Craft beer industry sees record openings — and closings — in
2017
http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/ct-food-craft-beer-stats-2017-story.html
The U.S.
An estimated 997 new breweries opened and 165 closed, the
Colorado-based craft beer trade group announced. Both are all-time highs since
the American beer industry was jolted by the birth of craft beer in the late
1970s.
The country was home to a whopping 6,266 breweries in 2017,
the Brewers Association said — a stark contrast to just 10 years ago, when the
nation claimed about 1,500 breweries.
On a call with reporters, Brewers Association chief
economist Bart Watson said the volatility is “a natural function of a maturing
industry.”
With another 2,500 breweries in planning, he said, the
industry is likely to see more fluctuation.
“It’s a competitive marketplace,” he said. “I think we’re
going to continue to see that closings number continue to rise.”
But Watson described the state of craft beer as
fundamentally strong, driven in part by the growth of the smallest breweries.
Craft beer nudged upward to 12.7 percent of the American
beer industry; for the past two years, it was 12.1 percent. As recently as
2013, it was still less than 8 percent.
Craft beer also grew 5 percent in 2017 in terms of overall
volume — a slowdown from the previous year. In 2016, craft beer volume grew 6.2
percent, which ended a six-year run of double digit annual growth.
The combination of more breweries opening amid slowing
growth led to an industry crash during the late 1990s, but Watson said craft
beer is girded against a similar outcome in the coming years.
“The fundamental demand for craft beer is stronger than it
was back then,” he said. “The affinity of the brands the brewers have built is
stronger than back then.”
Also, he said, while larger regional brewers struggle to
stand out on crowded store shelves, smaller brewers have thrived — and will
continue to do so — by selling beer direct to consumers in brewery taprooms.
The Brewers Association once set a goal of craft beer
commanding 20 percent of the industry by 2020, an idea from which it retreated
last year. Waston said the goal “was always aspirational.” The biggest reason
that it won’t be met, he said, is simple: acquisitions.
Any brewery with more than 25 percent ownership by a big
beer company fails to qualify under the Brewers Association’s definition of a
“craft brewer.” Therefore, breweries that once figured into the statistics —
such as Lagunitas, Ballast Point, Founders and 14 breweries owned by Anheuser-Busch
(which owns Chicago
The Brewers Association has tweaked two-thirds of its
definition of a “craft brewer” — “small” (the maximum production was raised
from 2 million annual barrels of production to 6 million) and “traditional”
(the organization now allows for adjuncts such as rice and corn to be used).
However, it has held fast to its definition of “independent” — no more than 25
percent of a craft brewer can be owned by a brewery that itself is not
considered “craft” — resulting in a data set that is adjusted with every
brewery sale.
Watson said the goal of 20 percent by 2020 might have been
possible if not for the mergers and acquisitions that have upended the
industry.
“It would still be a challenge, but it could’ve been met,”
he said.
by Josh Noel Chicago Tribune
Comments
Post a Comment