Skip to content Skip to footer

The Local Beer Boom: Craft Breweries Have Doubled Their Share of the US Market Since 2004

And now, for some happy talk u2014 by which I mean a non-corporate, “little-d” democratic, and altogether pleasurable economic development that’s spreading across our country. In a word: beer.

And now, for some happy talk — by which I mean a non-corporate, “little-d” democratic, and altogether pleasurable economic development that’s spreading across our country. In a word: beer.

More specifically, craft breweries are flourishing from Maine to Oregon, with happy hopheads in town after town now able to boast of their own local, unique, zesty, and fun batch of suds. While Anheuser-Busch (now owned by a Belgian conglomerate) and MillerCoors (partially owned by Canadians) still dominate America’s beer market, sales of the nondescript national brands have soured in recent years. But innovative, small-batch, hometown yeast-wranglers have tapped a burgeoning market of brewski lovers reaching for the real gusto.

Since 2004, craft beers have doubled their share of the U.S. market. Some 250 upstart breweries opened last year alone, bringing their total number to nearly 2,000. This is a true populist economic phenomenon. Consumers and artisans have found each other and spontaneously created an alternative, locally based economy that helps sustain themselves and their community, rather than having their money siphoned out by far-away profit-takers.

Of course, the big boys are slyly trying to sink their own taps into the craft success of the small guys. Budweiser and Miller, for example, are now marketing pretend-craft beers, having bought such once-local brands as Chicago’s Goose Island and Wisconsin’s Leinenkugel. Unabashed by this consumer deception, however, a Miller spokesman sniffed, “We don’t concern ourselves with what [someone else] defines as a craft brewer.”

Wow — sounds like Miller’s man quaffed one too many mugs of a genuine local beer from San Diego. It’s called “Arrogant Bastard.”

Yes, we really mean it – your gift makes a difference.

Did you know that of the millions of people who read Truthout, fewer than 1 percent make a donation? But even with that small number who give, Truthout is still overwhelmingly donor-funded. Every donation that comes our way makes an outsized impact for every single one of our readers.

If you can find a few dollars here or there to support the independent, always-honest journalism we produce, please consider making a donation. All gifts are tax-deductible and go directly to funding our justice-driven work. Will you give today?