The number of independent brewery closings is slated to surpass the number of openings this year, according to tracking from the Brewers Association (BA). The BA — a not-for-profit organization of trade members — recorded 268 new openings and 434 closings this year.
Unless 166 new breweries come into the market in the final few weeks of the year, 2025 will be the second year in a row that brewery closings outpace openings. The trend carries over from last year when there were 225 openings and 399 closings. But the industry is slimming at an accelerating rate.
