Craft beer (aka microbrew) is back and booming. Since the industry's rise and fall in the mid 1990s, a number of serious, artisanal breweries debuted--Dogfish Head, Allagash, Green Flash, to name a few of my favorites--and now they're leading a sudsy renaissance. Bars specializing in local, hard-to-find, and offbeat beers are opening across the country (Beer Table in Brooklyn, Novare Res in Portland, Maine, Village Idiot in LA). A smart, well-chosen beer list is now de rigueur at the best restaurants. Self-described wine snobs are forgoing their beloved varietals for beers with just as much flavor, terroir, and nuance. Even Daniel Boulud, NY's famous four-star French-born chef, is opening a beer-centric spot. Mon Dieu!
Thanks to a report just released by the Brewers Association, there are numbers to reinforce craft beer's resurgence. According to the report, craft brewing grew by 5.8% in 2008, non-craft domestic grew only 0.6%, and imports were down 3.4%
Other interesting craft beer stats in the report:
--The
Top 5 Craft Brewing Companies (by beer sales volume)
- Boston Beer Co.
- Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
- New Belgium Brewing Co.
- Spoetzl Brewery
- Pyramid Breweries Inc.
Where well does your favorite local brew rate? Check here.
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Vermont has the most breweries per capita followed by Montana, Oregon, Maine and Colorado.
--There were 54 regional craft breweries, 448 microbrews, and 981 brewpubs (1,483 in total) U.S. craft breweries operating in 2008.
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Every state has at least one brewery. California leads the way with 221 followed by Colorado (103) and Washington (100).
Mississippi has one.
--The total U.S.
craft brewing industry annual dollar volume is $6.3 billion. The
20 large breweries (Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, Pabst, etc) account for $94.7 billion in annual dollar volume.