Five Oregon & Washington Breweries Are Part of the 50 Fastest Growing Craft Breweries of 2017

Five of 50 fastest growing craft breweries in the United States are located in Oregon and Washington. Yesterday, the Brewers Association (BA) released its inaugural list of the 50 fastest growing small and independent craft brewing companies of 2017. Many on this list are smaller breweries that were able to see a larger percentage increase than that of more established, larger breweries.

Making this Top 50 List includes Draper Brewing (#6), Dragon’s Gate Brewery (#14) and Wolf Tree Brewery (#19) all located in Oregon. The list also includes Lumber House Brewing (#10) and Barrel Mountain Brewing (48) located in Washington. Also of note, Melvin Brewing from Alpine, Wyoming came in at #46.

According to the BA, median growth of the Top 50 breweries was 216% from 2016 to 2017. The median size of breweries on the list went from 284 barrels in 2016 to 963 barrels in 2017. These companies represent 5.5 percent of craft’s growth by volume for 2017 and include eight brewpubs, 40 microbreweries and two regional craft breweries.

“With 5 percent growth overall for small and independent brewers in 2017 and microbreweries and brewpubs delivering the majority of that, we wanted to spotlight some of the breweries driving that growth,” said Bart Watson, chief economist, Brewers Association, in a statement. “As the growth base for craft becomes more diffuse, these fast growing brewing companies illustrate that a diverse set of success stories still exist.”

This data was selected from only small and independent breweries that brew all of its production at its own facilities. Breweries had to have opened by then end of 2015 or earlier to be considered. It only includes breweries that reported to the Brewers Association’s annual Beer Industry Production Survey; breweries with staff estimates or data from state excise tax reports were not considered. Finally, breweries must have had data from at least three years to be considered.

Later this month the BA will release its comprehensive State of the Industry report when it will be delivered during the 2018 Craft Brewers Conference, held from April 30 – May 3, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee.