A couple of times recently I’ve read stories — or, yikes, tweets — that mentioned how many brewing companies remained in operation in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, then reported the current number of breweries. That’s not exactly apples to apples. Many brewing concerns operate multiple breweries, and the proper comparison would be breweries to breweries and concerns to concerns.
So, for the record, here are a few useful numbers to remember.
The boom years for breweries
(From History of the Brewing Industry and Brewing Science in America, by John P. Arnold and Frank Penman)
| Year | Breweries | Barrels produced |
| 1867 | 3,440 | 6,207,402 |
| 1868 | 3,756 | 6,146,663 |
| 1869 | 3,203 | 6,342,055 |
| 1870 | 3,286 | 6,574,617 |
| 1871 | 3,147 | 7,740,260 |
| 1872 | 3,475 | 8,659,427 |
| 1873 | 4,131 | 9,633,323 |
| 1874 | 3,282 | 9,600,879 |
| 1875 | 2,783 | 9,452,697 |
| 1876 | 3,293 | 9,902,352 |
| 1877 | 2,758 | 9,810,060 |
| 1878 | 2,830 | 10,241,471 |
The number of breweries never reached the 1878 level again, drifting below 2,000 by 1892 and to 1,092 in 1918, the year before Prohibition began. However, overall production went straight up , to 20,710,933 in 1886, to 30,487,209 five years later, passing 40 million barrels in 1901, 54 million in 1906 and 63 million by 1911.
Many of those breweries operating in 1878 were quite small. BEER, Its History And Its Economic Value As A National Beverage, by F.W. Salem, provides a complete list of production numbers for 1878 and 1879. Thus we can see that G. P. Pfannebecker in Paterson, N.J., brewed 48 barrels in 1878 and 152 in 1879. The biggest dozen breweries in 1879 where:
| George Ehret (New York) | 180,152 barrels |
| Philip Best ( Milwaukee) | 167,974 |
| Bergner & Engel (Philadelphia) | 124,860 |
| Joseph Schlitz (Milwaukee) | 110,832 |
| Conrad Seipp (Chicago) | 108,347 |
| P. Ballantine & Sons (Newark) | 106,091 |
| Jacob Ruppert (New York) | 105,713 |
| Christian Morlein (Cincinnati) | 93,337 |
| H. Clausen & Son (New York) | 89,992 |
| William J. Lemp (St. Louis) | 88,714 |
| Flanagan & Wallace (New York) | 84,825 |
| Anheuser-Busch (St. Louis) | 83,160 |
Before the renaissance
(From American Breweries II by Dale P. Van Wieren)
1983 – 51 brewing concerns operate 80 breweries. This is the low water mark for number of breweries.
1984 – 44 brewing concerns operate 83 breweries.
19th century startup
(As long as I’m digging through history books, some facts from 100 Years of Brewing, published in 1903)
More than 100 years before Sierra Nevada launched in California, Adolphus Busch bought an interest in a St. Louis brewery owned by Eberhard Anheuser. A brewery had been operating at the same location for 15 years, yet in 1865 sold a modest 8,000 barrels. By the time the name was changed to Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association in 1875 annual production has risen to 34,797.
In the next 10 years production increased by 10%, 48%, 32%, 41%, 34%, 42%, 22%, 22%, and 5% before falling 1% to reach 318,085 barrels. Sixteen years later sales passed 1 million for the first time.
That year, 1901, the plant covered about 60 acres and as well as a brewhouse that could produce 6,000 barrels a day, it had ice plants with 650 tons daily capacity, malt houses with 4,500 bushels daily capacity, a cooling capacity of 2,650 tons per day, storage elevators for malt and barley of 1.25 million bushels capacity, stock houses for lagering purposes of 400,000 barrels capacity, and a power plant with 60,000 square feet of heating surface (equal to 7,750 horse power).
Though the current figures cited by BA and elsewhere do also count brewing companies, not breweries–so historically, I think it’s a one-to-one. The McMenamins here in Oregon have a lot of breweries, but they are counted by BA as a single “brewery.”
Although it’s tricky, because I think places like Rock Bottom might get counted separately. Stan, do you know how they calculate chains? Is it consistent?
Jeff – The BA (as you can see here), and everybody else, counts every brewpub (McMenamins, Rock Bottom, etc.) as a brewery.
Granted, the difference between 40 and 80 (companies vs. actual breweries) is only 40 but is also 100%. Rocketing from 80 to more than 1,600 is just as impressive as going from 40 to 1,600. Besides the number of breweries don’t really reflect the beer monoculture that had evolved by the ’70s.
Ah, thanks.
As for “beer monoculture,” I think you’re right on. The number is only one metric; the loss of 60 IBU Ballentine IPA represented a much greater loss than one of the regional breweries making typical tin-can beer. The 60s and 70s were brutal.
Interesting figures, Stan, but in the context of population and per person consumption, they’d be even more interesting. I hope that’s not asking for too much.
Mike – Your question and Ron’s recent post make me realize I should combine these numbers with some others to compare consumption and brewery size across the years. It’s now on my “to do” list.