Figures released by the Brewers Association, the trade association for small and independent American craft brewers, show a mixed picture for 2020.
As in the UK, there was a fall in the number of new brewers setting up. All the same, there were still 716 new openings as against 346 closures. Although some of this can be put down to the pandemic, it was also thought to be due, to some extent, to the maturing of the market.
The pandemic had a big impact on craft brewers’ sales of draught beer, which were down by more than 40%. It was therefore surprising that the overall decline in beer sales was only 9%, to 23.1 million barrels. This reflects the move to small packaging for off sales as bars closed.
Unfortunately, where the pandemic had a significant impact was in terms of the number of jobs that were lost. Jobs directly related to the craft brewing industry fell by 14% to 138,000, a loss of some 22,000. This was, no doubt, the result of brewers having to tighten their belts to get through.
As is the case in the UK, whether this is a blip or permanent damage is yet to be seen. The Brewers Association remains optimistic however. To quote Bart Watson, their chief economist, “While many small breweries will remain under pressure until they can fully reopen and welcome their communities into their breweries, the 2020 closing rate has remained on par with 2019, suggesting that the vast majority of breweries will survive going forward.” Let’s hope he is right and the UK shows a similar picture.
Christine Cryne
Note: the Brewers Association definition of a craft brewer is one with an annual production not exceeding six million barrels of beer and, if another alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer has an interest in the brewery, that interest is less than 25%.