Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Craft beer numbers held steady amid defections in 2016

The craft kids are all right

Craft beer's gains slowed after kicking sellouts out of the club.
Craft beer's gains slowed after kicking sellouts out of the club.

On March 28, the Brewers Association released the 2016 results of its annual survey on craft brewery growth, revealing the effects that high profile craft breweries being sold to "big beer" corporations have had on the craft sector.

The Brewers Association offers its 2016 craft beer figures

As a trade group representing craft brewery interests, the Brewers Association defines craft brewers as producing fewer than 6 million barrels per year, and being no more than 25 percent owned by non-craft beer entities. This means that a spate of 2015 brewery sales including Ballast Point, Saint Archer, and Lagunitas Brewing resulted in several high-volume craft producers being removed from the association's tabulations.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Consequently, the 2016 results lost an estimated 1.2 million barrels from the 24.3 million attributed to craft breweries in 2015. However, bolstered by 826 new craft breweries opening last year, the segment managed to cover those losses to finish slightly up, producing 24.6 million barrels overall. While that's only a one percent increase in the total numbers, once those 1.2 million de-crafted barrels are factored in, the Brewers Association shows "craft brewer" production increasing six percent on the year.

However, in terms of sales, the craft segment saw a 10 percent increase in retail dollar value, up to $23.5 billion, which represents 21.9 percent of the total $107.6 billon beer market share. While that means the 67 breweries designated not-craft accounted for 3.5 times as much income as 5234 craft breweries, it also shows craft brewers generate more income per barrel, accounting for 21.9 percent of sales while producing 12.3 percent of volume.

The Brewers Association's chief economist Bart Watson attributes this in part to the fact the craft breweries sold to big beer corporations tended to be large breweries by craft standards, while new breweries opening trended smaller than the industry average, meaning the average size of a craft brewery grew smaller. "Dollar sale gains ended up being higher than you might expect based on the volume number alone," he writes in his March 28 analysis of the new figures, "since the volume shifted into smaller production size."

Watson also suggests the higher sales versus production ratio for small breweries correlates to a boost in craft beer employment numbers. While the count of craft brewing workers also suffered the loss of large staff employers like Ballast Point, craft brewers added nearly 7000 jobs in 2016, up to roughly 129,000 — a 6 percent increase.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Born & Raised offers a less decadent Holiday Punch

Cognac serves to lighten the mood
Craft beer's gains slowed after kicking sellouts out of the club.
Craft beer's gains slowed after kicking sellouts out of the club.

On March 28, the Brewers Association released the 2016 results of its annual survey on craft brewery growth, revealing the effects that high profile craft breweries being sold to "big beer" corporations have had on the craft sector.

The Brewers Association offers its 2016 craft beer figures

As a trade group representing craft brewery interests, the Brewers Association defines craft brewers as producing fewer than 6 million barrels per year, and being no more than 25 percent owned by non-craft beer entities. This means that a spate of 2015 brewery sales including Ballast Point, Saint Archer, and Lagunitas Brewing resulted in several high-volume craft producers being removed from the association's tabulations.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Consequently, the 2016 results lost an estimated 1.2 million barrels from the 24.3 million attributed to craft breweries in 2015. However, bolstered by 826 new craft breweries opening last year, the segment managed to cover those losses to finish slightly up, producing 24.6 million barrels overall. While that's only a one percent increase in the total numbers, once those 1.2 million de-crafted barrels are factored in, the Brewers Association shows "craft brewer" production increasing six percent on the year.

However, in terms of sales, the craft segment saw a 10 percent increase in retail dollar value, up to $23.5 billion, which represents 21.9 percent of the total $107.6 billon beer market share. While that means the 67 breweries designated not-craft accounted for 3.5 times as much income as 5234 craft breweries, it also shows craft brewers generate more income per barrel, accounting for 21.9 percent of sales while producing 12.3 percent of volume.

The Brewers Association's chief economist Bart Watson attributes this in part to the fact the craft breweries sold to big beer corporations tended to be large breweries by craft standards, while new breweries opening trended smaller than the industry average, meaning the average size of a craft brewery grew smaller. "Dollar sale gains ended up being higher than you might expect based on the volume number alone," he writes in his March 28 analysis of the new figures, "since the volume shifted into smaller production size."

Watson also suggests the higher sales versus production ratio for small breweries correlates to a boost in craft beer employment numbers. While the count of craft brewing workers also suffered the loss of large staff employers like Ballast Point, craft brewers added nearly 7000 jobs in 2016, up to roughly 129,000 — a 6 percent increase.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

East San Diego County has only one bike lane

So you can get out of town – from Santee to Tierrasanta
Next Article

Big kited bluefin on the Red Rooster III

Lake fishing heating up as the weather cools
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader