E-Malt.com News article: USA: One-third of US brewers up 10% or more in 2004

USA Brewers Association announced on May 18 that one third of US brewers grew by more than 10 % last year with regional brewers leading the way, according to data collected by the Brewers Association. These 450 fast-growing brewers helped propel the craft segment to overall growth of 7.2% in 2004.

"Craft beer is hot," said Charlie Papazian, President of the Brewers Association. "Today, Americans increasingly turn to the flavor and diversity of locally-made brews when they drink beer."

Despite poor performance by mass market brands and a sharp drop in import sales growth, craft beers-those made with all-malt formulations by nearly 1400 US brewers-have enjoyed strong performance over the past 18 months. Indeed, a number have posted double-digit growth for several consecutive years.

"While the overall craft segment grew just one to three percent each year from 2000 to 2003, a number of individual players thrived during this time," says Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association. "Many have three and four consecutive years of double-digit growth."

Brewers Association data show that 29 brewing companies grew 10 percent or more in each of four consecutive years starting in 2001. In addition to these 29, another 37 brewers have posted three consecutive years of double-digit growth starting in 2002. An additional 69 brewers hit double digits two years in a row starting in 2003.

Each year the Brewers Association collects volume sales information from the country's 1400 craft brewers to assess and track the progress of the craft beer segment. For another measure of craft beer growth, see the "Tiger List" media release issued as a companion to this one or by visiting www.beertown.org.

The Brewers Association estimates 2004 sales by all craft brewers at 6,590,763 31-gallon barrels up from 6,150,497 barrels in 2003, an increase of 440,266 barrels or 6.0 million case-equivalents. By contrast, spirits volume increased at 3.1 percent for the year and wine volume was up 2.7 percent. The import and mass-market segments of the beer industry rose approximately 1.4 percent and 0.5 percent in volume respectively in 2004.


18 May, 2005