US craft beer volumes up 4 percent in 2019
USA | In retrospect, 2019 may have been “peak craft”. The Brewers Association (BA) estimates that independents produced 31 million hl beer, up nearly 4 percent, increasing craft’s market share by volume to 13.6 percent.
The US beer market, meanwhile, contracted by 2 percent.
Retail dollar value was estimated at USD 29.3 billion, representing a 25.2 percent market share and 6 percent growth over 2018. Craft brewers provided more than 160,000 direct jobs, an increase of 7 percent over 2018.
Over 900 brewery openings
Per the BA, 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.
“Although craft brewers entered 2020 on a solid foundation, the beer landscape is dramatically different today than it was just a few months ago. Breweries will be facing new realities due to the pandemic with extended closures, tight cash flow, societal shifts, and other economic variables in play. These 2019 figures will allow us to see how much covid-19 affects small brewer production and jobs,” the BA’s economist Bart Watson commented.
