Oregon Beverage Alliance says 2023 was one of worst years for craft brewers
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — With the exception of 2020, Oregon craft brewers have named 2023 as the worst year for the industry in decades.
The state said goodbye to more than 20 breweries just within the past few months, the Oregon Beverage Alliance reported on Thursday.
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One notable closure is Laurelwood Brewing Co., which indefinitely shut down its Northeast Portland brewpub this past August — after 22 years in business. Later in November, Ecliptic Brewing announced the company had been acquired by another brand and it would be closing its own brewpub.
Both businesses previously spoke about the impact of rising costs, a factor that other brewers have also struggled to overcome.
“Increased costs, changes in consumer preferences, and diminished on-premise consumption all made 2023 an especially challenging year,” Oregon Brewers Guild President and Breakside Brewery brewmaster Ben Edmunds said in a statement to OBA.
Sonia Marie Leikam, OBG vice president and Leikam Brewing co-founder, mentioned changes in consumer trends and on-site consumption as well.
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“People are going out less, especially since Covid,” she said. “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.”
OBA added that the canned cocktail market, along with the cannabis market, has also pushed consumers away from craft beer.
On a national level, the Brewers Association reported that 2023 was the first year in decades where there were almost as many brewery closures as openings — excluding 2020. The organization said draft beer sales in the U.S. have declined by nearly 30% since 2019.
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While industry leaders are awaiting data for the full year, Beer Marketer’s Insights estimated that last year was the country’s lowest for beer shipments since the turn of the century.
Within the first nine months, the company reported that shipments dropped by more than 5%.
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