According to GuestMetrics, based on its POS database of more than $8 billion in annual sales, cider continued to display strong growth in full service restaurants and bars in the first quarter of 2013, driven primarily by Sam Adams Angry Orchard. 

“While cider still has a small share of the broad beer category, hard ciders volume sold in on-premise grew 40 percent in 2012 compared to the prior year, and picked up further momentum during the first quarter of 2013, growing 70 percent,” says Bill Pecoriello, CEO of GuestMetrics LLC. “This is generally similar to the growth in off-premise, namely 80 percent in 2012 and around 100 percent during the first quarter of this year, according to IRI, though cider was growing off of a smaller base in off-premise than in on-premise.” 

According to data from GuestMetrics, cider accounted for 0.35 percent of the broadly-defined beer category (which includes cider in this analysis) in 2011, then grew share to 0.50 percent in 2012, and further expanded to 0.70 percent during the first quarter of 2013, roughly double cider’s share of the broad beer category in off-premise, per data from IRI.

“In order to get a better understanding of what drove the cider growth, we analyzed the specific brands within the category. Based on our data, Sam Adams Angry Orchard had a 27-share of ciders sold during 2012 in on-premise, and grew that share to a 44-share by the first quarter of 2013,” says Peter Reidhead, VP of strategy and insights at GuestMetrics. “These figures are generally quite similar to Angry Orchard’s share of ciders sold in off-premise, which had a 23-share of cider during 2012, and a 39-share during the first quarter of this year, according to IRI.”

“As restaurant operators consider how to optimize their menu offerings, having up-to-date knowledge of the fastest growing categories and brands in the alcohol space is critical,” says Brian Barrett, president of GuestMetrics.