2017 Best Selling Biers January 18 2018, 0 Comments

2017 was a crazy year within the walls of Bier Cellar.  Thanks to your patronage and support our sales grew over 25% from 2016 and we were able to grow our staff, add a walk in cooler to keep all of our hoppy back stock chilled for freshness and reinvest in our business to make it the bottle shop you deserve.  Each year we like to compile our top ten best sellers to see what you guys were most in to this year and to see if any trends emerge.  2017, like 2016, was the year of the local four pack 16oz hoppy beer.  With only one non Maine brewed beer in the top ten, you guys definitely voted local with your dollars.  We rank these based on dollars, not on units, and this top ten include keg sales.  For example, we sold 110 kegs of Bissell Brothers The Substance in 2017, so even with their relatively limited retail distribution they captured the #4 spot.  So here are 2017's top 10 best sellers.

1. Lawson's Sip of Sunshine

2. Battery Steele Flume

3. Foundation Epiphany

4. Bissell Brothers The Substance 

5. Rising Tide MITA

6. Liquid Riot A Beer Has No Name

7. Foundation Afterglow

8. Mast Landing Dash IPA

9. Mast Landing DDH Tell Tale Pale

10. Austin Street Patina Pale Ale

A few interesting stats.  All of the top ten were four packs of 16oz cans.  Just over 10,000 four packs were sold of those top ten beers.  

Of the top ten, many had limited time available.  Batter Steele Flume launched in May, Sip of Sunshine in July.  Rising Tide MITA is only available during the warmer months, and is buoyed on the top ten by lots of keg sales.  Lawson's Sip of Sunshine outpaced the number 2 beer by 78%, almost double the sales of Batter Steele Flume.  The number 2, 3 and 4 beers were separated by less than 2% difference in total dollar sales.

It's fun to break down a total years numbers and see how the chips fell.  Our goal of providing the best and freshest beer and the most knowledgeable staff never changes, but it is interesting to see how the craft beer industry changes year in and year out.  Lagers, like Foundation's Riverton Flyer and Bunker's Machine Pils, weren't far out of the top 10.  Our collaboration with Liquid Riot, Tropical Storm, a kettle sour with fruit puree wasn't far out of the top 10 as was Oxbow's Momoko.  So although the top 10 is all hoppy, variety wasn't far away.  

Thanks again for your support in 2017 and we will continue to bust our ass to earn your business in 2018.  Happy New Year.