The popularity of Craft Beer has exploded in recent years — moving the U.S. from 1,574 breweries in 2008 to 3,464 in 2014. Once concentrated in a handful of states, craft breweries have spread across America, with a dozen new ones opening seemingly every week. Our interactive map, based on 2014 data, reveals the state of craft beer in America.
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Craft Breweries Per Capita (21+)
Number Of Craft Breweries
Barrels Of Craft Beer Brewed
Barrels Growth 2012 - 2014 (%)
The State Of Craft Brewing In America
A few things stand out on the map that deserve an explanation. For 2014, the Brewers Association updated their definition to include traditional, independent brewers who had previously been excluded. This change allowed Yuengling to vault above Boston Beer Co. (Samuel Adams) as the nation's largest craft brewer. The change in volume in Pennsylvania is smaller than you might expect, in part due to where Samuel Adams is actually brewed — Pennsylvania and Ohio.
The number of craft breweries at the end of 2014 stood at 3,418 up from 1,523 in 2008. Craft beer brewed and sold in the U.S. grew by 17.6% to 21.7 million barrels — or 7.2 billion 12oz bottles!
Florida saw tremendous growth in volume, growing by nearly 10x over the past three years — and vaulting from 100,000 barrels to over 1 million barrels in just the last year. The inclusion of Yuengling, which has production facilities in Florida, was a major part of this jump. The rise of Brew Hub, a contract craft brew firm, based in Lakeland, Florida, also played a role in this surge.
Craft brewing is surging all across America. This is reflected in the fact that Hawaii was the sole state in America that saw a decrease in volume over the prior three years.
Vermont leads the nation with 8.6 Breweries Per Capita. Mississippi comes in last place at 0.3. Breweries Per Capita are per 100,000 21+ adults.
You should also check out our map of the 50 largest craft breweries in America as well as our interactive visualization of the world's biggest beer exporters.
Data via the Brewers Association. Visualization powered by D3, TopoJSON and DataMaps.
