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03.03.2008 5:06 pm

Craft beer sales up 12 percent last year

If you’re a brewer of craft beer, 2007 was another year to raise the mug and say “Cheers!”Sales by independent craft brewers grew 12 percent by volume and 16 percent in dollars last year, according to the Brewers Association, a trade association based in Boulder, Co.

Craft brewers’ share of the U.S. beer category is 3.8 percent of production and 5.9 percent of retail sales, according to the group. Almost 70 percent of craft brewers are brewpubs that sell most or all of their beer on-premise.

Since 2004, dollar sales by craft brewers have increased 58 percent, according to the Brewers Association. The industry now has more than $5.7 billion is sales.

In St. Louis, St. Louis Brewery Inc. — maker of Schlafly beer and the biggest local craft brewer — sold 19,935 barrel equivalents of beer. That was 16.5 percent jump from 2006.

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4 comments

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Good for you Schlafly! You make the best beer in St. Louis by far and I’m glad things are going well. Looking forward to more new, and I’m sure good, beers this coming year.

— Mark
9:29 pm March 3rd, 2008

It’s no surprise that Craft Beer sales continue to surge. There are a lot of great beers out there. My favorite is O’Fallon Brewery’s 5 Day IPA. Pick some up at your local grocers and see what you think.

— Jim
12:56 pm March 4th, 2008

Craft Beers will one day rule the earth! I personally think New Belgium Brewery(Fort Collins, CO) will one day be the industry leader. They do things in a very green/sustainable way that hopefully one day will pay off.

— Rodney
8:46 am March 10th, 2008

Why is it that Schlafly is such a huge producer of craft beer and they don’t win anything? I feel they are always making bland product that can’t keep up on a national stage. At least STL has O’Fallon to break through the AB-stigma for the region.

— Tim
11:42 am March 10th, 2008