Minnesota's big craft beer decline of 2020

The boom times for Minnesota craft breweries came to a screeching halt last year.

Driving the news: The Minnesota Brewers Association recently released its annual production numbers for state breweries in 2020, and the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal put out a ranking of the top 25.

State of play: Minnesota breweries lost out on an estimated $95 million in sales last year and the industry shed 595 jobs due to the pandemic, according to a recent University of Minnesota report.

Details: Most breweries in the state of Minnesota reported a decrease in production last year, some as high as 42%.

• Production at Summit Brewing — the state's largest brewery —dropped 14.6%, to 109,273 barrels.
• Surly Brewing (No. 3), which closed its taproom/restaurant over the winter, reported a 17.2% decline
• And smaller breweries that rely more heavily on taproom and restaurant sales reported even bigger declines. Fair State was down 27%, and Finnegans was down 42.5%.