Craft Beer Today

• Today, +95% of the more than 1,800 breweries in the US are small and independent (see Craft Brewing Statistics).
• The 2010 Capita per Brewery (PDF file) list finds Vermont at the top!
• American tastes are changing. Consider coffee, tea, cheese, chocolate, bread and, yes, beer. We increasingly want choices of flavor in the foods that we buy. For example, Nielsen Company research confirms that beer drinkers are shifting to more robust beer styles and we know from Symphony IRI (SIG) that seasonal beers are one of the top-selling craft beer categories.
• Small and independent craft brewers are known for being passionate and innovative makers of full-flavored beer.
• The Brewers Association has defined 140 beer styles. The majority of these styles are all-malt based.
• Craft brewers are amazing community citizens and have donated millions of dollars to local causes and provided thousands of jobs across the US.
• The average American lives within 10 miles of a brewery. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken tours or sampled beers at their local brewery.

Beer Compared to Wine and Liquor

How does beer fair compared to wine and liquor?

The following headlines appeared in the Gallup Poll in the past three years:

2011: Wine Matches Beer in U.S. Drinkers' Preferences This Year
2010: U.S. Drinking Rate Edges Up Slightly to 25-Year High
2009: Beer Edges Out Wine, Liquor as Drink of Choice in U.S.
2008: Beer Back to Double-Digit Lead Over Wine as Favored Drink
2007: Beer Again Edges Out Wine as Americans' Drink of Choice

Beer Styles

There are hundreds of beer styles, or types of beer, defined by several prominent organizations. Find out more in the Style Finder.

• The Brewers Association 2011 Beer Style Guidelines (PDF file) contain descriptions of over 130 styles organized by country of origin.
• At the 2010 Great American Beer Festival, judges evaluated competition beers in 79 GABF Beer Styles with 133 sub-categories.
• In the BJCP Style Guidelines (PDF file), the Beer Judge Certification Program recognizes 23 beer styles.