Locally, regionally and nationally, non-mainstream brews are moving up the charts in the U.S. market.
By Lew Bryson T
he bright bubbling ferment in a flat U.S. beer market is the continued strong growth of craft beer: up 11% by volume in 2010, 12% by dollar sales. Craft beers represented 7.6% of retail dollar sales in the U.S. market and 4.9% in volume, up over a million 31-gallon barrels, and up over $600 million in sales. It’s no wonder we don’t call it “micro” anymore. Craft, the non-mainstream IPAs and hoppy lagers and brown ales, had flat-lined after phenomenal initial growth, and looked to have reached a natural limit around 3% of the beer market. Then ten years ago the
tide turned, and craft has posted yearly growth between 5% and 11% since then and right through the recession, a phenomenal string.
Classic Rock T
he trend looks solid now. People from within and outside the industry sense that a tipping point has been reached, and the growth is coming from drinkers discovering the category. “The trend that stands out the most is the sheer number of new drinkers moving into craft,” said Joe Whitney, director of sales and marketing at Sierra Nevada Brewing (Chico, Calif.).
Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • May/June 2011 • 45
