Small craft advisory: though the craft-beer industry hit some turbulence in the past, its top brewers see opportunities ahead - beer

Cheers, July-August, 2002 by Cheryl Ursin

While many craft-brewers self-distribute in their local markets, it requires quite an investment of time and money. Harpoon added several employees, including eight drivers, to its staff and leased four trucks and a van.

Craft brewers are hoping that the distribution problem is a temporary bottleneck. "Something has to give," says Deschutes's Bryant. "It just has to be profitable for someone."

And maybe the situation has begun to shift already. Gatza points out that a few specialty distributors, handling just craft beer, have sprung up. One of the most notable is The Craft Brewers Guild, operating in both New York City and Boston, which was created by Brooklyn Brewery, a craft-beer company.

All in all, craft brewers say, their industry may not be growing like gangbusters, as it did at the beginning, but it is probably healthier for it in some ways. "It may not be like the early '90s," says Sierra Nevada's Harrison, "but for those who keep their heads up, it's still a strong business."

TOP 10 BREWPUB GROUPS (2001)

(Measured by total volume of beer sold not including production-only
breweries.)

1 Rock Bottom Restaurants (a)
2 Hops Restaurant, Bar and Brewery
3 Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants (b)
4 McMenamin's Breweries
5 Big Hom Brewery (c)
6 BJ's Restaurant and Brewery
7 Big Buck Brewery and Steakhouse
8 John Harvard's Brewhouse
9 Wynkoop Brewing Co. (d)
10 Pyramid Alehouse

* Excluding non-brewing restaurants

(a) Includes continental Brew Moons Walnut Brewery and three - ChopHouse
and Breweries.

(b) Includes Big River Grille & Brewing Works Brewpubs, Rock Bottom
Breweries of Charlotte and Atlanta, A1A Alehouse, Ragtime Tavern and
Seven Bridges Grille & Brewery.

(c) Includes C.B. & Potts/Bighom Brewing Co., Humperdink's/ Big Hom
Brewing Co. and C. I., Shenanigan's Chophouse & Brewery

(d) Group includes Phantom Canyon, Upstream.
TOP 25 BREWPUBS IN THE U.S. (2001)

1 Big Buck Brewery & Steakhouse - Gaylord, MI
2 Brew Brothers Micro/El Dorado Hotel & Casino, NV
3 Eel River Brewing Co, CA
4 Wynkoop Brewing Co, CO
5 Monte Carlo Pub & Brewery, NV
6 Hosten Brewing Co-Columbus, OH
7 Pyramid Alehouse, CA
8 Pyramid Alehouse, WA
9 Tied House Cate & Brewery Mtn View, CA
10 Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co; WI
11 Marin Brewing Co, CA
12 Grand Teton Brewing Co, ID
13 Heartland Brewery, NY
14 Elysian Brewing Co, WA
15 Rock Bottom Brewery - Denver, CO
16 Big Buck Brewery & Steakhouse-Aubum Hills, MI
17 Gritty McDuff's-Freeport, ME
18 Herkimer Pub & Brewery, MN
19 Boston Beer Works-Brookline, MA
20 Free State Brewing Co, KS
21 Rock Bottom Brewery - Chicago, IL
22 Moylan's Brewery & Restaurant, CA
23 Trailhead Brewing Co, MO
24 CooperSmiths Pub & Brewing, CO
25 Barre House Brewing Co, OH

These rankings are based on how many barrels each company produced in
2001.

RELATED ARTICLE: ROCK BOTTOM, TOP DOG

According to the Institute for Brewing Studies (IBS) annual review of the brewpub group industry, Rock Bottom Restaurants was the highest-selling U.S. brewpub group in 2001 by volume of beer sold with all its operations, including Brew Moons, Walnut Brewery and three ChopHouse and Breweries, selling 39,342 barrels of beer, an increase of 13 percent over 2000.