We’d been hearing the rumors for a couple of weeks now but today the Brewers Association made it official. They announced today that the craft beer industry is showing excellent growth for the second consecutive year. This on the heels of Anheuser-Busch’s announcement of 4th quarter revenue having fallen 54.7% (before taxes) on February 1. Unnamed sources had previously told me the 9% figure was primarily in regional players and there was uncertainty how the smaller local brewers had fared. It appears now that these brewpubs and local brewers had another good year, as well, at least based on these numbers. This is excellent news for the industry and further signs that it has truly become a mature, stable industry.

From the press release:

Boulder, CO — February 16, 2005 – 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 US beverage alcohol industry for the second consecutive year, according to the Brewers Association, the Boulder, CO-based trade association for US 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 US beverage alcohol business for the second year in a row.

“Consumer enjoyment of the flavor and diversity of craft beer continues to fuel healthy, steady growth in this segment,” said Ray Daniels, Director of Craft Beer Marketing for the Brewers Association. “Small brewers lead the entire industry by offering flavorful, interesting beers.”

The craft beer segment includes more than 1300 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.

“The strong growth by craft beer in 2005 is especially impressive because it comes on top of strong performance in 2004,” said Gatza. For each of the last two years, craft beer growth has been stronger than in any year since 1996. He also noted that 2005 is the third year craft beer growth rates were stronger than those for imports. “Craft beer clearly leads the beer industry in consumer appeal.”

Not to rain on the parade just as the marching band strikes up the first tune (Roll Out the Barrel, no doubt), but I do feel compelled to point out that while this is great news and worth celebrating, by the numbers the craft beer industry is still just a drop in the kettle compared to overall domestic beer production.

I mention this simply to remind myself — and everyone else — that while we may have won a nice victory, the war still rages on. Anheuser-Busch has already been showing concern about the craft beer industry, despite our small overall numbers. Big corporations cannot accept any erosion of their market share or profits, so even our small gains they consider a taking from them. And believe me, this is not just about their pathetic “Here’s to Beer” campaign. There have been recent persistent rumors that A-B is approaching (or in some cases having their distributors approach) a large number of regional and local breweries about acquiring them. Let that sink in. Bud is looking to buy up a bunch of breweries, and is starting perhaps with the biggest and most influential. That would be a catastrophic event for the fledgling craft beer industry. (I know I just suggested it was mature and stable, but not as compared to the giant 100-plus-year old corporations.) If they are successful in waving carrots in front of enough beleaguered, overworked brewery owners then the jig could well and truly be up. And A-B has bigger, deeper carrots than all of the craft beer industry combined (I confess I made that last statistic up, but intuitively it feels right).

I’m reminded at this point of New Belgium Brewing co-founder Kim Jordan’s impassioned keynote speech at the New Orleans Craft Brewers Convention several years ago where she argued for solidarity among the industry to reach the lofty goal of 10% of the market. And while I may have concerns about New Belgium’s own business practices in this regard, I think her words resonate just as strongly today. This is exactly what we need to do. We need to close ranks right now. For those of you who are fans of American football, think about all of the post-victory locker room speeches. It doesn’t matter what team, the coach makes the exact same speech. Enjoy this moment, your win, but don’t rest on your laurels. Take tomorrow off, but then it’s back to work the next. This is just one victory, there’s another battle next week. And that’s true here, too. Let’s enjoy this moment. I for one will open a special beer tonight. But let’s also remember the war is hardly over and there is much to do. But for now, congratulations to all the brewers and breweries.