455: Doug Veliky of Beer Crunchers Offers His Predictions for Craft in 2026

Doug Veliky, now of beverage consulting firm BrightBev, author of the BeerCrunchers newsletter and blog, and the personality behind the Beer Aficionado social media account, has a knack for explaining complex beverage-business goings-on without jargon. Over the years of running first finance and then marketing for Chicago craft brewery Revolution, he developed a keen sense of brand building and market timing.

Now, he shares that expertise with beverage brands both professionally and publicly, with BrightBev as well as via entertaining videos on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. However, in this episode of the podcast, we dive deeper than the minute or two that social media typically afford, and we explore the trends that Veliky sees gaining momentum over the next 12 months. Including:

• major flavor trends in 2026, such as apple, yuzu, pickle, and more
• rethinking seasonality in fruit beer
• balancing philosophy and consistency with effectiveness in branding
• the growing segments of mid-strength and “dad-strength” beer
• lower performance from breweries’ long-tail brands
• building brands slowly to gain organic traction
• pricing trends that affect craft beer
• how quality is a make-or-break proposition in craft beer today

And more.

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