American Craft Beer Looks Back At 2015 – Part II

 As we cruise into 2016, ACB looks back at the most significant events of “the year that was” and reflects upon where the industry might be heading

 So welcome to Part II of our 2015 Review and if you haven’t read Part I already…we’re pissed at you.

Money Changed Everything in 2015– At a time when breweries like Ballast Point can command numbers like $1 Billion dollars – we’ve entered an era where once unassailable craft beer properties are no doubt rethinking their purity. Look for more craft beer majors to rationalize their futures this year.

Private Equity Also Increased Its Role In Last Year’s Craft Beer Hunt – Companies like AB InBev, Heineken and Constellation Brands weren’t alone in buying into craft beer last year – private equity firms also got more aggressive. The Utah Brewer’s Cooperative (which holds both Wasatch and Squatters), Uinta, Southern Tier, Long Trail, Otter Creek, Magic Hat, Pyramid, Portland Brewing and SweetWater are all at least partially owned by private-equity firms now. And Oskar Blues, Full Sail and Dogfish Head all sold either stakes, or their entire breweries, to private-equity concerns in 2015.

Sours Continued Their Reign As The “It” Beers Of 2015 – Over the last four years consumer interest in sour beer styles has grown immensely – and we expect to see that trend continuing in 2016.

Session IPA Sales Slowed – The consumer’s interest in the Session IPA trend may be waning somewhat. We’ve heard from several distributors that after years of non-stop growth the “sell through” in the session IPA category was much weaker than expected in 2015.

Craft Beer In Cans Continues to Grow – And we’ll only see that trend accelerate in 2016. As we detailed in 6 Reasons The Craft Beer Industry Is Moving To Cans there are several reasons why we’re seeing this transition – and the craft beer consumer seems more comfortable with the concept than ever before.

American Craft Beer Staked Its Claim In Europe – On December 7^th, Stone Brewing started serving beers that were brewed at their new Berlin-based facility – and in doing so, they have thrown down a gauntlet challenging what beer brewed in Europe, can and will be, going forward.