CRAFT BEER BOOMS AMID SHRINKING OVERALL BEER MARKET. “Craft beer makers have experienced huge jumps in market share while the overall beer market size has shrunk. The Census Bureau announced yesterday that the number of breweries in the in the U.S. doubled in five years–an increase largely due to craft beer. On average over the past two years, 1.2 craft breweries opened each day, contributing to a total of 15.6 million barrels of beer last year. While that’s only 7.8% of the U.S. beer market share, according to data Brewers Association, an American craft beer trade group, craft beer is taking an ever-increasing chunk out of noncraft beer companies’ sales. The number of liters of beer purchased per year has stayed the same and is expected to shrink slightly, according to data from research firm Euromonitor. Meanwhile the population has risen. That means people on average are consuming less beer and, if they’re consuming beer, it’s more and more likely to be craft.”