Washington Post: Has the Craft Beer Industry Reached Its Peak?

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Image via CraftBeer.com.

Craft breweries are still growing but at a significantly slower pace, and more have closed in the last year than at any time in the last decade, writes Rachel Siegel for The Washington Post.

According to a new report released by the Brewers Association, craft brewers saw production rise five percent in the last year. However, this overall growth has created an increasingly crowded playing field, forcing many small craft breweries to close. Last year saw nearly 1,000 new brewery openings and 165 closures, up from 116 in 2016.

Nevertheless, most experts agree that market saturation is still some time away.

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“When you’re talking about an industry that sells tens of billions of dollars a year, it’s hard to grow at double-digit rates,” said Bart Watson, chief economist of the Brewers Association.

Matt Simpson, owner of the Beer Sommelier, said that some closures are from brewers that jumped into the business, but didn’t know how to market their product. Meanwhile, others simply made bad-tasting beer.

“The majority of brewers entering the marketplace are making good beer,” said Simpson, “but a few bad apples can spoil the whole bunch.”

Read more about craft beer in The Washington Post by clicking here.

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