Oregon Craft Brewers Face Most Difficult Year In Decades

What’s happening in Oregon is happening across the US as consumer tastes shift to canned cocktails and cannabis, and with fewer young people are drinking.

Here’s the deal…

“For nearly the first time this century, Oregon lost more breweries than new ones opened,” KVAL 13 reports. “US beer shipments for 2023 are expected to be at the lowest level this century after falling more than 5%.”

Maybe it’s the ongoing legalization of cannabis, the emergence of alternatives like hard seltzers and canned cocktails, or simply the growing sobriety movement. Maybe it’s all of these things to differing degrees, but whatever the reason beer drinking in America has fallen to the lowest level in a generation.

And Oregon, home to nearly 400 breweries, brewpubs, and taprooms which generate billions in output and income and tens of thousands of jobs, is facing its most difficult year in decades as a result.

For nearly the first time this century, Oregon lost more breweries than new ones opened.

“It’s a tough moment for Oregon’s craft brewers,” Ben Edmunds, brewmaster at Breakside Brewery and President of the Oregon Brewers Guild said….

 “Increased costs, changes in consumer preferences, and diminished on-premise consumption all made 2023 an especially challenging year. Oregon consumers have a long history of supporting independent, local breweries, and breweries across the state need that support now more than ever — especially as we head into the start of the year.”

Once a bastion of the craft beer movement, Oregon has lost more than 20 breweries in the past few months.

“2023 was the first year in decades there were nearly as many craft brewery closures as openings, excluding the 2020 pandemic year,” Edmunds says. “That’s in part because nationwide draft beer sales are still nearly 30% down from before the pandemic. That’s 2 million fewer barrels of beer being sold, which disproportionately impacts craft brewers who rely more heavily on draft sales to survive.”

“I’ve seen it in my own taproom,” ,” Sonia Marie Leikam, cofounder of Leikam Brewing and Vice President of the Oregon Brewers Guild added.

 “People are going out less, especially since Covid. There is a lot of competition when it comes to a customer choosing to drink your beer, not just from other breweries, but many other beverage producers as well.  So please support your favorite local brewery.”

So the hits keep on coming…

Welcome to 2024.

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