The State of Craft Beer

Recently the Brewers Association released its annual report of the U.S. beer market for 2018. While the growth numbers aren't as huge in some previous years it may at least be viable in the long term.

Though beer sales are down slightly craft beer retail dollars spent were up seven percent. Craft beer production was up four percent by volume while the overall beer market declined one percent. Craft beer is now over 13% of the total beer market by volume.

There are now 7,346 craft breweries in the country. Last year an estimated 1,049 opened and 219 closed. While that closures number might be disconcerting to some based on my very limited local knowledge there are some that jump into the trendy beer market who maybe shouldn't -- either because they don't have the funding or their beer isn't all that great (even though their enthusiasm may be).

There was an 11 percent increase in craft brewery jobs between 2017 and 2018.