Last week, the Beer Institute blew our minds and our socks right the hell off. Luckily, we were holding onto our butts. You see, the Beer Institute occasionally publishes an unofficial estimate of domestic tax paid shipments by beer brewers, and that sorta tax talk always does this to our heads.
The Beer Institute just released its estimate for December 2016: The December 2016 estimate is 13,715,000 barrels, an increase of 0.8 percent versus December 2015 removals of 13,612,000 barrels. Please note that the estimates reflect revised estimates released by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
READ THIS CHART AT YOUR OWN RISK!
| Month | 2015 | 2016 | Percent Change | Volume Change |
| January | 12,935,682 | 12,691,000 | -1.9% | -244,682 |
| February | 12,445,216 | 12,941,000 | 4.0% | 495,784 |
| March | 15,317,910 | 15,377,000 | 0.4% | 59,090 |
| April | 15,012,049 | 14,744,000 | -1.8% | -268,049 |
| May | 15,615,011 | 15,677,000 | 0.4% | 61,989 |
| June | 16,878,230 | 16,777,000 | -0.6% | -101,230 |
| July | 15,904,071 | 15,101,000 | -5.0% | -803,071 |
| August | 15,654,831 | 16,223,000 | 3.6% | 568,169 |
| September | 15,675,544 | 15,191,000 | -3.1% | -484,544 |
| October | 14,098,594 | 13,159,000 | -6.7% | -939,594 |
| November | 12,389,629 | 12,508,000 | 1.0% | 118,371 |
| December | 13,612,000 | 13,715,000 | 0.8% | 103,000 |
| CY 2016 | 175,538,767 | 174,104,000 | -0.8% | -1,434,767 |
