Edit: Newly released data from the Brewers Association confirms that 2023 was a historically bad year for “small, independent” craft brewers in the U.S. Overall beer production declined rather ...

After almost 20 years of explosive growth in the craft beer industry, more U.S. breweries closed last year than opened. The Brewers Association tracked 335 new openings but nearly 400 closings.

The Brewers Association report on the craft beer industry. According to the Brewers Association, there were 9,612 operating craft breweries in 2024, down from 9,747 the year before.

So “craft beer” really took root in the 2000s as a point of differentiation. Then large brewers like Anheuser-Busch InBev purchased craft breweries, and that definition started to get muddied.