Beer Nut: Craft beer should rebound this year - MassLive.com

It’s no surprise that last year was a down year for craft beer pretty much across the board. It was a down year for almost everything.

Yet there were some hopeful signs among the rubble caused by the global pandemic. So let’s look at those and make some guesses about what this year and beyond might bring.

One stat that jumped out at me about craft beer in 2020 was that some breweries and brewpubs actually opened during the year. I’m guessing that most of those occurred before March, but it still is a sign of hope that anyone got anything off the ground in such a tumultuous year. In fact, despite the pandemic, the number of craft breweries still hit a record high in 2020. We will probably hit 9,000 (if we haven’t already) this year.

The Brewers Association, a trade group that works with independent craft brewers, noted that there were 716 new brewery openings last year. This was offset a bit by

346 closings, but there is always a balance in this category, and last year doesn’t seem as bad as it could have been, all things considered.

Of course there was a dark side to craft beer last year. industry.

The Brewers Association reported that craft brewers saw a 9% shrinkage in production in 2020, and sales were down 22%. Likewise, jobs in the small brewing sector shrank by 14%.

This year should see a rebound in many areas, but we have to keep in mind that things still aren’t totally back to “normal” (whatever that is) and pandemic restrictions just started being eased after Memorial Day. So that was five months of rough sledding for breweries and brewpubs. And not to be a wet blanket, but many areas still do not have good vaccination numbers, meaning outbreaks of COVID-19 are still looming.

But I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we are over the worst of the pandemic. I have sat inside at my own local, the Northampton Brewery, several times over the past month and felt perfectly comfortable doing so. Then again, Massachusetts is one of the best states when it comes to risk these days.

I’m not sure I’d attend an indoor beer festival yet (but I’m generally not a fan of festivals anyway). But I’m hoping that next year, we will see the return of beer festivals without much worry. That will be a great sign that the craft beer industry is back in full force.

So I’m predicting that the second half of 2021 will be a robust one for craft beer. That’s not really going out on a limb, but it’s also more than just a wish and a prayer.

Cheers!

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