Trade Groups

Director of member resources Dr. J Jackson-Beckham will leave the Brewers Association (BA) at the end of the month, after seven years with the trade group.

In Brewbound’s final feature coverage of the Brewers Association’s (BA) 2024 craft production numbers, we dove into trends amongst some of the smaller subsets: microbreweries, taprooms and brewpubs.

Nearly three-fifths of Brewers Association (BA) defined regional craft breweries (57.02%) beyond the top 50 recorded production volume declines in 2024, according to annual data shared by the trade association in the May/June issue of the New Brewer magazine.

More than half of the Brewers Association’s (BA) top 50 craft breweries recorded year-over-year (YoY) production volume gains in 2024, in a positive shift from 2023 trends, according to annual production data shared by the trade group today.

Six of the 10 largest Brewers Association-defined (BA) craft breweries recorded volume declines in 2024, according to data from the trade group’s May/June edition of The New Brewer magazine.

U.S. brewers shipped more beer this March, with domestic tax paid shipments increasing 0.7% year-over-year (YoY), to 12.5 million barrels of beer, the Beer Institute reported, citing domestic tax paid estimates from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).

Despite recent headwinds, craft beer continues to have the largest share of beer sales at Total Wine & More stores. But “it won’t stay that way” if industry trends continue, according to the chain retailer’s senior director, merchandising, Andrea Starr.

Under new leadership for the first time in more than a decade, the Brewers Association (BA) is “relentlessly focused on members and what their needs are,” CEO and president Bart Watson said last week.

The U.S. beer industry generated $470.96 billion in economic output in 2024, holding 1.58% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to the biennial Beer Serves America study commissioned by the Beer Institute (BI) and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).

When her husband told her he wanted to start a brewery, Trillium co-founder Esther Tetreault had a pair of questions for him. “Do you want to be a brewer, which is cool, or do you want to start a business in craft beer?” she asked JC Tetreault.

The Brewers Association’s Craft Brewers Conference has taken over Indianapolis, and the Brewbound team gives a vibe check on the first day of the largest meeting of craft brewers in the U.S. Justin, Jess and Zoe recap early presentations from BA board chair Leah Cheston, president and CEO Bart Watson and Trillium founders JC and Esther Tetreault and the overarching theme of resilience in the face of adversity.

First time visiting Indianapolis? Same here. To craft my Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) extracurricular gameplan, I consulted some beer-loving locals and ex-pats for their favorite spots both beer-related and not in Indy/Circle City/Naptown (OK, I also consulted Wikipedia for the city’s nicknames).

Audra Gaiziunas is the CFO and co-owner of Asheville’s DSSOLVR, the treasurer of the Brewers Association’s (BA) board of directors and the founder of Brewed for Her Ledger management consulting firm. Since opening the firm, Audra has worked with more than 300 brewery partners to organize and optimize their finances.

With craft brewers facing an overwhelming amount of uncertainty, the 2025 Craft Brewers Conference comes at a good time for those interested in tapping into winning strategies. While I encourage you to be in the room for Brewers Association (BA) CEO Bart Watson’s state of the industry speech at 9 a.m. ET on Wednesday, April 30, there are several other seminars (and parties) worth your time.