Bart Watson, the Brewers Association’s economist, mined a mountain of data regarding craft beer’s performance in the first half of 2023. In a recent webcast, he shared statistical nuggets of gold and lumps of lead.There are more U.S. breweries than ever: 9,456. Craft breweries, independent operations annually producing fewer than 6 million barrels of beer, also hit an all-time high: 9,336.
“Collectively,” Watson said, “craft still needs new ideas and strategies to move beyond our current normal, which is a slow-growth environment.”It’s not news that India Pale Ales are popular. ButTracking beer sales by style, Watson found that IPAs rule, selling 35 million barrels in the first half of 2023. While second place is occupied by the catch-all “seasonal beer” category , third and fourth went to imperial/double/triple IPAs and hazy IPAs, roughly 10 million barrels apiece.
IPAs show no signs of a similar decline. The fastest-growing categories? Hazy imperial/double/triple IPAs, up more than 2 million barrels from 2022 levels, and imperial/double/triple IPAs, gaining about 500,000 barrels.Rising on a 2-acre San Marcos parcel where Las Posas Road meets Los Vallecitos Boulevard, Karl Strauss’ latest beer garden looks great from the outside. From the inside? It’ll be awhile before we get a peek.back.