Sparging The News: Chicago Tribune writes, “Craft beers surging in popularity”

In Beer News by Andrew

In their Sunday (4/3/11) publication, the Chicago Tribune wrote about the growing popularity of craft beer, noting –

Craft beer sales came in at just under 10 million barrels in 2010, an 11 percent annual increase, while total U.S. beer sales were down 1 percent, to 203.5 million barrels, according to the Brewers Association. Some 30 percent of craft beer is sold on tap, three times the industry average.

With a higher price point — most sell for about $9 per six-pack — craft beer revenue is relatively stronger, accounting for $7.6 billion out of $101 billion in total beer sales last year.

Revenue is growing faster in Chicago, the nation’s seventh-largest craft beer market, with store sales up 22 percent last year, to about $22.5 million, according to the SymphonyIRI Group. The top two markets are in the Pacific Northwest — Portland, Ore., and Seattle — which account for 12 percent of craft beer sales nationally.

The article covers a few of the craft brewers in the Chicago area, including Half Acre, Two Brothers and Three Floyds, and gets their take on the popularity of craft beer. Check out the full article here.

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Adding: Apparently the Trib decided to dedicate quite a few column inches to craft beer news today – here’s an article/guest column from John Hall, CEO of Goose Island, discussing Anheuser-Busch’s purchase of the Chicago-based brewer last week.

I’m not alone in believing that craft beer is going to, at minimum, double its overall sales in the next five-plus years. I’d like Goose Island to be part of that: for craft-beer drinkers, for what we’ve created and for Chicago. We now sell about 1 percent of the beer sold in Chicago. If we don’t continue to grow, we disappear.

The only way to be able to grow involves buying stainless steel to expand our production capacity. My dream is to build a nice, world-class brewery here in Chicago that will continue the legacy of Goose Island.

Click here for the full story.

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Andrew

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Government by day, politics by night and beer every minute in between (and let's be honest, sometimes during) is Andrew's story. He works with his network of friends across the country to bring in new, regional beers and is always quick to jump when Ryan blows the conch to assemble The Guys for a unique vertical or cellar experiment.

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