The state of the (microbrew) union

March 1, 4:12 PMDallas Craft Beer ExaminerPaul Hightower

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Image: Brewers Association

Each year, the Brewers Association is kind enough to compile market data regarding the American microbrew industry. Let us review terminology, trends and a few numbers released this week.

Definitions

Brewpub: A restaurant-brewery that sells 25% or more of its beer on site.

Microbrewery: A brewery that produces less than 15,000 barrels of beer per year.

Regional craft brewery: An independent brewery with an annual beer production of between 15,000 and 2,000,000 barrels.

(1 barrel = 31 U.S. gallons)

By the numbers

Operating in the United States during 2008 were:

• 54 regional craft breweries (up 1 from 2007)
• 448 microbreweries (up 56 from 2007)
• 981 brewpubs (up 6 from 2007)

These numbers mean 1483 of the 1527 operating breweries in the U.S. can be classified as producing microbrewed beer. The remaining 44 breweries belong to the large corporate brewers such as Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors, etc., as well as various contract brewers.

In terms of production volume during 2008:

• 5,594,670 barrels from regional craft breweries (up 10% from 2007)
• 1,061,388 barrels from microbreweries (up 13% from 2007)
• 699,047 barrels from brewpubs (down 2% from 2007)

Even with these impressive numbers, microbrewed beer still only makes up 4% of the total U.S. market by volume, or 6.3% by sales. The rest? Check who sponsors your favorite sporting event, spending money on slick marketing rather than product.

Positive trends

The good news is that the U.S. microbrew market is thriving, even with a national economy that is limping along. Overall growth in the microbrew market was 5.8% last year, compared with a mere 0.6% from the corporate brewers and a loss of 3.4% in imported beer.

Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association, said “2008 was a historic year for beer with the large brewers consolidating and imports losing share, while the top ten selling beer brands dropped in sales. At the same time, small independent craft brewers continued to gain share and attention.”

This is not to say that independent microbrewers don’t face their own set of challenges and hardships. But what it does say is that microbreweries are not a passing fad, and people are starting to vote with their dollars for the products they prefer.

A full report is available on the BA website, including all the pretty charts and graphs.

Cheers!

paul@scientist.com