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Top 5 craft beer styles in 2014, and other numbers from #CBC2015

Chris Crowell

For those of you cave-dwelling readers of Craft Brewing Business, the 32nd annual Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America (CBC) took place in Portland, Ore., last week. Over 11,500 noncave-dwellers attended. The CBB crew was there in full force, and we have both written and video proof. Be sure to comb through the archives of anything you missed.

As we settle back in to our regular, non-trying-100-beers-a-day lives, we empty out our notebooks of some of the notable numbers and other notes from the Brewers Association state of the industry presentation. We already listed a couple highlights last week, but here is everything else. In short, the industry is still dominating.

craft brewing conference 2015 1
BA Director Paul Gatza approves.

 

Total number of breweries by segment

  • 1,871 microbreweries (33% growth; 3.17M bbls).
  • 1,412 brewpubs (20% growth in bbls; 1.17M bbls).
  • 135 regional breweries (17% growth; 17.6M bbls).
  • 3,418 TOTAL breweries.

Openings / closings

  • 615 openings in 2014.
  • 46 closings.
  • 2,052 breweries in planning.

Craft beer exports

  • Craft beer exports up 36%.
  • 383,422 bbls.

Top 5 craft beer styles

  1. IPA …………. 22.7 dollar share………… 46.9% volume growth
  2. Seasonal…… 16.8 dollar share………… 9.9% volume growth
  3. Pale Ale……. 10.6 dollar share………… 10.1% volume growth
  4. Variety……… 7.8 dollar share…………. 20.3% volume growth
  5. Amber ale…. 5.7 dollar share………….. 11.8% volume growth

Top 5 states for 2014 brewery openings

  1. Washington (83)
  2. New York (67)
  3. California (59)
  4. Colorado (55)
  5. Florida (42)

Current production v. Potential Capacity

  • 22.2M bbls v 34.6M bbls.
  • In 2013, these numbers were 15.6M bbls. v 23.9M bbls.

Market share

  • Craft beer now makes up 11% of the beer market.
  • And 19.3% of the dollar share.

2015 Achievement Awards

Three members of the brewing community were recognized and awarded for their dedication and service during the opening session.

  • Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Brewing: Steve Dressler, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.;
  • Brewers Association Recognition Award: Dave & Diane Alexander, Brickskeller, Washington, D.C.; and
  • F.X. Matt Defense of the Industry Award: Brook Bristow, South Carolina Brewers Guild.