US craft beer market skyrocketing
According to the Brewers Association, the amount of craft beer bought and the number of craft breweries in the U.S. has grown rapidly in the past year.
Sales for independent craft brewers (which the BA defines as small-scale, traditional brewers; for its full definition, click here) increased 15 percent in the first half of the year compared t0 the same period in 2010. In addition, 165 new craft breweries have opened their doors since June 2010, bringing the national total up to 1,790, and another 725 breweries are in the works.
“It seems like every day we are hearing about a brewery in planning,” said Paul Gatza, director of the BA. “Will they all make it? No, but many will if they produce high-quality, interesting craft beers.”
Posted on Monday, August 8th, 2011
I have to believe that, at least partly, this is due to the InBev purchase of AB. I know a few engineers that used to work for AB, and many of them have left to either start their own breweries, or have gone to work for small breweries in and around the mid-west. While I’ll admit I was not happy about the purchase of AB at the time, I think that it’s actually helped the craft beer industry in ways that were not obvious at the time of the purchase.