Runners Say ‘Cheers’ to Performance Beer
Craft brewers tap the $3.3 billion health and wellness market

Runners kept pounding the pavement during the pandemic, and brewers are ready to reward them with “performance beer.”
Facing limited exercise options during lockdowns, many runners upped their mileage, according to a new global survey from RunRepeat.
Those who formerly ran once or twice a week increased their activity by an average of 117 percent. Those who previously ran three times a week reported an average increase of 55 percent. Only four-times-plus per week runners decreased their activity, with an average drop of 9 percent.
After logging their miles, some runners say they’re ready to quaff a cold brew that could aid their recovery.
Also known as “functional beers,” they have a lower alcohol content than other craft brews and have been likened to “boozy Gatorade.”
“What I’m seeing on the market is additives and ingredients like chia seeds, bee pollen, lemongrass or other herbs/spices, black currant, lime, or other fruits or berries and added electrolytes like salt,” nutritionist Ginger Hultin told USA Today.
Those ingredients are common in sports drinks but are new to the beer category, the owner of Champagne Nutrition said.
Challenging times for craft brewers
As runners picked up the pace, craft brewers confronted a changing industry.
“While craft beer remains popular with consumers and has consistently grown as a product segment of the overall breweries industry, the explosive growth experienced throughout the 2000s and 2010s has slowed,” IBIS World senior analyst Chris Lombardo told Beverage Industry.
“This doesn’t represent declining demand for craft beer; instead, it shows what occurs when the demand has largely been satisfied,” he said.
And though Americans bought more beer during the pandemic, most of the country’s 8,000-plus craft brewers don’t sell in grocery stores and rely on sales to local restaurants or in their taprooms, according to NBC News.
The Brewers Association estimates that it will take until 2022 for craft brewers to return to 2019 production levels and even longer to achieve previous growth trends of 3 percent to 4 percent a year.
Tapping into health and wellness
To keep sales moving, some craft brewers got creative with pastry stouts. Others are tapping into the health and wellness market, valued at $3.31 billion in 2020 and forecast to be worth $4.24 billion by 2026.
Performance beers currently comprise just 1 percent of the craft beer market, which is 13 percent of the total beer market, Bloomberg reports, so there’s plenty of room to grow.
And interest appears to be increasing along with “demand for beverages that are lower in calories and higher in things traditionally found in health drinks, like electrolytes and micronutrients.”
“Performance beers are a growing trend that shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon,” Steven Pauwels, brewmaster for Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City, Missouri, told USA Today. “There is a clear evolution among young consumers to live an active and healthy lifestyle while also enjoying an affinity for craft beer.”
Even big craft beer companies are on board.
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, the country’s third-largest craft brewery, bought San Francisco-based Sufferfest Beer Company, founded by Caitlin Landesberg, a long-distance trail runner.
“The gluten-reduced beer brands itself as ‘beer with benefits’ marketed to athletes as a recovery drink because it contains electrolytes and sea salts to help drinkers refuel instead of leaving them dehydrated like most alcohol does,” per Market Watch.
The enthusiasts at Runner’s World call the new beers “recovery-friendly ales and lagers to ease our aching legs” and recommended seven to sample, including Sufferfest FKT, which adds black currants and sodium.
What experts say
Not everyone is convinced of the benefits. Leading sports nutritionist Marie Spano noted that “any alcohol is a diuretic and therefore not something an athlete benefits from.”
“Beer does not hydrate anyone better than a sports drink or post-workout shake,” added the lead author of “Nutrition for Sport, Exercise, and Health.”
Journalist and host of “The Messy Epicure” podcast Jason Horn dubbed the beverages “Gatorale.”
“You’re not allowed to actually say an alcohol product is healthy, so they market it as something that you can drink to refresh and restore yourself after your run,” he told the Toronto Star. “Actually, all beer has electrolytes and nutrients, but it’s still a weird situation to market it as a healthy product because alcohol is harmful, and some people have an addiction to it.”
Beer makers emphasize the feel-good value of performance beers.
Josh Rapp, brewhouse manager at Avery Brewing in Boulder, Colorado, told Beer Connoisseur: “For me, beer has a very positive mental and psychological aspect. That can’t be discounted. Getting some exercise, then rewarding yourself with a beer feels good. It brings the accomplishment full circle. Why does a beer taste better after a run or a bike ride? It’s probably not just the hydration, it’s giving yourself a reward.”