Explore the world of craft beer, from performance reports and innovation tactics to the state of the industry and breaking news.
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.
Craft’s rolling four-week losses improved to start 2025, according to the most recent report from market research firm Circana. The segment’s off-premise dollar sales declined -3.1% and volume, measured in case sales, declined -4.6% in the four-week period ending January 26 (L4W) at multi-outlet grocery, mass retail and convenience stores (MULO+C). That marked an improvement over the prior four-week period (through December 29, 2024), when craft dollars declined -5.1% and volume declined -6.5%.
Massachusetts-based Exhibit A Brewing has closed its Framingham brewery and taproom, and will move operations more than 90 miles west to Williamsburg, the craft brewery announced this week.
Craft volume is down an estimated -2% through the first six months of 2024, according to Brewers Association (BA) chief economist and VP of strategy Bart Watson in his annual midyear webinar Tuesday.
Monster Brewing-owned Cigar City has debuted new packaging for its flagship Jai Alai IPA. The new artwork features Jai Alai in larger, brighter font. Refreshed cans of Jai Alai in 12 oz., 16 oz. and 19.2 oz. sizes, as well as 6- and 12-pack cartons, are rolling out “this summer.”
Great Lakes Brewing Co. is continuing to expand distribution of its craft beers more than 36 years after its founding.
Short’s Brewing is celebrating two decades in Bellaire, Michigan this year. The craft brewery makes a range of beers, from its flagship Local’s Light, to Bloody Beer, a Bloody Mary-inspired beer, and produced nearly 44,000 barrels of beer in 2023, according to the Brewers Association.
The city of Asbury Park is inextricably linked to its musical history (if you like Bruce Springsteen, you should thank it), and its eponymous brewery is no different. Asbury Park Brewery founder Bob McLynn first encountered beer culture while touring Germany with his band, and founded Crush Management, which represents artists such as Green Day, Lorde, Miley Cyrus and Fall Out Boy.
The number of craft beer drinkers who are drinking less craft beer than they were a year ago has surpassed the number of those who are drinking more for the first time since the Brewers Association (BA) started asking this question in its annual poll in 2015. BA chief economic and VP of strategy Bart Watson and staff economist Matt Gacioch shared the findings of the BA’s ninth annual Harris Poll during a Thursday webinar. Nearly 2,100 legal-drinking-age Americans were surveyed about their drinking habits.
Although beer has started to get a summer boost, producer and brand performances within the category were mixed in the last four weeks, according to the latest off-premise scans report from market research firm Circana.
Popular and controversial social media platform TikTok recently opened advertising on its platform to beverage-alcohol brands in the United States, due in part to its user base aging up.
Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV) has laid off about two dozen employees, Brewbound has learned. The craft rollup – which includes Victory Brewing, Southern Tier, Sixpoint Brewery and Bold Rock Cider – primarily eliminated jobs in sales, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.
Allagash Brewing is launching its first non-alcoholic (NA) offering this week with the release of Allagash Hop Water. Hop Water will exclusively be sold in 12 oz. can 6-packs at the brewery’s tasting room in Portland, Maine, starting later this week.
Clearwater, Florida-based Big Storm Brewing closed its taproom at Orlando’s Kia Center earlier this month, bringing the former multi-taproom operator to one location, according to the Orlando Business Journal.
Weeks after the death of founder Art Larrance, Portland, Oregon-based Cascade Brewing ceased operations on Monday, the Oregonian reported. Alissa Larrance, Art’s daughter, told the Oregonian that she delivered final paychecks to brewery staff Tuesday, though the brewery’s website says it is “temporarily closed.”
Seasonal trends for onsite brewery sales have remained relatively consistent since January 2021, but “in real terms” – i.e. accounting for inflation – onsite sales continue to decline, according to Brewers Association (BA) staff economist Matt Gacioch, citing data from Arryved.
