Sorry. I might have been slightly deceptive with that headline. Your socks are probably going to stay on, which is probably for the best. This is just a “numbers” post on the unofficial estimate of domestic tax paid shipments by beer brewers for September 2018 compared to last year. The Beer Institute, a national beer trade association, collects and shares this info. This news isn’t even that new. Info was released in late October, but I’ve been busy, so just settle down.
The September 2018 estimate is 14,046,000 barrels, a decrease of 2.6 percent vs. September 2017 removals of 14,425,000. Please note that the estimates reflect revised estimates released by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
| Month | 2017 | 2018 | Percent Change | Volume Change |
| January | 12,892,534 | 12,167,000 | -5.6% | -725,534 |
| February | 11,607,408 | 11,202,000 | -3.5% | -405,408 |
| March | 15,078,591 | 14,570,000 | -3.4% | -508,591 |
| April | 14,052,326 | 14,201,000 | 1.1% | 148,674 |
| May | 16,312,653 | 15,269,000 | -6.4% | -1,043,653 |
| June | 17,029,014 | 16,327,000 | -4.1% | -702,014 |
| July | 14,439,000 | 15,323,000 | 6.1% | 884,000 |
| August | 15,347,000 | 15,368,000 | 0.1% | 21,000 |
| September | 14,425,000 | 14,046,000 | -2.6% | -379,000 |
| YTD | 131,183,526 | 128,473,000 | -2.1% | -2,710,526 |
