The New England Craft Beer Bubble

         According to the Brew Association, there was a total of 301 craft beer breweries throughout New England in 2016! Massachusetts having the highest amount, at 110 breweries. Even though Vermont only has 50, that is about 11 breweries per 100,000  people which is the highest across the entire U.S.. Making New England with one of the densest regions for breweries right now and these numbers keep rising year over year.

         The love for beer in New England dates all the way back to the Pilgrims. They mainly drank beer because it was safer to drink then water, but that's beside the point because obviously beer is great. What's great about beer nowadays is that there are so many different options to choose from since we have so many different brewers. There's something out there for everybody!

         Yet, while that may seem great for consumers, that creates an issue for the brewers. With the market continuing to grow and more breweries per capita everywhere the market share of each brewer is getting smaller and smaller. For breweries, like Boston Beer Co., who is one of the OG craft beer companies who's been around since 1984 dropped 8% in sales for 2016. Wile Harpoon lost 3% since the previous year, as well. Even though the overall craft market continues to grow. Crafting a high quality brew, alone, is not gonna cut it in today's market. Not every newcomer is not going to be able to make it and it's only a matter of time before the risk might not be worth it like it used to. It's going to take some creativity to gain traction and to become the next big craft beer hit.

WBUR, had a great segment on the craft beer bubble. Go check it out: http://www.wbur.org/bostonomix/2017/10/26/new-england-craft-beer