Anyone looking for an answer to when craft’s current era of compounding hurdles and declines will come to an end received a reality check Wednesday during Brewers Association (BA) president and CEO Bart Watson’s state of the industry address, held at the start of Day 2 of the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) in Indianapolis.
Around 10,000 industry members are expected to make the trip to Indianapolis for the 2025 Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America (April 28 to May 1). The gathering takes place against a backdrop of growing headwinds for craft breweries and an overhaul of CBC’s host organization, the Brewers Association.
All major beverage-alcohol industry trade groups have united in opposition of a draft study about alcohol consumption’s effect on health, which was released Tuesday.
Masks are now “recommended and encouraged” for vaccinated attendees at the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) in Denver next month, the Brewers Association (BA) announced last week in an update to its CBC health and wellness site.
The Brewers Association (BA) board of directors is making clear its opposition to spirits groups’ tax equalization efforts, as well as its stance on climate change in a pair of recently approved “position statements.”
Consulting firm BW166 reported that label approvals for seltzer and seltzer-like products are accelerating, with approvals trending at 334 per month compared to the 228 per month in 2020. More than half (53%) of on-premise visitors went to a bar or restaurant during the July 4 weekend, according to CGA, an on-premise market research firm.
In a year when craft beer volumes declined for the first time in the modern craft era, drinker interest in craft beer did not abate, Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson said during his presentation of the trade group’s annual consumer poll.
Minhas Craft Brewery, the second-oldest continuously run brewery in the U.S., is producing Happy Dad Hard Seltzer, which was created by the Nelk Boys, a group of Canadian YouTubers with more than 6.6 million subscribers.
The craft segment’s slide into the red in off-premise scan data against tough year-ago comps may not be a bad thing for craft brewers, according to Brewers Association (BA) chief economist Bart Watson.
Of the 121 regional craft beer companies beyond the top 50 — those that produce more than 15,000 barrels of beer annually and sell the majority of their volume through distribution — 67 recorded volume declines in 2020. That ratio — 55% — is a marked improvement over the 72% of top 50 craft breweries that posted volume declines.
Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson explored why draft beer sales have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels in his latest members’ only analysis.
In a year in which the COVID-19 pandemic robbed alcoholic beverage producers of on-premise occasions for the majority of 2020, and forced consumer purchasing to shift to off-premise retailers and e-commerce, 36 of the top 50 Brewers Association-defined craft brewing companies recorded volume declines, according to data published in the May/June edition of the New Brewer magazine. Those numbers were not unexpected given last year’s challenges.
The BA is accepting grant applications on a rolling basis through November 1. The trade group’s Philanthropy and Outreach Subcommittee — a newly formed division of the organization’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee — will consider applications each month.
As allegations of sexual harassment, assault and other workplace hostilities continue to come to light on social media, the Brewers Association (BA) announced Wednesday several initiatives to combat the seemingly pervasive toxicity in the craft beer industry.
Just days after an amendment to allow shipping of alcoholic beverages via the United States Postal Service died, the legislation was resurrected as the “USPS Shipping Equity Act” and introduced into Congress on Monday.
Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson dives into craft beer’s 2020 trends and looks ahead to 2021 on the latest edition of Brewbound Data Club. Watson discusses brewery opening and closing numbers, packaging format trends, and the growth of beyond beer offerings by small craft producers.
Registration for the Brewers Association’s (BA) annual Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) and BrewExpo America opens Tuesday, May 4, and the trade group has provided an overview of safety measures for the trade show.
