Craft beer by the numbers

This is an excellent time to be a beer lover.

Not only is there far more high quality craft beer available today than even a decade ago, but the mood at the recent Craft Brewers Conference, held May 2-5 in San Diego, was positively ebullient. A record-breaking 4,500 brewery owners, sales people, brewers and would-be brewers attended the three-day conference, which is great, geeky fun. I’ve been going to these shows for many years, and I can’t remember a time filled with as much optimism since the earliest days of the microbrewery revolution.

The festivities always include a “state of the craft” presentation with graphs, charts, trends and statistics. Personally, I love these sorts of numbers, but if you’re not as wowed by cool facts, open a nice hoppy craft beer as you read along.

Skyrocketing numbers

The number of breweries in this country peaked in the late 1800s, when there were more than 4,000. It was a time when beer didn’t travel well, and every community had its own brewery — or several. But a variety of factors, including Prohibition and business consolidation, changed all that. By the early 1980s, there were only 50 or so companies operating 80 breweries.

Then came the microbrewery revolution. By the end of last year, some 1,940 craft breweries were making beer, and we recently eclipsed the 2,000 mark. Last year alone, 250 new breweries opened across the country, and

more than a thousand more are in various stages of planning. Not surprisingly, California leads the way, with 261 breweries at the end of 2011. The next closest state, Washington, has half that number. And one of the newest trends is nanobreweries, very small breweries that make fewer than 100 barrels per year. There are 270 of those.

Recession-resistance

When the economy tanked a few years ago, beer — like all alcohol — was thought to be recession-proof. That turned out to not be completely the case; sales dipped slightly, but then rebounded. But craft beer remains one of the few bright spots, contributing $8.7 billion to our nation’s economy last year, and employing nearly 104,000 people.

For many years, craft beer has accounted for about 5 percent of all beer sold, leading Georgia artist Chad Baker to create a funny poster satirizing the Occupy Movement that read: “Craft Beer Drinkers, We Are the 5%.”

In 2011, craft beer finally broke the pint glass ceiling, as sales by volume rose 13 percent over the previous year. Craft beer’s share of the market now stands at 5.68 percent — although in California, craft beer accounts for nearly 13 percent of the total beer sold.

World Beer Cup

All of which brings me to last month’s World Beer Cup, a biannual craft beer competition where I serve as a judge. It’s there that the numbers become even more startling. California breweries always perform well, beating out every other country except Germany. This year, with brewers from 54 countries entering 3,921 beers in 95 categories, California crushed even that European brewing powerhouse, which won 23 medals to California’s 55.

In fact, 208 of the 284 medals went to American breweries. Germany came in second and Belgium third, with eight. The next closest state to California was Colorado, which brought home 26 medals, followed by Oregon, with a dozen.

And what are the most popular types of beer being brewed and entered? India Pale Ales topped the list, with 150 beers entered, followed by Imperial, or Double, IPAs with 93.

So if you’re one of the craft beer 5 percent here in the Bay Area that enjoys drinking good beer, there are many reasons to celebrate American craft beer. Cheers!

Contact Jay R. Brooks at [email protected]. Read more by Brooks at http://www.ibabuzz.com/bottomsup.

All About Beer with Bill & Sheila

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