/PRNewswire/ - As the economy continues to improve, beverage alcohol sales are also on the rise. But not all categories are feeling relief. According to the Beverage Information Group's Handbook Advance 2012, spirits and wine persisted in taking share away from the beer category in 2011, the only category to post a loss for the second year in a row. Overall beer consumption fell by 1.5% last year and totaled 2.78 billion 2.25-gallon cases. However all is not bleak for the beer category. Craft and the higher-priced import segments grew as consumers traded up. But the rise in the craft and import beer could not offset the losses that occurred in the other beer segments.