https://www.brewersassociation.org/...y/history-of-craft-beer/?utm_source=hootsuite Interesting slide show. Last slide puts us at a historic high in number of breweries. I wonder how many we would need if we normalized population?
Pretty cool to see the "un-consolidation" of beer in the US. More choices for the consumer is a good thing...with ownership in the hands of more people. I'll continue to support the "indies" regardless of their size. I'll also continue to research where my money is going when I make my beer purchases. Information is power.
In 1874 with a population of 38,558,371 and 4131 breweries we had 1 brewery for every 9333 people. Today with 309.3 million people and 4144 breweries, we have one brewery for every 74,638 people. We still have a ways to go.
Some good numbers, but what are the per capita consumption numbers. There were no BMC's back then. Spread that BMC volume over the average craft brewery volume, and you would get a huge numbers of breweries.