Craft beer sales volume up in 2005

20/02/06 America's craft brewers sold 9.0 percent more barrels of beer in 2005 versus 2004, making craft beer the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. beverage alcohol industry for the second consecutive year, according to the Brewers Association, the Boulder, CO-based trade association for U.S. craft brewers.

"Craft beer volume growth far exceeded that of large brewers, wine and spirits in 2005," said Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association. "And even though imported beer grew nicely in 2005, craft beer grew at a faster rate."

The Brewers Association estimates 2005 sales by craft brewers at 7,112,886 31-gallon barrels, up from an adjusted total of 6,526,809 barrels in 2004, an increase of 586,077 barrels or 8.1 million case-equivalents.

Compared to craft beer volume growth of 9.0 percent, spirits volume increased at 3.3 percent in 2005 and wine volume was up 2.9 percent. The import segment of the beer industry rose 7.2 percent in 2005 while non-craft domestic beer volume declined slightly for the year. This establishes craft beer as the fastest growing segment of the U.S. beverage alcohol business for the second year in a row.

The craft beer segment includes more than 1,300 small, traditional and independent breweries which produce primarily all-malt beers. It includes both brewpubs which sell beer primarily at their own pub or restaurant and packaging breweries that distribute beer in kegs, cans and bottles to a wide range of retail outlets. The Brewers Association has tabulated industry growth data for these breweries annually since 1985.

One year ago, the Brewers Association reported craft segment growth of 7.2 percent for 2004, a year in which wine (2.7%), spirits (3.1%), imported beer (1.4%) and non-craft domestic beer (0.5%) all reported substantially smaller growth rates.

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