Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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American Beer Sales Continue To Climb: BA Releases Mid-Year Numbers

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You probably saw this last week, but just in case, the Brewers Association released the preliminary mid-year numbers on how beer sales are going so far in 2013. It’s probably no surprise to most that the news is good, with double-digit growth once more, a common story these days.

During the first six months of 2013, American craft beer dollar sales and volume were up 15 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Over the same period last year, dollar sales jumped 14 percent and volume increased 12 percent.

During the first half of 2013, approximately 7.3 million barrels of beer were sold by small and independent craft brewers, up from 6.4 million barrels over the first half of 2012. American craft beer continues to grow despite decreased overall beer sales, which were down two percent through the first six months of the year.

It’s nice to see the steady increases over the last five years.

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The number of breweries also continues the meteoric rise of late, with latest count standing at an amazing 2, 538.

There are 2,538 breweries operating in the U.S. as of June 30, 2013, an increase of 446 breweries since June 2012. The BA also lists an additional 1,605 breweries in planning at the year’s midpoint, compared to 1,252 a year ago. As of June 30, 2013, the count of craft breweries was at 2,483, showing that 98 percent of U.S. brewers are craft brewers. Craft brewers currently employ an estimated 108,440 full-time and part-time workers, many of which are manufacturing jobs, contributing significantly to the U.S. economy.

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“More breweries are currently operating in the U.S. than at any time since the 1870s.” [Director of the Brewers Association, Paul] Gatza added. “With each new brewery opening, American craft brewers are reinforcing the U.S.’s position as the world’s most diverse brewing nation. It’s a very good time to be an American beer lover.”

Amen to that.

Beer Serves America Interactive Map

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Today’s infographic is an interactive map of the country created by the Beer Institute for their Beer Serves America, which used to be a separate website, but has since been folded back into the BI website. In the interactive map, holding the cursor over the pint glass in each state bring up additional data about that state, and provides a link to a pdf with much information about the economic impact of beer for each state.

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Click here to see the interactive map full size … and interacting.

The Beer Belly Of America, Part 3

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Today’s infographic is part three of three, created by Floating Sheep in 2010, using data collected in 2008. It’s from a post entitled the Beer Belly of America. The third map shows a more normalized version of yesterday’s map, showing the “relative mentions of bars in the Google Maps directory,” which was accomplished using the average number of bar mentions.

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Click here to see the map full size.

The Beer Belly Of America, Part 2

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beer-belly
Today’s infographic is part two of three, created by Floating Sheep in 2010, using data collected in 2008. It’s from a post entitled the Beer Belly of America. The second map shows the “absolute mentions of bars in Google Maps directory.” Essentially it shows the location of every bar in America, and where the concentration of them is throughout the country.

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Click here to see the map full size.

The Beer Belly Of America, Part 1

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beer-belly
Today’s infographic is part one of three, created by Floating Sheep in 2010, using data collected in 2008. It’s from a post entitled the Beer Belly of America. The first map shows geographic references to bars vs. grocery stores, and where (in red) the bars are mentioned more frequently (and then they compared census data, which corroborated their findings).

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Click here to see the map full size.

The Geography Of Bars

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Today’s infographic comes from an Atlantic article on The Geography of Bars and Restaurants. The map uses data from the 2012 census and county business patterns. According to their data, New Orleans has the most bars per households, and San Francisco ranked 8th, with 6 bars for every 10,000 people. It’s also hard to see because the map is relatively small, but there’s a high-density bar area in Northern California in what I believe is Mendocino County.

And while I was mostly interested in the bars, the restaurant data is quite interesting, as well. San Francisco ranked #1 for restaurants per household, with 39.3 per 10,000 residents. That’s roughly one restaurant for every 255 persons.

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Click here to see the map full size (and sorry that’s as big as it gets).

A Beer Tour Of America

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Today’s infographic is entitled A Beer Tour Of America, showing their choices for the top ten brewery tours you should take. It was created by Travel Insurance, which describes itself as a “comprehensive online resource for travelers and people looking for more information on travel insurance.”

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Click here to see the infographic full size.

Presidential Drinks Of Choice

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Today’s infographic, in honor of Independence Day, is entitled Presidential Drugs of Choice, showing each out U.S. Presidents favorite alcohol, tobacco or other pleasures. It was originally part of a Kickstarter campaign by Turncoat Wine. It shows each president and then lists their preferences, of which a dozen list beer as one of their favorites.

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Click here to see the poster full size.

Homebrewing Finally Legal In All 50 States

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As Mississippi’s ban on homebrewing was lifted today, for the first time since Prohibition made brewing illegal in 1919, homebrewing is finally allowed in all fifty states. My only comment is it’s about damn time. That a supposed clerical error — a typo — made home winemaking legal after prohibition ended while keeping homebrewing illegal is the biggest anti-alcohol bullshit move of all-time, especially when you consider it took a full seventy years to correct that “typo,” at least for all states. The American Homebrewers Association released a statement this morning, as did the Brewers Association:

Unifying the United States homebrew community has long been an aspiration of the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), and we are proud to announce this goal has been achieved with the help of countless dedicated homebrewers and AHA members like you. July 1, 2013 marks the day Mississippi lifts its homebrew restriction, unifying homebrewers in all fifty states for the first time since before prohibition.

Beer history in the United States region predates the very existence of the country as we know it. Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere produced a watery maize-beer, a pre-cursor to modern American adjunct beer, and as the earliest explorers settled down in the New World, America’s contemporary brewing culture was born.

“From our nation’s founders to our current President, this country has a long and storied tradition of homebrewing,” said AHA director Gary Glass.

Even after prohibition was eradicated with the implementation of the 21st Amendment in 1933, homebrewers would still be criminals in the eyes of the federal law for over four-and-a-half decades. President Jimmy Carter signed a bill that went into effect on February 1, 1979 federally legalizing homebrewing, but it remained up to each state to determine their individual alcohol policies, including home beer production. Over the course of the next forty-six years, states adopted legislation, permitting the making of beer at home.

It’s terrific news that finally homebrewing is permitted in every state. It’s been a long time coming.

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