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More restaurants are tapping into expanded craft-beer programs as the popularity of smaller brewers has increased along with the number of those brewers.
From players who have their own on-site breweries to casual-dining chains, the segment is growing. And craft beer continues to turn consumers' heads, research shows.
"Outpacing its competitive beer segments of domestic and imported beer brands, craft beer has kept an upward trajectory throughout the economic downturn and subsequent slow recovery," said Jennifer Zegler, beverage analyst with the Mintel market research consultancy in a December report.
As of June 30 last year, the United States had 2,126 breweries, and 2,075 of those were craft brewers, according to the industry's Brewers Association trade group.
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Mintel research found that craft and craft-style beer sales were on pace to nearly double between 2007 and 2012 - increasing from nearly $5.7 billion in sales to just short of $12 billion in 2012. The report noted that those gains were impressive, as the rest of the beer category had shown flat to declining performance in the wake of the recession.
"Fueling the growth has been changing alcohol consumption patterns in which consumers, especially Millennials of legal drinking age, prefer to drink a variety of beer, wine and spirits," the report said.
Operators like Il Vicino Brewing Co. in Albuquerque, N.M., were finding the market for craft brews changing as well. "Our main customers are still 30- to 45-year-olds," said Ror McKeown, general manager of the brewing company's Il Vicino Canteen. "But the market is changing from mostly men to about 50-50 men and women. A lot of it has to do with the welcoming environment that many brew pubs are providing."
Il Vicino...