The State of the Brew-nion Address (ah-hah!)

We’ve been discussing the business side of things a lot lately, and it continues today. This blog post is designed to showcase statistics that shed a positive light on the craft brewing side of the beer industry. What you’ll notice is that, in spite of an overall sputtering economy, the craft beer segment of the market is growing.

US Breweries operating for some or all of 2011:
Brewpubs: 1,063
Microbreweries: 789
Regional Craft Breweries: 88
Total US Craft Breweries: 1,938
Large Non-Craft Breweries: 21
Other Breweries: 30
Total US Breweries: 1,989


US Breweries Operating in 2010:               US Breweries Operating in 2009:
81 Regional Craft Breweries                         71 Regional Craft Breweries
615 Microbreweries                                       505 Microbreweries
1,053 Brewpubs                                             1,020 Brewpubs
1,749 Total Craft Breweries                        1,596 Total Craft Breweries
21 Large Breweries (Non-Craft)                    21 Large Breweries
23 Other Non-Craft Breweries                      22 Other Non-Craft Breweries
1,793 Total US Breweries                            1,639 Total US Breweries


2011 US Openings:                                       2010 US Openings:
76 Brewpubs                                                   57 Brewpubs
174 Microbreweries                                        97 Microbreweries
                                                                        1 Regional Brewery


2011 US Closings:                                          2010 US Closings:
25 Brewpubs                                                    49 Brewpubs
12 Microbreweries                                          13 Microbreweries


Last updated on 3/26/2012


For more telling statistics on the state of the American brewing industry, go to http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages/business-tools/craft-brewing-statistics/facts.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!