Industry Facts

Beer is the largest segment in the alcohol beverage category in both volume and dollar sales.
While Domestic beers have grown only 2.4%, Imports and Micro/Craft Beers have exploded with growth of 10.8% and 17.8% (2006 figures).
Over $14.9 billion dollars is the annual economic impact of the beer distribution industry.
Beer Distributors pay 5.6 billion in annual wages.
91,000 men and women work in the beer distribution industry.
There are nearly 13,000 brands of beer available in the United States.
Belgium has the most individual brands of any country with over 400.
Lager is the most popular beer style consumed in the world.

Craft Brewing Statistics:

Growth of the craft brewing industry in 2008 was 5.8% by volume and 10.5% by dollars.
The craft brewing industry produced nearly 8.6 million barrels of craft beer in the U.S. in 2008.
The fastest growing sector craft brewing sector continues to be microbreweries, showing customer support for local breweries.
The craft brewing sales share as of December '08 is 4% by volume and 6.3% by dollars.
Total U.S. craft brewing industry annual dollar volume is $6.3 billion.