Craft Beer Sales Soar

March 20, 2015 — The week of St. Patrick’s Day seems like an appropriate time to report that craft beer in 2014 rose a whopping 42 percent and for the first time, reached double digits as a percentage of beer sales.  Eleven percent, to be exact.  In 2013, craft’s share of total sales was 7.8 percent.  According to the Brewers Association, sales were $19.6 billion.  It is a dramatic and exciting increase considering that as recently as 2010, the craft industry was just five percent of the total beer industry.

Here’s how the Brewers Association defines a craft brewery:

-Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less

-Less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer.

-A brewer that has a majority of its total beverage alcohol volume in beers whose flavor derives from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients and their fermentation.

That pretty much rules out Shock Top (AB-InBev) and Blue Moon (MolsonCoors), et al as craft beers, even if their large owners would like us to think it.  Some in the trade refer to them as “crafty beers” which is pretty funny.

The market for craft beers is being driven by millennials ages 25 to 34.  This group is regarded as “aspirational” and they drink a beer they consider a reflection of their identity.  They are prepared to spend more to have the drink they want and they are less likely to be drinking to get drunk.  At least, they don’t admit to it.

Then there’s just plain old flavor.  Craft beers taste good, have lots of varieties and interesting new products.  However, in our euphoria let’s not forget that the most popular been in the USA, by a wide margin, is Bud Light.

Chug-a-lug.