Giants are joining forces to expand their presence in the industry, the craft beer market is growing larger, who is competing for a share of young people's next drink?
5.9 yuan a cup "Mixue" Fulujia, 88 yuan a bottle "Zhenjiu Lidu" Bull Market, craft beer has never been as "fragmented" as it is today.
On the one hand, there is an average price below 10 yuan, and a "milk tea-style" expansion with more than 3000 stores; on the other hand, leading baijiu players are making high-profile moves, spending three years polishing a bottle of high-end craft beer... A group of cross-sector giants including Mixue Bingcheng, Zhenjiu, Wuliangye, Three Squirrels, Pang Donglai have formed a special "new force" in the craft beer track.
▲ Source: Official WeChat account of Fresh Beer Fulujia
These cross-sector players bring different genes, different resources, and a set of logic completely different from traditional craft beer, turning the craft beer track upside down.
01. Multiple Players Enter the Market, Giants Team Up to Carve Up the Trillion-yuan Market
Since 2025, craft beer has frequently broken out of its niche circle. But the force driving this trend is not the "indigenous players" of the track, but a group of cross-sector giants.
A very representative example is Fulujia.
In October 2025, Mixue Group issued an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, acquiring 53% equity of Fresh Beer Fulujia for 297 million yuan. As soon as the news came out, "Mixue Bingcheng is going to sell beer" quickly became a trending search. Since then, Fulujia has stepped on the accelerator.
▲ Source: Weibo Topic
At the beginning of 2025, Fulujia had only about 270 stores. But in 2025 alone, Fulujia opened nearly 1300 new stores; as of July 2026, Fulujia has opened more than 900 new stores (data source: Zhaimencanyan).
In March 2026, Fulujia made another big move -- officially announcing Lu Han as its first global spokesperson. At that time, the enthusiasm of Lu Han's fans spread from offline stores to online topics, and Fulujia once again hit the trending search list.
▲ Source: Official WeChat account of Fresh Beer Fulujia
With the operational thinking of the tea beverage industry, Mixue Bingcheng has brought Fulujia to the peak of traffic. With the price as low as 5.9 yuan per cup, Fulujia has successfully entered multi-level markets.
Fulujia is just a microcosm of this cross-sector trend. Over the past year or so, cross-sector forces have poured into the craft beer track from all sides.
1. Vertical Cross-sector Entry: Baijiu Giants Make "Dimensionality Reduction" Attempts
Baijiu giants have all set their sights on the highly profitable craft beer sector.
In August 2025, Wu Xiangdong, founder of Zhenjiu Lidu, launched the high-end craft beer "Bull Market" through his personal live stream, which is 375ml aluminum bottled and priced at 88 yuan. Wu Xiangdong revealed that the R&D of this product took three years.
▲ Source: "Bull Market" of Zhenjiu Lidu
In the same month, Xianlin Ecological Wine Industry under Wuliangye launched the craft beer brand "Feng Huolun". It is packed in 390ml coated aluminum cans with a suggested retail price of 19.5 yuan, focusing on the concept of "Chinese Wuliang Craft Beer".
▲ Source: Wuliangye Xianlin
In December 2025, Songhe Liquor Industry opened its first "Songhe Liquor & Home Delivery" store for trial operation in Zhengzhou, with a craft beer dispensing station inside. Before that, Songhe's craft beer had already been distributed to the market through its original channels.
▲ Source: Songhe Liquor & Home Delivery
In May 2026, Luzhou Laojiao publicly stated during an investor research activity that it has developed innovative alcoholic products such as craft beer.
While the baijiu market is cooling down, the craft beer market is heating up. For Wuliangye, Zhenjiu and other similar brands, craft beer is a "youth-oriented" card they play. Through richer flavors, more palatable tastes and more fashionable packaging, baijiu enterprises want to use craft beer to open the market of young consumers.
2. Horizontal Cross-sector Entry: Snack and Retail Players Enter the Market Collectively
The snack industry has also seen frequent moves.
At the end of April 2025, Three Squirrels launched the craft beer brand "Sun Monkey", focusing on products such as Maojian Tea Beer, Jasmine Tea Beer and Longjing Tea Beer.
▲ Source: Official WeChat account of Three Squirrels
In May, Haoxiangni launched four Chinese-style craft beers in the "Baoxi" series, with flavors including red date, Maojian green tea, jasmine and cherry peach, priced at 28.1 yuan for 1L.
▲ Source: Haoxiangni
In July 2026, Want Want launched a number of alcoholic products under its parent brand, and disclosed that it has invested a total of 73 million US dollars to build three breweries with an annual output of 20,000 tons.
There are also self-owned brands from channel providers joining in enthusiastically.
As of March 2026, the cumulative sales volume of Pang Donglai's online "DL Craft Wheat Beer" has exceeded 2 million orders, and the total sales of its two flagship products have exceeded 100 million yuan.
Hema's multi-flavor self-operated craft beer ranked fifth in the "Beer and Ready-to-drink Mixed Alcohol" list of Yicai, and is the only supermarket brand on the list.
Over the past year or so, the entry of multiple forces has made the craft beer track more lively than ever. Under the prosperity, cross-sector players are quietly changing product perceptions and market patterns with endless trending topics and rich and diverse product lines.
02. The Industry is Undergoing Major Changes, Players Are Changing, and Game Rules Are Also Changing
When milk tea shops, baijiu factories, snack shops and supermarket shelves all start making craft beer, the products, prices, channels and even the competition pattern of this industry are being rewritten.
1. Changes in Products: Everything Can Be Brewed -- From Jasmine to Pickled Mustard, Craft Beer Flavors Are "De-boundary"
The bitterness of IPA, the burnt aroma of Stout, the citrus note of Belgian white beer... Once upon a time, the flavor map of craft beer mainly revolved around malt and hops.
▲ Source: Official WeChat account of Fresh Beer Fulujia
But today's craft beer is following the old path of new tea drinks, starting to roll out innovative flavors.
First of all, in 2024, a "tea beer" trend swept across the craft beer track. Brands such as Jinxing launched tea beer with flavors of Maojian, jasmine tea, Biluochun, etc., which quickly caused heated discussions with their novel flavors.
By 2025, tea beer has become the mainstream segment of craft beer. Data from the China Research and Industrialization Development Institute shows that by 2025, the market size of tea-flavored craft beer has exceeded 120 billion yuan. Also in this year, more cross-sector players set their sights on tea beer, for example, leading tea brand Wu Yutai cooperated with beer brand Shuanghesheng to launch jasmine tea craft beer.
▲ Source: Taobao
The fruit beer segment also keeps launching hit products. Take Fulujia as an example, Fulujia, which adds fruit elements such as passion fruit, litchi, even sugar tangerine and watermelon, further promotes the "beverage-oriented" development of craft beer.
▲ Source: Official WeChat account of Fresh Beer Fulujia
Not only that, the craft beer track has also welcomed a number of "ultra-niche" flavors, such as schizonepeta, candied hawthorn, and even pickled mustard beer launched by Fuling Zhacai in April 2026. The flavor system of craft beer has been completely broken up by cross-sector players, entering an era where "everything can be brewed".
2. Changes in Price: From "88 yuan a can" to "5.9 yuan a cup", the price band is widened
When Wu Xiangdong, founder of Zhenjiu Lidu, held up the 88-yuan 375ml "Bull Market" in the live stream, he said frankly that it is indeed not cheap. Almost at the same time, Fulujia's German-style wheat beer was priced at 5.9 yuan per cup in community stores.
The two are a microcosm of the industry, indicating that the price band of craft beer is extending to both ends.
On the one hand, the mainstream price band of craft beer is continuously moving down. The research report of China International Capital Corporation shows that the mainstream price band of craft beer has changed from 30-50 yuan/400ml to 10-20 yuan/1L. On the other hand, brands such as Bull Market are still exploring the possibility of high-end craft beer.
Exploring the ceiling of quality and brand upward, touching the floor of mass daily consumption downward, the "circle" culture of craft beer is also being broken, and it has truly become a "mass category".