Brewhouse control panel with the batch monitoring screen lit, an adult operator standing at the console

Section 01

The Numbers and Who Counts Them

Market share, brewery counts, shipment data and the institutions that publish them — every figure sourced and dated.

8 pieces · Photo: Freek Wolsink / Pexels

Cluster of green hop cones piled on a woven burlap sack

Starts here

The Year the Arrows Swapped Places

In 2024, for the first time since the craft boom began, US brewery closures overtook openings — this piece works through the Brewers Association's annual figures to show what the crossover looks like in the data and what preceded it. The angle is the shape of the series: twenty years of one direction, then one year where the line bent.

Long read

Numbers
Thirteen Per Cent of the Volume, and a Larger Share of the Dollars

Craft beer's volume share sits around 13% of the US market while its dollar share runs higher — this piece explains the gap using Brewers Association and Beer Institute…
Short read
Numbers
The Federal Numbers Come From Tax Forms, and That Is Why They Are Slow

TTB shipment data is the federal government's count of beer production, and it arrives months after the period it covers because it is compiled from excise-tax returns…
Feature
Numbers
A Pint Sold Across Your Own Bar Is Worth Several Sold Through a Distributor

The three-tier system — brewer, distributor, retailer — means each tier takes a margin, so taproom revenue per barrel is substantially higher than distributed revenue…
Feature
Numbers
The Same Count, Run in Britain, Is a Count of Pubs

CAMRA's annual figures track British pub closures the way the Brewers Association tracks US brewery counts — this piece puts the two series side by side, names the UK…
Feature
Numbers
Bud Light Lost the Top-Selling Spot in 2023 and Has Not Taken It Back

For decades Bud Light was the highest-volume beer in the United States; in 2023 it lost that position and subsequent shipment data from the Beer Institute shows no…
Short read
Numbers
From the Fastest-Growing Category to a Write-Down in Four Years

Hard seltzer's trajectory — rapid volume growth through 2020, then inventory write-downs and category contraction by 2022–23 — is one of the sharpest reversals in…
Long read
Numbers
AB InBev, Molson Coors, Heineken, Carlsberg and Asahi Own Most of What Is Left

The acquisitions of the 2010s concentrated US and global beer volume in five named multinationals — this piece maps which brands each owns, which craft acquisitions…
Feature

The Numbers and Who Counts Them

The Year the Arrows Swapped Places

Thirteen Per Cent of the Volume, and a Larger Share of the Dollars

The Federal Numbers Come From Tax Forms, and That Is Why They Are Slow

A Pint Sold Across Your Own Bar Is Worth Several Sold Through a Distributor

The Same Count, Run in Britain, Is a Count of Pubs

Bud Light Lost the Top-Selling Spot in 2023 and Has Not Taken It Back

From the Fastest-Growing Category to a Write-Down in Four Years

AB InBev, Molson Coors, Heineken, Carlsberg and Asahi Own Most of What Is Left