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The Chicago region continues to dominate aspects of the brewery landscape as the Brewers Association (BA) announced the area hosts the nation's highest concentration of fastest-growing craft breweries as of 2018.
Of the 50 fastest-growing small and independent breweries named by the BA Wednesday, Chicagoland houses four: Illuminated Brew Works (#20), Great Central Brewing (#35), Noon Whistle Brewing (#42), and Une Annee Brewery (#50). Though none came in higher than 20 on the list, only California, with six breweries, boasted more or as many as Illinois' four. This achievement follows the BA's discovery in December that the metropolis claims 167 craft breweries, more than any other American city.
Josh Noel, who covers the beer beat for the Chicago Tribune, wrote in an article last year, "It’s a broad area with a large, progressive population, plenty of affordable real estate and a fair bit of disposable income. So in a sense, Chicago’s rise should be no surprise."
The Midwest has shown strongly in craft brewery rankings and competitions of late. Iowa's Lake Time Brewery placed atop the list, with Michigan and Wisconsin also performing well. (Admittedly the two latter states have helped lead the industry for the past 15-plus years.)
Twenty-seven states in total appear on the map, with all but two breweries (Tree House Brewery and Old Nation Brewing) categorized as "microbreweries," which means they sell fewer than 15,000 barrels (1 bbl=31 gallons) annually.
"Even as market competition continues to increase, these small and independent breweries and brewpubs demonstrate there are still growth opportunities across a diverse set of regions and business models,” BA economist Bart Watson writes in a statement.
Against the backdrop of a national craft production rate that slowed drastically to 5% in 2017 after enjoying staggering growth rates earlier in the decade, these breweries grew their volume by an average 163% to a median size of 1,350 barrels from 2017 to 2018. They boosted their collective in-house production from less than 70,000 barrels to more than 170,000 barrels over that time period. The 35 microbreweries, 13 brewpubs and two regional craft breweries represent around 10% of total craft growth by volume for the year.
Watson explains that while it makes mathematical sense for smaller breweries and states that have been slower to catch up to the craft beer craze to experience more growth now, it's important nevertheless to highlight trends that tell the story of today's beer scene.
"Given that much of the growth in craft is now coming from the aggregation of small breweries, although none of these breweries is individually contributing a very high percentage of overall craft growth, this group of breweries does a good job of capturing the diverse set of stories that are driving overall category growth," he says.
An undetermined amount of stagnation to overall growth reflects a growing number of bigger craft breweries giving up their independence and inclusion in the BA's count of craft breweries by selling to outside entities.
