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Craft Brewery

Assessing the State of

Craft and Specialty Beer

Distribution Post-Covid

By: Becky Garrison
A ccording to the Brewers Association, over- Half Time Beverage

all U.S. beer volume sales were down 3%
in 2020, while craft brewer volume sales
declined 9%, lowering small and indepen- Half Time Beverage features over 4,000 craft
beers and ciders from over 800 breweries across 50
dent brewers’ share of the U.S. beer market by vol- countries. They sell via two New York based retail
ume to 12.3%. Retail dollar sales of craft decreased stores and their online business, a convenience that
22% to $22.2 billion and now account for just under helped them during the worst of the pandemic.
24% of the $94 billion U.S. beer market (previously
$116 billion). “The fact that we were able to deliver the best
in craft beer to people’s doorsteps result-ed in an
According to their analysis, the primary reason for increased amount of purchases from both exist-
this overall sales decline was the shift in beer vol- ing and new customers who ordered from Half
ume from bars and restaurants to packaged sales. Time during Covid,” said Jason Daniels, Half Time
Given this shift, how did craft beer distribution Beverage’s Chief Operating Officer.
change during this ongoing global pandemic?

4 December - January 2022 BEVERAGE MASTER

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