New mid-year numbers for US craft brewers were just released by the Brewers Association, a trade and lobbying group for the craft beer industry. Here are some of the main points.
- The number of US breweries is the highest in 100 years. There are currently 1525 breweries in the united states, up from 1498 in 1910.
- Dollar growth for craft brewers increased 9% in the first half of 2009. Although this is down from the 11% growth during the same period last year it still isn’t bad considering the overall decline in the economy.
- The volume of craft beer sold increased 5% through June. This is also a decline from 6.5% increase in 2008.
- Craft brewers sold 4.2 million barrels of beer in the first half of 2009 compared to 4 million in 2008.
Given the overall state of the economy, things look pretty good for US craft brewers. You can read the whole press release here.