Hmmm, what to brew, what to brew?
It’s been my experience that brewers always have plenty of ideas about what to brew next, but cooking up something that will catch fire in the marketplace is an entirely different matter. We’re fortunate, though, because for craft brewers the risk is low—each brew is its own test market. Still, it would be nice to know which clever idea has the best chance of tickling our drinkers’ fancy.
Yet knowing what trend will come next in the marketplace is elusive, for multiple reasons. The market is reliably fickle, for one thing, and current events can push people, businesses, and things in wildly unpredictable directions.
It’s tempting to look at what your competition is doing, but in today’s fast-moving marketplace, that’s like arriving at the party just as everybody else is thinking about calling it a night.
Product-specific trends follow cycles of just a few years, fade into oblivion, and then are recycled and eventually reframed for the next cohort. Trends ride atop larger sociological cycles that may have a strong generational component. So, it’s helpful to know what’s going on in society and in peoples’ heads as you look for the next big thing.
The trend reports I’ve found—and some of which I share here—are mainly aimed at large companies with long product-development time frames. But they can be useful for us artisans, as well.
The Arc of Modern Beer
Today’s brewers know it all too well: These are uncertain times for beer, with zero growth (or worse), breweries closing, and younger drinkers turning away from the craft beers we’ve all grown up with—or, unthinkably, from alcohol itself.
So, how did we get here? To understand today’s trends and what may come next, it helps to understand our trajectory.
By 1970 in the United States, the beer landscape was pretty desolate, with little else but macro beer and a few stale imports. In typical American fashion, drinkers became brewers—first at home, and then in laughably small commercial operations. The cleverest and most persistent of them became successful with beers inspired by Euro-classics, mostly without explicitly copying them. Variety was back—beer wasn’t just an industry, it was a movement and a culture.
By the turn of the millennium, just as social media were ramping up, people decided that more is more. That led to the bitterness and ABV wars, to IPA everything, and to the rise of bourbon barrel–aged imperial stouts. Eager collectors started fetishizing rare whales for dopamine’s sake. I’m not knocking these beers, mind you, but if there was a point where craft-beer culture jumped the shark, that was it.
All that madness, meanwhile, spawned a quiet counterrevolution. IPAs gradually became less weighty and more drinkable, showcasing newer hops with bright citrusy aromas. Because those flavors were so appealing, brewers wondered how they could pack more of their aroma into beers without making them too bitter to drink. The hazies answered that question. At the same time, increased competition led breweries to become more specialized, featuring culinary ingredients, nonstandard fermentations, fruits, botanicals, and more.
Further simplifying beer was a new wave of classic lagers that persist today. On the mainstream side, we’ve gone through the “light” revolution, then health-driven trends such as low-carb—Michelob Ultra is now the No. 1 selling beer in the United States—then low- and no-everything.
Along the way, big brewers had their flings with fruited beers, more recently overtaken by seltzers and cannabis drinks.
The Market and New Products
So, here we are. All beer volume is shrinking. Craft is holding onto its base, but some fans are aging out. Newcomers aren’t buying into the story; they want their own, but it’s not entirely clear what that’s going to be.
Brewers, meanwhile, are working harder and smarter amid disruptions galore—COVID, economics, smartphone hell, and now... whatever this is. Psychologically, there’s a lot of uncertainty out there, spawning malaise and fear. People are turning inward.
Even before I got involved in craft beer, I was supervising new-product development as a creative director at an ad agency. While today’s specifics are obviously different, people are still people, so a lot of the basics still apply. We had one main yardstick for ideas: Make it the same, but just a little different. People want novelty, but they’re also deeply afraid of the unfamiliar and even intimidated by it. So, it’s always a balancing act.
Sometimes you have to give people something to latch onto. At 5 Rabbit Cervecería, it took years to figure out that if we used something unfamiliar—prickly pear, for example—people were far more willing to try it if it was paired with a familiar fruit, such as blackberry, that told them where the flavor was heading. How we talk about the products is obviously crucial, as it can frame expectations and remove barriers to trial.
Besides forecasts like the ones I summarize here, the best places to look for new ideas is in other categories: tea, ice cream, and whatever the hippest cocktail bars are offering. They’re often years ahead of whatever’s in the grocery stores.
What follows is a summary of 11 current reports produced by market-data/analytics firms, ingredient and flavor suppliers, and others. Some of it is just musings from futurists, but some is solidly research-based.
What Are the Trend Experts Saying About 2026 (and Beyond)?
As noted, uncertainty and insecurity have created a boom in comforting experiences, especially small luxuries or treats.
A world threatened by pollution and climate disasters has driven people to be more interested in healthy products and practices. So, clean labeling and ethical supply lines, while sometimes difficult to convey, are more important than ever.
Nutrition, however you interpret it, impacts many categories—although this can seem dubious for alcohol. People want less and “better” sugar; one recent trend is “fibermaxxing,” as increased dietary fiber impacts the microbiome, providing some of the same benefits as the new GLP-1 drugs.
People are also seeking “functional” ingredients—sometimes called nutraceuticals—for brain health, antioxidative activity, and other benefits. Many of these are botanicals that can also have interesting flavors.
Studies consistently show that younger generations are drinking less. As one report says, “low- and no-alcohol are not a niche” anymore; they’re mainstream. However, they also may be drinking better, moving to luxurious brands and the theatrical experience of cocktails. This rides on the underlying psychology that younger people are more interested in experiences than products.
Nostalgia, as always, remains a strong driver, but now it must be coupled with a twist—a phenomenon known as “newstalgia.” Think fruit punch with guava added.
There’s also an overall desire to—as one survey participant said—“make me feel something.” That can manifest in several ways. First is simply big and bold: “dirty” sodas with high syrup ratios, with cream sometimes swirled in, soda-fountain style, along with intense flavors, colors, and textures.
Layered, multisensory flavors are popping up in all kinds of foods, drinks, and snacks—sweet, savory, salty, sour, umami, and even bitter mingled together for a more complex experience. There’s a long tradition of this in Asian foods, as compared to Western ones. Surprise is also a valued experience for people.
Interest in global flavors and ingredients has never been higher, and we see this with breweries seeking inspiration from particular cultures. Beyond purely traditional cuisines, there’s interest in mash-up fusions that reimagine exotic flavors in familiar contexts—Indian pizza, for example.
Even as the spotlight shines on the whole flavorful world, people are also interested in hyper-local ingredients—even those that are foraged, rather than cultivated.
What’s It All Mean for Beer?
When considering all those desirable market characteristics together, it’s clear that many are at cross-purposes—so you must choose.
People want high-end and flavor intensity, but they also want lighter. Given that people are generally unwilling to pay top prices for regular-strength beers, that may be hard to resolve.
“Healthy beer” is an oxymoron, but in fact beer has long been known as the “beverage of moderation.” On the lighter end, there are abundant new options, including flavorful, dry-hopped West Coast–style pilsners.
It’s also possible to incorporate functional ingredients such as nutrient-dense superfruits in beers, allowing consumers to self-identify without any overt claims of healthfulness—a concept I call “stealthy healthy.” Some of these ingredients happen to be delicious, too.
Newstalgia? Have a look at Garage Beer, a minimally new spin on mass-market beer—it’s the hottest thing going right now. Products such as pastry stouts and “slushy” beers are well established, maybe even past trendy by now. Can either of these be reimagined for the new cohort?
Global flavors? Already there, with more coming. Have a look at what global craft brewers are doing—check out Brazil’s Caterina sours, for example.
Experience? Yes, in taprooms and brewpubs everywhere, but it’s an open question how to formulate beers that really qualify as an experience. But it’s not impossible.
As far as a layered multisensory experience, beer already delivers, with sweet, bitter, acidic, creamy, and carbonated qualities. Salty, spicy, and savory—dubbed “swalty,” “swicy” and “swavory” when balanced with sweetness—will be trickier and need a compelling story to make them work. Cocktails might provide useful inspiration here.
I know these feel like dark times, but beer has been here before. Who would have thought, back in the 1970s, that today’s delicious kaleidoscope of craft beers would ever have become a reality?
The future, as always, belongs those who look out into nothingness and see something—then make it happen. I’m excited to find out what you come up with.
Addendum: Dive Deeper into the Trends
For many more specific ideas, search online for “flavor trends” reports from these companies (among others):
- Nestlé
- Flavor Producers powered by Glanbia Nutritionals
- T. Hasegawa
- Innova Market Insights
- IFT (Institute of Food Technologists)
- McCormick
- Food Dive
- James Beard Foundation
- Monin
- Bickford Flavors
- Datassential
- Synergy
- BevSource
Also see Flavors to Savor: How 2026’s Biggest Trends Are Showing Up in Beer, from our Brewing Industry Guide and available to Industry All-Access subscribers.
