UK tops list for craft breweries per capita

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 17 March, 2017

The craft revolution has swept across the globe, with 94% of world's 19,000 breweries now producing beer craft.

But recent figures show that the UK is leading the way in terms of the numbers of breweries compared to the population.

A new global survey from The Brewers Journal and Alltech show that the UK is at the forefront of the global surge with a greater than 10% increase in the number of craft breweries opening year-on-year.

While the largest craft beer producer remains the US with 4,750 craft breweries out of a total of 5,025 breweries, the UK has 25 breweries per million people, compared with 15 in the US and 16 in Germany.

"The US and the UK fermented their lead in craft beer production as a result of legislation that paved the way for craft brewers," said Tim Sheahan, editor of The Brewers Journal.

"In the US, the pivotal point was in 1978, when President Jimmy Carter allowed home brewing for the first time since Prohibition. The UK's watershed moment came in 2002 with Prime Minister Gordon Brown's progressive beer duty legislation, which reduced beer duty to nil for breweries producing less than 5,000 hectolitres."

Although the US is recognised as the originator of the recent craft beer movement and has heavily influenced the modern take on traditional styles, there are more craft breweries in Europe than North America.

Behind the US, the top nine craft beer-producing countries are the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Australia.

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