The Brewers Association, the trade group for craft breweries in the United States, has released a report entitled “THE YEAR IN BEER: 2014 CRAFT BEER IN REVIEW.” In this report, Florida factors into a few surprising statistics.
Impressively, Florida is on the short list of states (13 total) that have over 100 craft breweries operating within its borders. Compare that to ten or even five years ago and it would be a different story. There are currently 4,500 active brewery licenses within the U.S.
Craft beer continues monumental growth. As of this year, craft breweries are opening at a rate of 1.5 per day nationwide, with about 2,000 craft breweries currently in some stage of planning. The report also says that “through June of 2014, craft brewers enjoyed 18 percent growth by volume. Numerous data channels are showing continuing double-digit growth for craft in the second half of the year.”
Finally, the report shows that IPA is the most enjoyed style of craft beer. “According to retail scan data, IPA is up 47 percent by volume and 49 percent by dollar sales, accounting for 21 percent volume share of craft and 23 percent dollar share of off-premise beer sales. Additionally, the style was the number one entered category at the Great American Beer Festival®.”
What does this data mean? To boil it down in simple terms: now is one of the best times in history to enjoy craft beer.
For the full report, click here.