I recently looked at the brewing industry statistics for the year 2000, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the “good” beer business is growing again. I've been hearing a lot of people say that American craft brewing is shrinking, but it simply isn't true. In fact, it's at an all-time high.

        You could easily be excused for being surprised by that because of the stunning growth of imported beers, which were up 12 percent again last year. But sales increases at American craft brewers (regional specialty breweries, microbreweries and brewpubs) exceeded 4 percent in 2000, following a 2 percent increase in 1999.

        There are fewer craft brewers today, and fewer new breweries are opening each year, but fewer are closing as well. This consolidation is leading to increased profits, making it more likely that existing craft brewers will stay in business.

        Of course, the megabreweries have the lion's share of the total beer market (the big three, Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors, account for four of every five beers sold), but craft brewers increased their market share in 2000 for the second year in a row. Last year's craft beer sales were up by almost six million barrels.

        The American craft beer industry includes nearly 1,000 brewpubs, more than 400 microbreweries and 43 regional specialty breweries. That's nearly six times the number of craft beer companies 10 years ago, and almost double the number five years ago.

        It's also interesting to look at the top seven domestic specialty brewers. Boston Beer Co., the maker of the Samuel Adams lineup, led the way with almost 1.2 million barrels produced last year. No other brewer was even close to that volume, but Sierra Nevada (California) was second with half a million barrels. Next were Leinenkugel (Wisconsin), F.X. Matt (Upstate New York) , Redhook (Seattle) , New Belgium (Colorado) and Pete's (California). These big guns of the industry prove that good beer is popular everywhere.

Regional favorites

        Closer to home, it was no surprise to see which were the most popular breweries. Cincinnati is counted in the North Central region, which includes states from the Dakotas to Kansas in the west, across to Michigan and Ohio in the east.

        One of my local favorites, Goose Island Beer Co. of Chicago, came in No. 4 in the region (20 nationally), and Great Lakes Brewing Co. of Cleveland was No. 7 in the region (42 nationally).

        Getting down to the brewpub level, I was pleased to see Hoster Brewing Co. of Columbus in second place in the region (No. 4 nationally), closely followed by BarrelHouse Brewing Co. of Cincinnati at third in the region (No. 7 nationally). The only other reasonably close brewpub was the Rock Bottom Brewery in Indianapolis at No. 9 in the region. By the way, Big Buck Brewery in Auburn, Mich. ranked No. 1 in the region in brewpub sales.

        South of the river, Bluegrass Brewing Co. of Louisville was No. 1 in the Southern region, and number 13 nationally.

Quality at BarrelHouse

        There seems to be a niche for everyone, and the competition among craft brewers is always friendly. That makes it a fun industry to watch.

        I'd like to close with a plug for one of our local favorites, BarrelHouse. It's pretty impressive that in such a relatively short time it has become the seventh best-selling brewpub beer in the nation. Considering that all its beer is draft beer, with no bottling operation, it's quite a tribute to the skill of their brewer, Rick DeBar, and to the emphasis on quality in all parts of the operation.

        On a personal note, I find the BarrelHouse Flying Pig Pilsner and Hocking Hills Hefeweizen to be two of the most authentic German-style beers available in this country. I'm also a fan of the Cumberland Pale Ale.

        E-mail hopfen@malz.com.

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