The Brewer’s Association recently released the preliminary numbers on craft beer growth for 2015 and what a year it was! The craft beer business is booming and in the past year, craft brewers produced a whopping 24.5 million barrels, which was a 13% rise in volume from 2015. What this means is that craft breweries now represent a 12% market share in the overall beer industry. The growth is impressive because a few short years ago in 2011, volume share was at 5.7%, so to have it double in 5 years is really quite impressive. Here are 5 more things you need to know about the Brewer’s Association report:
1. There are more breweries now than ever before in American history…
There are now more than 4,269 breweries in the U.S., which is a 15% growth over last year. Independent, small breweries make up 99% of this number with the demographic further broken down into 2,397 microbreweries, 1,650 brewpubs and 178 regional craft brewery. What is a regional craft brewery? Well, it’s a brewery that produces between 15,000 and 6 million barrels annually. Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams and New Belgium fit into this category.
2. 620 breweries opened up in 2015 with only 68 that closed down…
This sort of fast growth can be scary in any market, but we think that craft beer is a bit different. From what we can tell over the last few years one an area is introduced to craft beer, beer drinkers take notice and many convert from drinking the big beer brands that they grew up with. Part of this has to do with the wide variety of different styles that craft breweries are producing. Sometimes the uninitiated think that craft brews are all hop monsters and stouts. But with more and more craft breweries making lagers, pilsners and other light and easy to drink beers, people are realizing that quality is worth paying for.
3. The fastest growing craft beer market is the South…
Building on our last point, the fastest growing markets for craft beer are all in Southern states. In fact, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Texas each had a net increase of more than 20 breweries open this past year. This is exciting news and suggests that even in places where Budweiser is still the King of Beers, people are deciding that quality, craft beer is more suited to their palette.
4. Craft breweries added more than 6000 jobs to the market this year for 122,000 jobs provided in total…
Craft beer also helped to add more than 6000 jobs to the market this past year. Already employing more than 122,000 jobs at breweries and brewpubs, the craft beer sector is a legitimate employment opportunity for many people across the country.
5. Although the total U.S. beer market was down 0.2%, craft beer was up 13%…
This goes back to our second fact…even though beer is losing market share to liquor drinks and wine, the craft beer market was up 13%. That sort of growth means that although a smidge of fewer people are drinking beer overall, more and more of those beer drinkers are turning to craft beer to quench their thirst.
So keep on keeping on and drink up!