Breweries
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 8,884 production breweries in the US include about 120 national or international breweries producing over 6 million barrels per year. Around 220 are regional craft breweries producing between 15,000 and 6 million barrels annually. Around 1,854 microbreweries produce less than 15,000 barrels per year. An additional 3,219 brewpub restaurants and 3,471 taprooms also produce beer on-site.
Industry Highly Regulated
The beer industry is highly regulated at both the state and federal level.
Competition Among Breweries
The beer industry is highly competitive with an increasing number of new entrants.
Industry size & Structure
The average brewery employs 7 workers and generates over $3 million in annual sales.
- The US brewing industry includes approximately 8,884 production breweries. About 120 are national or international breweries producing over 6 million barrels per year. Around 220 are regional craft breweries producing between 15,000 and 6 million barrels annually. Around 1,854 microbreweries produce less than 15,000 barrels per year. An additional 3,219 brewpub restaurants and 3,471 taprooms also produce beer on-site.
- The typical global brewery brews 100 million barrels per year, with revenue per barrel of approximately $125 (a barrel is 31 gallons).
- The top three global breweries (including Belgium-based AB InBev and Molson Coors) command 71% of the US beer market.
- Regional craft breweries include Boston Beer Company, Sierra Nevada, and New Belgium. These breweries typically distribute nationally and often internationally. The 220-or-so regional breweries produce around 15 million barrels of beer annually.
- The nation's 1,854 microbreweries produce about 4.3 million barrels of beer annually.
- About 3,219 brewpubs produce 1.4 million barrels of beer each year.
- Per capita, Americans consume about 26 gallons of beer annually. Per capita beer sales are highest in Colorado, Vermont, Oregon and Maine, and lowest in Mississippi, Utah, West Virginia and Maryland.
Industry Forecast
Breweries Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Dec 7, 2022 - Beer Price Inflation
- Price inflation has had a limited effect on consumers’ thirst for their favorite beer brands in 2022, but that may change in 2023, warns the chief executive of Danish brewer Carlsberg. "So far we have seen very little evidence of any consumer impact of rising inflation," CEO Cees’t Hart told a conference in October. "But as inflation continues to increase and brewers raise prices again in the second half of this year and beginning of 2023, we see a bigger risk ahead of downtrading and lower volumes." Amid rising beer prices, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Carlsberg, the world's largest and third-largest brewers, respectively, have raised their full-year profit outlook. Heineken, which warned rising inflation could limit consumer purchasing power and consumption, has seen signs of slowdown in demand for its beer in some European markets. Like other brewers, Heineken faces higher costs for raw materials and energy.
- The global market for nonalcoholic beer is projected to nearly double by 2032, according to a new report from Global Market Insights (GMI). Estimated at $22 billion in 2022, the worldwide market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5% to surpass $40 billion by 2032. New alcohol restrictions in some markets, an emphasis on safer drinking habits, and increasing awareness about health issues associated with alcohol intake are driving demand for low-alcohol and nonalcoholic beverages, including beer, according to the GMI report.
- Tariffs on aluminum have cost the US beverage industry $1.7 billion over the past four-and-a-half years, new research conducted for the Beer Institute by market research firm HARBOR Aluminum has found. Since the implementation of Section 232 aluminum tariffs in March 2018, thru August 2022 the US beverage industry paid $1.714 billion on 8.203 million metric tons of aluminum, only $120 million (7%) of which went to the US Treasury. US rolling mills and smelters, as well as Canadian smelters collected the rest (93%) of the total by charging end-users – including US brewers – a tariff-laden price regardless of whether the metal was meant to be tariffed based on its content or origin. The Beer Institute, which is urging the Biden Administration to provide relief from the tariffs, says the duties reverberate throughout the supply chain, raising production costs for aluminum end-users and ultimately impacting consumer prices.
- Craft breweries are among the industries driving the post-pandemic resurgence in factory jobs. Unlike previous recessions that resulted in a net loss of factory jobs, the unique circumstances of the pandemic-induced recession and recovery have resulted in a net job gain – although not in the sectors or regions typically associated with manufacturing, The New York Times reports. American manufacturers eliminated roughly 1.36 million jobs from February to April of 2020, as the pandemic shut down much of the US economy. As of August 2022, however, manufacturers had added back about 1.43 million jobs, a net gain of 67,000 workers above pre pandemic levels, according to data cited by NYTs. The current resurgence in factory employment is being driven by recovery in industries including craft breweries, pharmaceuticals, and ice-cream makers. Moreover, the newly-created jobs are more apt to be located in the Mountain West and the Southeast than in traditional industrial strongholds.
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