Craft Beer in America Today

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The Brewers Association for Small and Independent Brewers says the number of Wisconsin craft brewers expanded from 73 in 2011 to 249 in 2022. Which translates to 5.7 brewers for every 100,000 adults, thirteenth per capita in the country. Craft brewers emerged in the 1970s. They exploded in the 1990s. And until the past couple of years, they were still exploding.

The Brewers Association defines a craft brewer as a small, independent brewer. Which is to say, a brewer with an annual production of six million barrels or less, and with less than 25% of its ownership held by major brewing companies. Craft brewers offer beer drinkers a variety of choices, flavors, and styles, which contrast with the common offerings from major brewing companies.

Where is craft beer at in America today? Is the rising tide of craft brewers turning into an ebb? For insights into the craft beer trade, I asked Martin Johnson, who writes about craft beer and jazz for the Wall Street Journal. For seven years, Martin ran New York City’s leading craft beer retail program.  

Gaetano Marangelli: Where is craft beer at in America today?

Martin Johnson: Craft beer is in a complicated but inevitable moment. It's consolidating after a decade of mind-blowing growth. In the past 13 years or so, craft beer sales in America have boomed from $8.7 billion to well north of $30 billion today, and that $30 billion excludes about a dozen well established breweries who contributed to that $8.7 because they've sold a significant ownership stake to a multinational. We're in a society where people expect two results from business, up or down. Craft beer at this moment is likely flat or in slight decline, which is only natural. Yet people are eager to see trends fade and reverse. Often in the past five or six years I’ve approached editors about craft beer stories, since it marks a cultural change, only to be told that the story they’re looking for is that “craft beer is done.”  I’m sure such a story would garner many mouse clicks, but it would be an unsophisticated look at a complex matter.  It’s true that craft beer is attracting fewer new drinkers as many young people are starting off with hard seltzers like White Claw and High Noon, but those drinkers often move to craft beer styles like hazy IPAs and sours in a few years.

GM: Which styles of craft beer are you excited about? 

MJ: I’m delighted that the rise of legacy English styles, which I wrote about last year, (“Craft Brewers Cure Hop Fatigue by Embracing English-Style Ales,” Wine Enthusiast, May 2023) has continued. I've always been a lover of ESBs, and I’m happy to see them find a niche in the craft beer scene.

GM: Which styles of craft beer are you bored with?

MJ: None, really.

GM: Why are American beer consumers so crazy about hoppy IPAs?

MJ: There is a much wider range of flavor. Fifteen years ago, the term “hops” really only referred to varietals like Amarillo, Centennial, Cascade and a few others that offered a small range of flavors with a dominant note of grapefruit pith in the finish that typically codes as bitter. Now brewers are employing a wide range of hops with more approachable overtones. There’s Citra (blood orange and tangerine), Strata (Cannabinoid), Idaho 7 (stone fruit), just to name a few. Last week, I had a beer with Anchovy hops, which tasted a bit like watermelon. The IPA boom was driven by an increased range of distinctive flavors and brewers showcased these flavors by creating “rotating” beers in which the same recipe was brewed repeatedly but with different hops. This increased drinkers’ knowledge and sophistication about beer.

GM: Which style of beer do you wish people would drink more of?

MJ: None, really. I think people should drink whatever makes them happy. I wish Dunkels and Altbiers were more popular but to hope that more people would drink them is to hope that more brewers would brew them.

GM: Which styles of beer do you like to drink while listening to jazz?

MJ: I typically don’t drink while listening to live jazz. I don’t like to divide my focus.

If you’d like to explore the many and various styles of craft beer, including the legacy English styles Johnson refers to, look into the offerings at Discount Liquor.