PRESS RELEASE

Celebrating Small and Independent Craft Breweries

Week-long annual holiday focuses on supporting small businesses

American Craft Beer Week®, the annual national beer holiday celebrated since 2006 by millions of beer lovers, breweries, and retailers, will be observed May 11-17. Hosted by CraftBeer.com, a website published by the Brewers Association, this year’s celebration will feel different, but the spirit of  supporting craft breweries who have supported their communities and country remains the same.

American Craft Beer Week provides an opportunity for beer lovers to connect safely with each other while supporting – and possibly even saving – local microbreweries, taprooms, brewpubs, and regional craft breweries. These small businesses are undergoing unprecedented challenges due to the global pandemic. U.S. craft breweries are job creators and community gathering places—providing more than 161,000 direct full and part-time jobs1 and hosting nearly 68 million2  unique brewery visitors in 2019 alone. Additionally, craft breweries donated more than $82 million to local charities last year3, approximately $3.10 for every barrel of beer brewed.

“Independent craft breweries are an essential component in the important economic network of growers, distributors, supplier partners, beer lovers, and retailers,” said Julia Herz, publisher of CraftBeer.com and craft beer program director at the Brewers Association. “This American Craft Beer Week, brewers and beer lovers will connect in new ways during these challenging times. From May 11 to May 17, those who commit to giving independent craft beer will make a difference that reaches beyond the beverage to support and save thousands of hometown breweries who are instrumental in giving back to so many local communities and charitable causes.”

Here’s how beer lovers can help:

Notes

1 2019 Brewers Association 2019 Beer Industry Production Survey
2 Nielsen Craft Beer Insights Poll May 18-26, 2019
3 2019 Brewers Association 2019 Beer Industry Production Survey

 

About the Brewers Association

The Brewers Association (BA) is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The BA represents 4,800-plus U.S. breweries. The BA’s independent craft brewer seal is a widely adopted symbol that differentiates beers by small and independent craft brewers. The BA organizes events including the World Beer Cup®, Great American Beer Festival®, Craft Brewers Conference® & BrewExpo America®, SAVOR™: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, Homebrew Con™, National Homebrew Competition and American Craft Beer Week®. The BA publishes The New Brewer® magazine, and Brewers Publications® is the leading publisher of brewing literature in the U.S. Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com® and about homebrewing via the BA’s American Homebrewers Association® and the free Brew Guru® mobile app. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.