Craft beer sales were up 18% in 2015, continuing to strike fear in the mass producers.  Some highlights include:

-Small Town Brewery’s Not Your Father’s Root Beer was the #1 selling “craft beer” of 2015. The company sold more than 1.95 million cases and generated more than $85 million in sales

-The next closest was Samuel Adams seasonal which sold 1.9 million cases, generating only $70 million in sales, a decline of 7.8 percent compared to 2014

-Volume sales for all Lagunitas products were up 48 percent

-Volume sales for both A-B InBev and MillerCoors, the two largest beer companies in the U.S., were flat

It’s going to be interesting to see what happens to sales as the mass brands continue to build their portfolio of craft beers by offering on obscene amount of money for the small brewers (see Ballast Point being bought by Constellation Brands for $1B)

In the end, it’s a win-win for us beer drinkers.

Prost!