--- title: Our Love for Craft Beer Hits New Heights description: Craft beer sales rose 18% by volume and 22% in dollars in 2014, while overall U.S. beer sales inched up just 0.5% and brands like Budweiser have gone flat. What's more, craft beer has hit double digits in terms of market share for the first time, reaching 11% of all beer sales by volume. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2015-03-17T17:30:18.000Z' modified: '2024-05-16T10:10:27.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - Alcohol - Beer - Budweiser - Craft Beer - Food & Beverage - Food & Drink word_count: 362 canonical: https://money.com/craft-beer-sales-love/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Samuel Adams at Oktoberfest during the New York City Wine & Food Festival](https://img.money.com/2015/03/150317_em_craftbeerlove.jpg?crop=0px%2C129px%2C3000px%2C1687px&quality=85) *Samuel Adams at Oktoberfest during the New York City Wine & Food Festival* A new report from the [American Brewers Association](http://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/craft-brewer-volume-share-of-u-s-beer-market-reaches-double-digits-in-2014/) shows that craft beer sales rose 18% by volume and 22% in dollars in 2014, while overall U.S. beer sales inched up just 0.5%. What's more, craft beer has hit double digits in terms of market share for the first time, reaching 11% of all beer sales by volume. For a little perspective about how quickly craft beer is being embraced by the masses, note that the category accounted for only 5% of all American beer sales in 2010. The number of U.S. breweries has skyrocketed over the years as well, from about 1,500 in 2008, to around [2,000 breweries](http://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/brewers-association-craft-brewing-volume-hops-13-percent/) in 2011, on upwards to nearly 3,500 today, including more than 600 new ones opened just last year. The Brewers Association defines a craft brewer as one that is small, independent, and traditional. The guidelines mean that Samuel Adams is indeed a craft brew—the company produces fewer than 6 million barrels annually, which is the cutoff for being considered "small"—while beer labels such as Blue Moon and Shock Top are not because they are owned, respectively, by beer giants MolsonCoors and Anheuser-Busch InBev. Such seemingly craft brews are often categorized, derisively, as ["crafty" beer brands](http://business.time.com/2012/12/27/trouble-brewing-the-craft-beer-vs-crafty-beer-cat-fight/) because the labels underplay or completely hide the fact that they're owned and produced by the world's biggest beer companies. The Big Beer vs. Craft Beer battle has periodically grown testy over the years. Most recently, a Budweiser ad mocking craft beer aired during the Super Bowl in an attempt to [revamp its stale image](http://business.time.com/2012/08/29/how-budweiser-is-trying-to-lose-its-stale-image-and-appeal-to-young-drinkers/) and boost flagging sales. The strategy seemed puzzling to many because Bud's corporate parent has been [buying craft beer brands](http://business.time.com/2013/08/13/that-craft-beer-youre-drinking-isnt-craft-beer-do-you-care/) left and right, while also pushing [Budweiser offshoot brands](http://business.time.com/2013/01/15/budweiser-tries-to-get-all-sophisticated-by-putting-on-a-new-black-crown/) that are supposedly more sophisticated and should therefore appeal to craft beer fans. In any event, when you look at shrinking sales for macrobrew standards like [Miller Genuine Draft, Miller High Life, and Budweiser](https://time.com/3694529/beers-americans-no-longer-drink/) on the one hand, and soaring sales for the craft beer segment on the other, it's pretty clear which side is winning the battle for drinkers' dollars. **MORE:** [Monks, the Original Hipster Entrepreneurs, Make Some of the World's Best Craft Beer](https://money.com/monks-hipster-entrepeneurs/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/craft-beer-sales-love/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Places to Travel", "item": "https://money.com/places-to-travel/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Our Love for Craft Beer Hits New Heights" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/craft-beer-sales-love/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/craft-beer-sales-love/", "name": "Our Love for Craft Beer Hits New Heights", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-03-17T17:30:18.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/craft-beer-sales-love/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/craft-beer-sales-love/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-16T10:10:27.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Our Love for Craft Beer Hits New Heights", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/03/150317_em_craftbeerlove.jpg?crop=0px%2C129px%2C3000px%2C1687px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "150317_EM_CraftBeerLove" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-03-17T17:30:18.000Z", "description": "Craft beer sales rose 18% by volume and 22% in dollars in 2014, while overall U.S. beer sales inched up just 0.5% and brands like Budweiser have gone flat. What's more, craft beer has hit double digits in terms of market share for the first time, reaching 11% of all beer sales by volume.", "abstract": "Craft beer sales rose 18% by volume and 22% in dollars in 2014, while overall U.S. beer sales inched up just 0.5% and brands like Budweiser have gone flat. What's more, craft beer has hit double digits in terms of market share for the first time, reaching 11% of all beer sales by volume.", "@id": "https://money.com/craft-beer-sales-love/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-05-16T10:10:27.000Z", "wordCount": 362, "keywords": [ "Alcohol", "Beer", "Budweiser", "Craft Beer", "Food & Beverage", "Food & Drink" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Lifestyle", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "World Tourism rankings", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings" ] } ] } ] } ```