U.S. Brewery Count Reaches Record High of 2,751

WASHINGTON, DC – 13 Dec 2012/mbb/ – The Beer Institute announced new data today showing that the number of active permitted brewers rose to a historic high of 2,751, as reported by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). This high water mark is up from 2,309 active permitted brewers in 2011. This is the highest number of U.S. brewers ever recorded by the Beer Institute.

In 2012 the industry gained 442 new brewers with California gaining 31 brewers, Texas gaining 29, and Colorado, Illinois and Washington all gaining 28 each.

“This is an exciting time for beer. Today we have more breweries in the United States than ever before. New brewers are opening at a record pace, while brewers both big and small are delivering innovations in styles, flavors and packaging,” said Joe McClain, President of the Beer Institute, the trade association that represents beer brewers and importers.

“Whether it is a major brewery that supports thousands of good-paying jobs or a microbrewer that is expanding, brewers help our economy by drawing on a wide range of supporting industries – farming, manufacturing, distributing and service workers who help deliver beer to the consumer. Today, there are more than 1.8-million Americans at work because of beer,” McClain said.

An economic analysis shows that brewing & importing accounts for $223.8 billion in economic output, with employees earning nearly $71.2 billion in wages and benefits, and generating more than $44 billion in tax revenues.

And Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione responds on BA:

The Beer Institute (The group representing large international brewers and a number of American craft brewers as well) released this statement yesterday:

“RECORD NUMBER OF BREWERIES NOW PERMITTED
The Beer Institute announced new data today showing that the number of active permitted brewers rose to a historic high of 2,751, as reported by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). This high water mark is up from 2,309 active permitted brewers in 2011. This is the highest number of U.S. brewers ever recorded by the Beer Institute.
In 2012 the industry gained 442 new brewers with California gaining 31 brewers, Texas gaining 29, and Colorado, Illinois and Washington all gaining 28 each.”

Yes there are a record number of breweries open today but the fact that roughly 2,700 of them are small American-owned craft brewers who collectively SHARE 6 percent marketshare in a country where two international conglomerates control roughly 85 percent of the market is an indication of how marginalized we are. Our access-to-market issues up against the big two and their influence at the distributor and retailer levels are very real and we as craft brewers need to let beer lovers know this. Craft brewers, beer advocates and craft consumers deserve the credit for the fact that there are now over 2,700 breweries in America. This is a grassroots consumer-based movement. But craft consumers also deserve to know who makes the beers that are being marketed as craft.
Our frustrations with the lack of transparency from the big breweries led to this Op-Ed piece in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinio…cle_e34ce949-d34a-5b0f-ba92-9e6db5a3ed99.html

The Brewers Association represent that vast majority of craft breweries in America. Every member of the Brewers Association board of directors, of which I am Chair, voted in support of releasing this Op-Ed piece. From the board members representing small brewpubs, to those representing homebrewers, to those from regional craft brewers. The Brewers Association has defined a craft brewery but we have not defined craft beer. Yesterday Executive Chairman of SABMiller, Graham Mackay, defined craft beer and I think we should all embrace his definition. In an interview with Fortune he said that craft beer is local, anti-big, and anti-global (see full quote below). So, by his own definition, SABMiller and ABI and the brands that are owned and affiliated with them do not make craft beer because these two international conglomerates are big, they are global and they certainly are not local. The part where he notes the importance of "knowing the brewer who produces it" is particularly interesting considering it doesn’t mention SABMiller anywhere on a Blue Moon, Leinenkugel, or Weinhard label and all three of these brands are 100 percent owned by SABMiller.

Graham Mackay: "The consumer has gone back to saying, ‘Let’s get a bit of interest, let’s have a bit of difference.’ So, there’s been the growth of craft beer. But it’s also local, anti-marketing, anti-global, anti-big, and more focused on experience and knowing the brewer who produces it."

If you want to keep the diversity excitement of the American beer landscape healthy, support indie American craft breweries.
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