The US craft beer scene has garnered a reputation of excellence due to its flourishing market share.
Craft beer is booming.
Since Doug Odell started his brewing experience in the late 70’s when he took his first professional brewery (not brewing) job at San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing Company, it seemed difficult that this culture were to hook some other beer entrepreneurs.
However, in plain 2019, it seems it did.
Retail sales of craft beer rose 7% in 2018 while the craft-beer market rose its net-worth to 26 billion dollars, as beer accounts for about 85% of the total volume of alcoholic beverages sold each year in the U.S., making it the country’s most popular alcoholic beverage.
According to USA Today, that sales surge helped craft brewers to 24.2% share of the $114.2 billion U.S. beer market. That’s up from 23.4% last year in a basically flat beer market.
Last year, the total U.S. beer market hit $111 billion, the association estimates.
Craft was not initially considered a threat by the bigger breweries, but in recent years, many have moved to purchase their smaller, independent competitors, turning the craft beer industry towards an unprecedented growth, as the Brewers Association stated that small and independent breweries had a market share of 5% back in 2010, but by 2018, it had increased to 13.2%.
Are we at peak beer hype?
According to Pudding, apparently not.
New breweries are opening across the country at an increasing rate. Although the trend has been booming since 2010, it doesn’t appear to be slowing either, with nearly 900 new breweries established just in 2016.
Not all U.S. states are equally excited about beer.
While California has the most new breweries by volume, it’s also the biggest state. When we look at breweries opened per capita, we find out where the real beer nuts are at, and Vermont, Montana, and Wyoming are the states with the highest average per capita openings in the last 20 years.
USA beer ratings, by Beverage Trade Network, presented its pick of the key trends right now in American craft beer.
