On Wednesday, the Brewers Association (BA) announced the 50 fastest-growing U.S. craft breweries for 2018.
According to the BA, this year’s fastest-growing craft brewery is Lake Time Brewery, a family-run operation in Clear Lake, Iowa. It’s followed by Fins Big Oyster Brewery of Rehoboth Beach, Del., Oak Road Brewery of Summerville, S.C., The Dreamchaser’s Brewery of Waxhaw, N.C., and Lone Pine Brewing Co. of Portland, Maine.
More recognizable names on the list include Industrial Arts of Garnerville, N.Y. (19), Abnormal Beer Co. of San Diego, Calif. (21), Mast Landing of Westbrook, Maine (24), 7venth Sun of Dunedin, Fla. (39), and Tree House Brewing of Charlton, Mass. (45).
The second annual report measures growth among small and independent breweries based on production as reported to the BA’s Beer Industry Production Survey. The 2018 grouping includes breweries from 27 states, with median in-house production of 1,350 barrels in 2018, and median growth of 163 percent year over year.
Brewery sizes among the fastest-growing brands are relatively very small, ranging from 50 to 40,000 barrels of beer in 2018. A majority (35) are considered microbreweries, while 13 are brewpubs, and two are regional breweries. Together, the 50 breweries’ contributions comprise about 10 percent of craft growth overall.
“Even as market competition continues to increase, these small and independent breweries and brewpubs demonstrate there are still growth opportunities across a diverse set of regions and business models,” Bart Watson, BA chief economist, said in a press release.
The BA also announced annual results for the top 50 craft brewing companies and top 50 breweries overall earlier this month. Specific growth numbers for both reports will be shared at the 2019 Craft Brewers Conference in Denver, Colo. April 8 to 11, 2019.
