for their initial distribution expansion, which was the right strategic move at the time. As non-alc beer is becoming more mainstream and seamless in the total beverage landscape, convenience stores are the next logical market for distribution expansion.”

That’s exactly the playbook that dedicated NA beer producer Athletic Brewing Co. is following. Chris Furnari, Athletic’s senior communications manager, said the brand is looking to replicate its success in grocery (its top-distributed SKU has 59% category-weighted distribution) in the convenience channel. The company introduced 19.2-ounce cans last year to better serve convenience stores and on-premises venues.

“We believe there’s an opportunity to expand into upwards of 50,000 c-store doors in the coming years,” Furnari said. “While some retailers remain hesitant, consumer demand is rising, and the NA category will only become more relevant in the years ahead.”

Furnari said Athletic was the top volume-gaining supplier in all of beer in first-quarter 2025, and despite being the No. 1 brand in NA beer overall, it still has less than 4% category-weighted distribution in those stores. In general, NA beer is the fastest-growing category in convenience, up 27% year over year in the 13 weeks ending in late July, per Circana data. Furnari and Kosmal see plenty of runway for NA brands—if they’re in the right stores at the right price. Crucially, NA beer often costs as much or more than standard beer, which can give some shoppers pause.

“The ease of stopping at a c-store to pick up a six-pack of their favorite non-alc IPA or lager is worth a slightly higher price point. This, of course, differs by market, c-store chain or even neighborhood,” Kosmal said. “There are a lot of tools out there that can help retailers and brewers prioritize and target stores that are the best fit for these types of beers.”

This level of specificity and strategy is characteristic of how successful brands and retailers are approaching the beer cooler today. With the category soft overall, retailers need to ensure that their product mix and merchandising are targeted to the preferences of their shoppers. Brands are responding by creating dedicated products and packaging that meet the needs of the c-store shopper specifically. If brands can continue to deliver on that dedication, beer will retain its place as the crown jewel of convenience stores’ alcohol assortment.