Craft brewery production volume grew 13% in 2015 and sales volume 16%, leaving craft beer with a 12% share of the overall beer industry.
Craft brewers — as defined by the Brewers Association — produced 24.5 million barrels in 2015 and sales of $22.3 billion of represent 21% all retail sales.
“For the past decade, craft brewers have charged into the market, seeing double digit growth for eight of those years,” BA chief economist Bart Watson said for a press release. “There are still a lot of opportunities and areas for additional growth. An important focus will remain on quality as small and independent brewers continue to lead the local, full-flavored beer movement.”
The numbers are preliminary and the Brewers Association will release the list of Top 50 craft brewing companies and overall brewing companies by volume sales on April 5.
For information about the methodology in the collecting the numbers and about the BA definition of craft brewer, visit the association website.