Five San Diego breweries make top 50 biggest craft brewers list in tough beer year
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The craft beer industry declined in 2023 — the second consecutive year of negative growth for the once-booming industry, per Brewers Association data released Tuesday.
Why it matters: Competition between small, independent brewers and shifting alcohol-consumption habits present headwinds for a craft beer industry that had become accustomed to relentless growth.
The craft beer industry declined in 2023 — the second consecutive year of negative growth for the once-booming industry, per Brewers Association data released Tuesday.
Why it matters: Competition between small, independent brewers and shifting alcohol-consumption habits present headwinds for a craft beer industry that had become accustomed to relentless growth.
Yes, but: The craft beer industry didn't shrink as much as the beer market did as a whole, and new brewery openings nationwide outpaced closures.
By the numbers: Overall craft beer production declined 1% last year, the worst year since the Brewers Association began tracking the industry in the late 1970s.
- Production in the overall beer industry declined 5.1%.
Zoom in: A number of San Diego companies made the Brewers Association's list of top 50 biggest craft brewers this year.
- Tilray Beer Brands — which includes a San Diego County foothold after its 2022 purchase of Green Flash Brewing and Alpine Beer Company for $5.1 million — is ranked sixth.
- Craft 'Ohana — the joint venture of Maui Brewing and San Diego's Modern Times Beer, which Maui purchased out of bankruptcy in 2022 for $15.2 million — came in 26th.
- Kings & Convicts Brewing — which relocated from Chicago in 2022 after purchasing San Diego's Ballast Point for a fraction of the $1 billion that megabrewer Constellation Brands paid for it in 2015 — was the 30th-largest craft brewer last year.
- Carlsbad-based Pizza Port — one of our OG beer establishments — came in 47th.
- Coronado Brewing Co. came in 48th.