WORCESTERMAGAZINE.COM | APRIL 15 - 21, 2022 | 19
THE NEXT DRAFT
Craft beer is on road to recovery in 2022 Matthew Tota Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
Reviewing the latest Brewers Association production report, I found myself glossing over data showing the craft beer industry trending toward pre-pandemic growth, ruminating on the thought that one of the 50 largest craft breweries in the country has never made an alcoholic beer. Athletic Brewing Co., a trailblazer in the world of non-alcoholic beer, jumped to 27th on the BA’s list of the 50 biggest craft breweries in the nation. It’s not a surprising development if you’ve been following Athletic’s ballooning production numbers and possibly every story in recent months on the popularity of NA brews. Since brewing about 7,500 barrels in 2019, the Connecticut brewery has swelled, brewing 37,500 barrels in 2020 and surging to over 100,000 last year. I’m not shocked by Athletic’s rise and won’t be when it soon cracks the top 10, which, at its current pace, feels inevitable. Other breweries will certainly take notice, and we’ll begin to see more and varied NA beers fl ood the market. Speaking last week about the BA’s report, its chief economist, Bart Watson, said such explosive growth is rare these days. “One thing that certainly makes this a little more impressive is this is a more mature craft industry. Those type of eye-popping numbers are certainly less common today than they were four or fi ve years ago where you regularly get a couple breweries on the list who had grown at tremendous rates,” he said. Behind Athletic’s ascension, the biggest news from the BA’s report was craft beer’s rebound in 2021: Craft grew 8% last year, increasing its overall market share by volume to 13.1% and nearly erasing 2020’s 9% decline. This year, the BA expects the industry to climb back to pre-pandemic numbers thanks to the returning strength of brewery, restaurant, taproom and bar sales, otherwise known as “on-premise.” “If we continue to see recovery in that channel shift, especially through the summer, which is a big beer-selling time of year for craft brewers, I think we’ll get
back to those 2019 levels in 2022,” Watson said. Small and independent breweries racked up $26.8 billion in retail sales, according to the BA, accounting for about 27% of the nation’s $100 billion beer market. And the number of craft breweries in the country grew to 9,118, up from 8,905 in 2020. This will be a two-part column on the BA’s annual data dump, as I expect to have its state-by-state data in the next few weeks. For now, we know that six New England breweries cracked the top-50 last year: Allagash Brewing Co. in Maine, Athletic, Boston Beer Co., Harpoon Brewery, Vermont’s Fiddlehead Brewing and Narragansett Brewing Co. in Rhode Island. The one wrinkle in the BA’s forecast for 2022 was that brewery closings appear to be trending up and could fi nish higher than last year, which saw 178 closings compared to 646 new brewery openings. A variety of factors are to blame, Watson said, from expiring leases to diffi culty securing COVID-19 relief funds. But one of the main causes is some brewers are having a harder time recovering from the pandemic than others. “Even with a bounce back year, many breweries are still struggling with the effects of the pandemic, and so 2022 could be a make-or-break year,” Watson said.
Athletic Brewing Co., of Stratford, Conn., which offers an entire line of non-alcoholic beers, jumped to 27th on the BA’s list of the 50 biggest craft breweries in the nation. ATHLETIC BREWING CO.
