Interest in “buying local” has been big driver of craft growth, but how big? Depends on the market, of course, but in some places it’s very big. Local plays hard in Portland, Oregon. We counted 45 in-state craft brewers among top 200 brewers in IRI’s Portland supers data, for 2014 thru Dec 28 (we exclude CBA’s Widmer brands from this analysis). All in, these Oreg brewers grew $$ sales 27.5%. They gained 3.25 share of beer $$ to about 20. They got over half of all craft sales in Portland supers. The group includes old and new alike, lots of ’em growing double-digits and half doing less than $100K in sales. Collective growth of Oreg brewers is a stunner: $$ gains put up by these brewers represented over 90% of entire craft segment’s growth in Portland foodstores. Whoa. Only 8 Oreg brewers have over 0.5 share of beer $$ in Portland. Top 4 – Deschutes, Ninkasi, Full Sail, 10 Barrel – had 12.7 share, +0.6. Hop Valley gained most share and Rogue still growing. Goodlife, Worthy and Breakside made big splashes in big home state mkt. Total craft $$ +14%, there.

On opposite side of the country, opposite story. Just 9 Florida breweries made top 200 in state supers for same 2014 thru Dec 28 period, according to IRI. But Florida is a much bigger beer market than Portland, about 4X the size. That might suggest that this small group of in-state brewers have a lot more room to run. The group of 9 grew $$ 56%, collectively, but still had just 0.7 share of beer $$, less than 8 share of craft. New Belgium alone was almost twice as big as these 9 players together in NBB’s first full yr in Fla. Total craft grew 28% in Fla supers last yr. In-state brewers got about 13% of that growth, led by Cigar City, +78%. Big dropoff to next in-state players, both less than 0.1 share of beer $$. Florida Beer Co’s Key West brands declined 18%, but still slightly bigger than Intuition Ale Works, +52%.

Craft Nears 13 Share in Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston; In-State Brewers Over Half of Craft $$  Craft segment grew $$ sales 18% in Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and 19% in Houston thru Dec 28 last yr, per IRI foodstores data. Segment gained 1.5-2 share of beer $$ in each market, nearing 13 share in both big Texas cities. But as far as in-state players, Texas is an odd blend of the two above markets. It’s got a big longtime player in Shiner (Gambrinus) as well as a couple of other sizeable brewers that have long focused on their home markets. It’s also got lots of smaller brewers just opening, only a handful of which pay a lot of attention to off-premise chains in these big Tex mkts.

In-state brewers led by Shiner, which had over 5 share of beer $$ in DFW and over 4 share in Houston last yr. Another 15 Texas cos made top 200 in DFW supers. They collectively got 7.3 share of beer $$ there, just over half of total craft segment. And again, that’s mostly Shiner. Top craft brewer was only about a third of total $$ growth that in-state brewers put up in DFW. Biggest in-state share gainers behind Shiner there were Deep Ellum and Revolver, both up over 0.2 share of beer $$. In bigger Houston mkt, 16 in-state brewers made cut, collectively up 16%, again led by Shiner. Saint Arnold still up 16% in its home market in its 20th year. And tho Saint Arnold is half the size of Shiner in Houston supers, it got same $$ growth. Karbach was #3 in-state player in Houston and gained twice as much share as Saint Arnold, +53% and now 1.3 share of beer $$ there. All told, these in-state players up 0.8 share in Houston to 8.1.

Incoming in Ohio Slowed Bigger In-State Players: Craft +30%, OH Brewers +11%  Craft gained almost 4 share of beer $$ in Ohio foodstores thru Dec 28, according to IRI. The segment closed in on 20 share of $$, +30% all in. But a lot of that growth came from out of state players coming in. A group of 19 Ohio-based brewers collectively grew 11% last yr, +0.34 share to 5.8 (not including Sam Adams, some of which is brewed in state). In-state craft led by Great Lakes Brewing, of course, but it grew just 3% in home state last yr. So it lost share, but still over 4 share of all beer $$ there (and for 13 wks at end of yr, that bumped up to 7 share thanks to popular Christmas Ale). Only 6 other in-state players did over a half-million $$ in sales in OH supers last yr. Both Fat Heads and Columbus Brewing grew 39%. Madtree got biggest share gain, up almost 0.2, ahead of Rivertown +3.5%. Of remaining 13 in-state brewers in top 200 though, 7 were down in 2014.

Top 10 NorCal Brewers Got 16 Share in San Fran; Top 10 SoCal Brewers +3.2 Share to 11.5 in San Diego  Back on West Coast, pair of craft-centric cities show serious love for local. Craft had near 28 share of beer $$ in San Francisco/Oakland (SFO) supers thru Dec 28, IRI data shows. It gained not-quite 1 full share pt. Segment’s led by Northern California leaders Sierra Nevada, which lost a little share to 5.3, and Lagunitas, up 1 share to 4.9 in SFO. Group of top 10 NorCal brewers got near 16 share of beer $$ in SFO, +1.4. All but 2 grew double-digits too: Sierra +8% and Lost Coast -12%. Anchor, +22% and Drakes, more than doubling, were next biggest share-gainers behind Lagunitas. These top 10 alone were over 90% of all craft $$ growth in SFO supers.

In Southern California, no nearby brewer nearly as large as Sierra or Lagunitas, so local craft not as big. But growth is generally faster. Top 10 SoCal brewers represented almost 70% of craft $$ growth in San Diego supers thru Dec 28. They gained 3.2 share of beer $$ to 11.5 in the mkt. Two local leaders were over half of that. Ballast Point doubled in supers in its home market, gaining almost 2 share to just under 4. It passed Stone as biggest craft player in San Diego. But Stone had strong year too, +29%, 0.6 share to 3.5. Among other top 10 SoCal brewers in San Diego supers, trends range from +231% for Mother Earth Brewing and +196% for Saint Archer to -2.6% for Green Flash and -20% for Hangar 24. Total craft $$ grew 27% in San Diego supers, up almost 4 share of beer to 26.3. Gotta note that we didn’t include Central Calif-based Firestone Walker in either set of top 10. It’s bigger in San Diego, at near 0.6 share, +17%. It grew 49% in SFO to just over 0.2 share.

Small brewers in Georgia expect to have another fight on their hands in hopes to gain ability to sell on-site. “Beer Jobs Bill” intro’d last week in state Senate would allow brewery visitors to purchase up to 72 oz for on-premise consumption and 144 oz (a 12-pk) for off-premise consumption at the brewery. It would also pave way for brewpubs to sell up to 5000 bbls annually to distribs or visitors to take home. Bill also includes clause that “reaffirms” laws “establishing the three-tier distribution system with prohibitions against ownership and employment interests between the three tiers but creates a limited exception” in form of “tasting rooms” where above direct-sales allowed. “As small, independent brewers, we are very very interested in maintaining an independent distribution tier,” Georgia Craft Brewers Guild executive director Nancy Palmer told Atlanta Constitution Journal. “This bill is not an indictment of Georgia wholesalers,” she added. But Georgia Beer Wholesalers Assn’s Martin Smith sees it as “a clear deviation from a regulatory system which works.” And “incremental changes will only weaken the system to a point of total failure,” in his view. Many expect “contentious debate” over bill, paper wrote, so stay tuned.

Lotsa chatter and lotsa possibilities still to consider for future of beer policy in Florida. State retailer org withdrew suit against state agency last week after Dept of Business and Professional Regulation said it would enter rule-making process to look at rules it uses to license small brewery tap rooms. It won’t, however, stop licensing small breweries in the interim. If state legislature takes on issue and passes law before DBPR issues rule-making, then that trumps agency’s action, according to Florida Times-Union. Passing broader bill could prove difficult, so in meantime legislators will consider smaller bills legalizing 64-oz growlers.

Los Angeles-based Golden Road Brewing announced plans to open a new brewery in Anaheim, “to expand the brand’s footprint in Orange County,” co announced.  Golden Road “sold nearly 30,000 barrels” in 2014; a little more than double its 2013 production of 14,307 bbls, according to Brewers Assn stats.  So it blew past regional brewery marker. 

The Anaheim brewery “will brew specialty beers on Golden Road’s 15-barrel system for the Pub onsite and limited distribution to Golden Road accounts in the area,” per release.   Recently acquired brewmaster, Victor Novak, previously had a longstanding 15 yr gig with another Orange County based brewery, TAPS Fish House & Brewery.  “Construction…is expected to start in early May with an open date forecasted for late 2015.”

Left Hand grew 13% to 74,523 bbls in 2014, co announced, alongside long list of new markets it’ll enter in 2015. Editor’s note: shipments slowed in latter half of the yr; Left Hand was up 19% thru Jun (see vol 5 no 51).

Starting end of Jan, Left Hand will enter New England mkts – VT, CT, RI, ME & NH – with L Knife operations (“Sheehan Family Companies” in release).  That brings total to 34 states plus DC for co.  Recall, last yr Left Hand entered handful of new mkts too, including Iowa, Western PA, Maryland & DC (also with L Knife’s Legends Dist).  Indeed, Left Hand has partnered with L Knife in “multiple markets over the past 8 years,” and “expansion will be an extension of Left Hand’s already solid East Coast presence in MA, NY, PA, and NJ.” Co’s got plans to “expand into California, Nevada and a Northwest market” in 2015 as well. Stay tuned.

Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione expressed satisfaction with co’s 13% growth last yr (even tho it was about 2% slower than budgeted) for several reasons: co continues up double digits yr in and yr out, even while 96% of its beer sold at full price, which is an avg of $53.88 in IRI, sez Sam; and each of Dogfish Head’s top 5 brands up double digits.  High prices, lack of discounting and strong branding are key “reasons we’ve gotten focus” from distribs, Sam told Craft Brew News.  Those key 5 brands are 60 and 90 Minute IPA of course, Namaste, Palo Santo and Midas Touch.   At Dogfish Head, “we try not to follow trends,” said Sam, so “you won’t be seeing a session IPA anytime soon.”  Dogfish Head also not planning on expanding to any new states in 2015, once again sticking with strategy of “strong growth over fast growth.”  But Dogfish Head will be announcing a new sales veep in next mo or so as it’s down to 2 “awesome” candidates. 

What else does Dogfish Head have coming in 2015?  A much stronger push on Namaste, its own unique take on a lower-ABV session-style offering.  Wholesalers asked for this and will be getting it.  Another wholesaler request granted: “a somewhat tighter portfolio” as Dogfish Head will pull out of 3-4 big bottle releases.  Meanwhile, the Dogfish Head distillery should come on line late this summer, entering mkts from NY to Northern Va, likely with mix of distribs it has already and perhaps some new players.  Then there’s Dogfish Head’s expanded Reheboth brewpub, which seats 400 (up from 200) and will open in Jun. Not to mention the Dogfish Head Inn, which has been an “awesome success” and “fun” so far, according to Sam.  Plus other collaborations and surprises.  

As in Seattle, total beer $$ sales up solid 5% in Florida, vol up 3% in 2014, driven by strong craft segment in IRI foodstores thru Dec 28.  Fla craft $$ up 28%, gained 1.6 share to 9 of total beer, with an extra boost from New Belgium’s strong intro into state.  In its first full yr in Fla, NBB already is top-10 supplier at #9, and #2 craft supplier behind Boston Beer in scans.  NBB nearly tripled its biz in Fla foodstores, gained 0.8 share of total beer $$ to 1.3 (a whopping 8 share of craft $$ to 14).  That puts co ahead of Sierra (+10%), Mark Anthony Brands (-2%), and Pabst (-1%), and not too far behind Diageo Guinness USA (-5%).  Recall, Fla was 40% of NBB’s total growth as of Aug, Kim Jordan said at Beer Industry of Fla (BIF) mtg last Nov (see vol 5 no 77).  However gotta note, NBB only up 16% in last 13 wks of 2014, as it faces tuff comps from here on.  Fat Tire down 4%, Ranger IPA slowed to +6%, and Seasonal slowed to +12% in that time, tho still got all incremental gains from Variety Pk and Snapshot Wheat.    

Other top gainers in Fla foodstores among craft cos: Cigar City, still biggest of the locals by far, grew another 70% plus. It gained 0.2 share of total beer $$ to just under half a share. SweetWater grew 35%, to over a half share of $$ in foodstores, and gainin’ on next largest co, Craft Brew Alliance (see above).  Gotta note, SweetWater growth also slowed to 16% in last 13 weeks.  Sierra trend picked up 25% in last 13 weeks, and up 10% for the yr.  However, other than new Sierra Variety Pk, each of top brands lost volume for yr, and Sierra Pale $$ down too. Lagunitas more than doubled its biz, but still relatively small 0.24 share of beer $$ there.

Yuengling & Boston Beer Had Strong 2014 Yuengling (not included in IRI craft number) and Boston Beer (including tea & cider) both had strong yrs in Fla too.  Each grew low double-digits, and each gained 0.4 share of total $$, to 4.3 and 3.6 respectively.  Yuengling and Yuengling Light brands each grew solid double-digits (in teens), and newer Oktoberfest helped add to growth as well.  For Boston Beer, Angry Orchard was the majority of its gains, while top Sam Adams brands combined up 12%, thanks to lift from Rebel IPA.  Even as Rebel IPA gained 3 share of Fla craft, top Sam Adams brands together still shed 3.4 share of craft $$ in Fla.  

Sure, total volume of Elysian and 10 Barrel barely a drop in the AB bucket nationally. But it ain’t about that. AB volume dipped 0.7%, over 11K CEs in Seattle/Tacoma supers in 2014 thru Dec 28. It lost near 0.9 share of vol. But Elysian and 10 Barrel combined gained over 34K CEs and almost 0.6 share of beer vol. Comparison of dollars even more striking. Elysian and 10 Barrel gained over $1.7 mil in Seattle supers while AB sales declined by about $870K. As the recently-acquired craft brands gained 0.77 share of beer $$, AB lost 1.37.

Same story in Portland. By volume: AB declined 4%, 57K CEs and lost 1.18 share during same YTD thru Dec 28 time period. 10 Barrel and Elysian collectively gained about 43K CEs (so not quite as big as AB’s loss) and over 0.6 share. Again, $$ a bigger deal. 10 Barrel and Elysian gained almost $1.6 mil in Portland food stores together, +0.73 share. At same time, AB sales dropped by over $400K and it lost over 1.3 share of $$. Had these 2 brands already been a part of AB portfolio, the big brewer’s share losses would have been cut in half and its modest $$ losses would have turned to gains. But that only highlights big question: can Elysian and 10 Barrel keep up strong growth post-acquisition? Note: not a single Goose Island brand was in top 200 beer brands in foodstores in either market.

Craft segment gained over 2 share of beer $$ in Seattle/Tacoma foodstores last yr to 34.9, according to IRI data YTD thru Dec 28. Total beer $$ grew near 5% there and vol +3%. Rainier is big and growing fast in Seattle/Tacoma: $$ +24.5% and now #5 beer brand in supers there. Both AB and MC down 1.35 to 1.4 share of $$ to under 20 share each. CBA remained top craft co in Seattle, but it had tuff yr there. Its total $$ sales dipped 1.8%. So CBA lost 0.6 share of beer $$ to about 6.1. By end of yr, CBA’s trend improved to -0.3% for 13 wks thru Dec 28, thanks to stronger growth for biggest brands.

Deschutes, #2 craft in Seattle supers, fared better: +4.5% in 2014 thru Dec 28. That’s mostly due to incremental pop from Fresh Squeezed IPA intro as much bigger Mirror Pond and Inversion IPA both up 1-2%. For 13 wks, Deschutes $$ trend improved to +5%, but as Inversion and Black Butte Porter were only established brands to grow and Fresh Squeezed still lifting total biz. NAB’s top Pyramid brands struggled in 2014. Top 7 Pyramid brands were over 90% of NAB’s biz in Seattle. They declined 1.6% collectively for full yr, which steepened to -2.8% for last 13 wks. New Belgium, #4 craft player, grew $$ sales 11.6%, gained 0.14 share of beer $$ to near 2.3. But coming up behind, Elysian up almost 28%. It gained 0.4 share to over 2.2. For 13 wks, Elysian and NBB share flip-flopped as both slowed slightly. So for full yr, top 5 craft players in Seattle supers (CBA, Deschutes, Pyramid, NBB, Elysian) had almost 17 share of beer and near 50 share of craft segment.

Sierra and Ninkasi Up; Alaskan Down; Angry Orchard Boosts Boston Growth But Struggled to Cycle Other established brands also got good growth last yr in Seattle foodstores. Sierra Nevada $$ +11% and Ninkasi +14%. But near end of yr, Sierra trend improved to +24% for 13 wks thru Dec 28 as Ninkasi trend slowed to +8%. Alaskan down 4% for full yr, even tho biggest brand Amber +1%. Improvement in Amber trend for final 13 wks of yr to +8% slowed Alaskan’s total decline to -2%. Boston Beer is #6 supplier overall in Seattle/Tacoma mkt, +33% all in, but over 70% of its $$ sales are Angry Orchard there. Boston did about $2.6 mil in Seattle supers without top 7 AO brands, most of that Sam Adams. And top Sam brands a mixed bag for full-yr: Boston Lager flat, Seasonal +1%, Variety Pk -8%. Rebel IPA got 0.14 share of beer $$ in intro yr, a big help. Turning to more recent 13-wk period, AO comps got tuffer and total Boston biz up just 0.2%. In fact, top 7 AO brands combined were down for 13 wks and share gained by Rebel IPA wiped out by share losses of other 3 big Sam brands.

Local Love for Fremont, Pike, More; Other Top Craft Trends  Local Fremont Brewing is about the same size or larger than Sam Adams franchise in Seattle supers for most of 2014. Fremont +67.5% thru Dec 28 last yr. Its Interurban IPA was #5 $$ gainer across all beer brands in mkt, behind Rainier and 3 cider brands (2 AO). Full Sail had tuff yr too in Seattle, -2%, including +16% $$ trend for last 13 wks. Lagunitas got 30%+ growth in longer and shorter periods. Some BridgePort brands up, others down for Gambrinus. But it nearly doubled its Shiner Bock biz in Seattle thru Dec 28. Total Gambrinus $$ +4.5% for yr. Pike, another local fave, gained ground in home mkt, +19%. SoCal’s Stone got strong 18% growth too. Smaller brewers comin’ on: Two Beers Brewing almost tripled, Iron Horse +38%, Odin +111%, Silver City +50% and No-Li +85%. Local Hale’s Ales maintained 15% growth while Oreg’s Laurelwood made splash, getting almost all of its 0.22 share last yr.

There’s been considerable backlash from craft beer community, via social media and otherwise,after Budweiser’s 2nd Super Bowl ad, “Brewed The Hard Way,” aired late in the game. The ad draws a clear line between two kinds of beer drinkers by speaking to one and sending up the other for critique. The first are those “who like to drink beer,” who unload cases and party in bars during the ad, all with Bud. The second are caught “dissecting” their beers in the corner, depicted with eccentric facial hair and noses in glasses. These are laughable characters for the ad, like those seen on last fall’s New Yorker cover, who believe beer should be “fussed over,” it claims. “Let them sip their pumpkin peach ale,” it says before bringing back classic “This Bud’s For You” tag.

“Lost Dog,” Bud’s first ad that followed up on last year’s “Puppy Love,” was viewed widely online last week as it was released early with many other spots. It was then broadly applauded after it aired early in the game and went on to win Bud’s 3rd straight USA Today Ad Meter award. But this 2nd Bud ad was still secret when it appeared late in the game. And response to it came immediately. Taking it as a punch or gauntlet thrown by Bud, many craft advocates took to social media to punch back. They questioned why Bud would make fun of the kind of drinkers its parent company seems to want to attract by acquiring more small breweries. Within minutes, folks pointed to a one-off beer Elysian Brewing made last yr for annual Great Pumpkin Beer Fest: “Gourdgia on my Mind Pecan Peach Pumpkin Amber.”

The “flavor combination” described in the ad was “fabricated, ludicrous,” Bud veep Brian Perkins told AdAge. But the irony that AB’s most recent craft acquisition had made such a beer was not lost on viewers. Or on Elysian co-founder Dick Cantwell. “I find it kind of incredible that ABI would be so tone-deaf as to pretty directly (even if unwittingly) call out one of the breweries they have recently acquired, even as that brewery is dealing with the anger of the beer community in reaction to the sale,” Dick wrote to the Chicago Tribune this morning. “It doesn't make our job any easier, and it certainly doesn't make me feel any better about a deal I didn't even want to happen. It's made a difficult situation even more painful.” Others wondered about the reactions of employees at AB’s other craft-focused entities, Goose Island and 10 Barrel. The ad and the backlash that continued today led publications like Fortune, Business Insider, the Atlantic, Paste and more to call the move “defensive,” “hypocritical,” “embarrassing,” and worse. “This is not an attack on craft beer, this is not an attack on competition,” Brian insisted in AdAge. But it was perceived that way. And support of Bud drinkers that agreed with ad’s sentiment barely made a blip compared to onslaught of backlash.

Defense or Offense? Changing the Conversation  Claiming that Bud makers are somehow “afraid” of the craft segment’s growth, many shared (again) the Wall St Journal graphic showing (based on our data) that the entire craft segment had grown to just slightly larger than Bud’s total shipments in 2013. Now that we’ve got updated 2014 estimates, the gap’s only gotten larger. While Bud was down about 4% last yr to just over 15 mil bbls, craft grew another 18% to about 19 mil bbls. But does that mean that the perceived “attack” was “defensive”? Recall that Miller Lite too has recently refocused its advertising on the intrinsic qualities of the beer and how it’s made. While the widely-seen Miller Lite spots don’t put the brand in direct opposition to craft, comments from MillerCoors ceo Tom Long have. The ads seem to rally the troops, reminding them why so many drinkers already choose these brands. They also serve as a response to the years of rocks craft brewers continue to sling at larger counterparts. Meanwhile, in more official responses to the ad, many craft brewers promise Pumpkin Peach Ales, while others work to promote pride in being “fussy.” Brewers of all sizes seem to prepping to talk more about beer.