12% isn’t just the ABV of Saint Arnold’s latest Bishop’s Barrel creation—a Belgian Quad aged in bourbon barrels. It’s also the piece of the beer industry pie craft breweries took in 2015. Well, 12.2% to be exact. The Brewers Association released their 2015 data this week and to no one’s surprise craft beer continues to grow at an incredible rate. It appears the data confirms what anecdotal evidence suggests: the craft beer market is more than just a “hipster trend.”
In fact, craft beer saw another year of double-digit growth, even as the overall beer industry slightly shrank by 0.2%. 2015 saw the opening of 620 new breweries across the country and the production of 24.5 million barrels of craft beer. That’s approximately 759.5 million gallons of beer. Now, before you start calculating how many swimming pools that could fill (approximately 45,000 – 15’x30′ pools), try to wrap your head around the $22.3 BILLION at which craft beer is now valued. If craft beer were a country, it would place 106th on the International Monetary Fund’s 2014 global GDP rankings—slightly ahead of Afghanistan. That’s incredible.
Brewers Association also points out the 5.5% increase in industry employment craft beer’s growth has provided. So, if you’re looking for a career change, now may be the time.
Check out the great infographic BA created:
Image credit: Brewers Association
It’s also important to point out that the US is currently home to over 4,200 craft breweries, and only 68 were reported to have closed in 2015. Why does this matter? Well, while Brewers Association chief economist, Bart Watson, says “There are still a lot of opportunities and areas for additional growth.”, concern remains about a possible “craft beer bubble.” How long can the country sustain this amount of growth? What are the repercussions? What does the future of craft beer hold?
What about “Big Beer?” Not only is it fighting craft beer in the beer market, but it’s also seeing the spirits and wine industries increase their share of the overall alcoholic beverage market. We’ve become familiar with the strategy of buyouts over the recent years and expect more as the big guys focus on taking advantage of what Watson calls the “full-flavored beer movement.” What else could the mega-brewers be planning? Only time will tell.
Until then, we welcome the continued growth of our beloved craft beer. We look forward to the innovation, talent and opportunities that this explosion will bring.
As a note, this data is all still “preliminary” and a final analysis will be published early summer. Also, the newest list of the Top 50 craft and overall breweries is set to be released on April 5th. Please check out the great work Brewers Association has done in pulling together these numbers. Then, let us know who you think we’ll see on the Top 50 list in the comment section below.
