To recap 2015 in craft beer….
The Brewers Association (BA), recently released their 2015 data on the state of craft brewing.
Here are what I consider the important take-aways:
12% market share of the overall beer industry but if you look at it as retail dollar value then the number goes up to 21% market share.
Throughout the year, there were 620 new brewery openings and only 68 closings.
One of the fastest growing regions was the South, where four states—Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Texas—each saw a net increase of more than 20 breweries, establishing a strong base for future growth in the region.
None of these numbers shock me as much the sheer brewery total but what it does tell me is that there is still growth happening. Maybe not spikes upward but steady walking up the hill for sure. And I like to see that the South is starting to catch-up with the rest of the country, it speaks to me of the fact that either cities and states see the growth and are helping OR breweries are looking for open spots on the map to do business in. And from this year forward, I think it will be important to chart the opened-closed number and see how that trends.