E-Malt.com News article: USA, OR: The number of Oregon breweries increases by 22% in 2012

Last week, The Oregon Liquor Control Commission released final 2012 numbers ranking breweries by taxable barrels, the amount of beer produced and sold in-state, beerpulse.com reported on February, 27.

In 2012, the total number of taxable Oregon breweries rose from 110 to 134, an increase of 22%. Compare to 2011 when taxable breweries went from 94 to 110, a 17% increase, and 2010 when taxable breweries went from 78 to 94, a 20.5% increase. At this rate, the number of breweries in Oregon could pass 150 by the end of 2013, effectively doubling the state’s breweries in just three years.

Half of the state’s breweries operate in the Portland metro, according to the Oregon Brewers’ Guild fact sheet.

According to that same fact sheet in 2008, Oregon breweries’ market share of total sales in barrels (bbls) was 11.4% in the year 2007. According to the latest OLCC numbers, that number rose to 16.5% in 2012, a full 5% gain in market share over a span of five years. Total taxable sales in Oregon reached nearly 2.8 mln bbls.

On the downside, taxable bbls from Oregon breweries increased just 6% to ~462,000 bbls after consecutive years of double-digit growth. Taxable bbls had previously increased 10% in 2011 and 15% in 2010.

Oregon is one of the nation’s most mature craft beer markets.

01 March, 2013