Volume growth for craft breweries as defined by the Brewers Association (BA) was 4% in 2019. The mid-single digit growth was on par with volume growth in 2018, showing a slow but steady increase in sales for craft beer over the last two years, compared to overall beer volume which declined 2% last year.
Craft brewers, defined by the BA as those who produce fewer than 6 million barrels per year and less than 25% owned by a non-craft brewer, produced a total of 26.3 million barrels in 2019. Independent craft’s share of the total beer market by volume increased to 13.6% in 2019, up from 13% in 2018 and 12.5% in 2017.
“Small and independent brewers continued to serve as job creators, strong economic contributors, and community beacons in 2019, while craft maintained a fairly stable growth rate in 2019 and continued to gain share in the beer market,” said Bart Watson, chief economist, Brewers Association.
There were 8,275 craft breweries operating in 2019, including 2,058 microbreweries, 3,011 brewpubs, 2,966 taproom breweries, and 240 regional craft breweries. Throughout the year, there were 942 new brewery openings and 294 closings. This will be the peak of breweries in the US for many years to come, as thousands of breweries are expected to close over the coming months due to the virus pandemic.
See the BA report here.