Only 54% of U.S. adults now drink alcohol, the lowest share since at least 1939, and midsize brewers are rewriting their marketing playbooks in response. Boston Beer is cutting $20 million from planned incremental advertising. Athletic Brewing expects a 120% increase in national media spend. The two companies both installed new chief marketing officers in September as budgets and strategies shifted.

The pressure spans the category. Modelo is increasing its media investment by 18%, while smaller players like Garage Beer have turned to creative stunts such as a data center takedown campaign to reach consumers. Craft beer volume fell in the first half of 2026, though the segment outperformed the broader industry by 5.5 percentage points in 2025, according to the Brewers Association.

Boston Beer spends more, then cuts back

Boston Beer, the company behind Truly and Dogfish Head, spent $26.2 million on advertising, promotion and selling in Q2 2026, up 16.4% year over year. Revenue fell 3.3% to $568.3 million in the same period, driven in part by the slowdown of the hard seltzer market, where Truly is a major player.

The brewer named Allison Stransky, previously CMO of Samsung Electronics America, to its vacant CMO post in early September, effective Oct. 12. Her arrival coincides with a plan to reduce the company's planned incremental advertising range by $20 million, largely by cutting lower-performing advertising, according to an earnings transcript.

Founder, Chairman, President and CEO Jim Koch put the logic bluntly during a presentation at Barclays' 19th Annual Global Consumer Staples Conference.

"Some of the through lines on that are, most advertising doesn't work. Somewhere between 20% and 30% of CPG type advertising. So sophisticated, really quality advertising, 70% to 80% doesn't work, 20% to 30% works," Koch said.

Koch said the company has pulled all advertising support for brands until it can prove that creative improves incremental sales.

Athletic rides the nonalcoholic wave

Athletic Brewing holds a 20.7% share of the off-premise nonalcoholic beer market, positioning it as the leader in the category's fastest-growing corner. The brewer announced a 120% expected increase in national media spend in May and has leaned into sports marketing, signing a multiyear partnership with MetLife Stadium and its teams-in-residence, the New York Jets and the New York Giants.

In early September, Athletic — which describes itself as "America's largest dedicated nonalcoholic brewer" — appointed Dan Kleinman as CMO, ending a monthslong search that followed the departure of Andrew Katz, who held the role for nearly half a decade.

The tailwind behind the appointment is real. Nearly 90% of nonalcoholic beverages sold in the U.S. are beer, and as health concerns take center stage and more Americans abstain, the number of companies producing nonalcoholic beer jumped 134% between 2021 and 2025, per the Brewers Association.

Craft brewers split between growth and decline

Craft is bifurcating. In the first half of 2026, 54% of craft brewers reported volume growth, while 43% reported declines, according to Brewers Association data. Among breweries producing over 10,000 barrels, the decline rate improved to 40%, and 59% of these larger operations reported growth — 5 percentage points above the overall average.

Consumption habits among remaining craft drinkers are strengthening. Among craft drinkers, 85% consume the drink monthly, up 10% year over year and the highest level since 2020, according to the Brewers Association and Harris Poll.

The structural picture remains difficult. Craft beer volume is down 4% year over year. The number of breweries declined 1.8% between June 2025 and June 2026, with regional breweries and microbreweries each down 3%.

The near-term test for Stransky and Kleinman is whether tighter, data-driven ad spending and sports-centric media pushes can hold share in a category where fewer Americans are drinking at all.