When it comes to craft beer, New England actually compares favorably to California in certain ways.
This might be surprising to some, as California is a renowned craft beer mecca, and more than twice the size (both in population and land mass) of all six New England states combined.
The way I’m writing about today is pretty specific but still notable: In a recent report from the Brewers Association, California had 11 of the top 50 producing craft beer companies, and New England had eight. I’d say that’s an impressive number for New England, given the size disparity between the two regions. Of course, Oregon, which is much, much smaller than both California and New England, had six of the top 50, so that’s even more formidable.
These statistics came from the Brewers Association’s recent annual report on production figures for the American craft brewing industry.
Of the top 50, Massachusetts certainly held its own with three entries: Boston Beer Co. (No. 2), Boston’s Harpoon (No. 18) and Jack’s Abby in Framingham (No. 38). While Connecticut only had one, it was a surprising one to me: Athletic Brewing Co. in Milford, a brewer of nonalcoholic beers, which came in at No. 10. This goes to show how well a good NA beer can do. (I’ll be writing about a few more NA brews in the coming weeks.)
Maine’s Allagash (15) and Shipyard (46) both charted, as did Vermont’s Fiddlehead (28) and Rhode Island’s Narragansett (23). New Hampshire was shut out.
The number of operating craft breweries also kept climbing in 2023, reaching an all-time high of 9,761. New brewery openings (495) declined from the previous year, and closings (418) went up, but that still yielded an overall gain for the year. Also, craft brewers directly employed 191,421 people in 2023, which meant a 1.1% increase over 2022.
Bart Watson, vice president of strategy and chief economist of the Brewers Association, said that 2023 was a “competitive and challenging year for small and independent brewers.”
“Nevertheless, even as growth has downshifted, small brewers have proved quite resilient, as seen in the increase in number of breweries, relatively low closing rates, and gains in onsite sales and jobs,” he said.
And while the overall beer market saw a downturn of 5.1% in terms of volume in 2023, craft beer actually gained market share, as the craft beer volume decline was only 1%. Craft beer now holds a 13.3% market share of the overall U.S. beer world.
“While distribution is as competitive as ever, we continue to see success stories and pockets of growth across the top 50 list,” Watson said. “Even in an era of slow growth, the strongest brands still resonate with beer drinkers, regardless of company size or location.”