From
PHOENIX, Ariz.
While Colorado may be making headlines as the self-proclaimed “State of Craft Beer,” the sun continues to shine on Arizona’s craft beer culture, and breweries, brewers and beer connoisseurs across the state are enjoying their taste of the national spotlight.
While Colorado, Oregon and other American cities engage in a very public battle for craft beer supremacy, Arizona is taking a more subtle approach to prove its worth, and evidently, it’s working quite well. The tremendous escalation of Arizona’s craft beer scene is evident in everything from the expansion of the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild itself (it’s nearly doubled in size in as many years, and now boasts 54 breweries) to the statewide sales figures that continue to explode year after year, and it’s all played a role in helping Arizona achieve its new designation as the Rising Craft Beer Star of the West.
While the growth of the American craft beer scene is not exclusive to Arizona, (sales are up 17.2 percent nationally, while overall beer sales have fallen 1.9 percent) the Grand Canyon State has certainly made its presence within the industry tough to ignore. From events like the Strong Beer Festival that draw thousands of beer fans to the Southwest each year to breweries like Four Peaks and SanTan Brewing Company consistently scoring wins at the world’s biggest and best beer festivals, the industry’s statewide expansion shows zero signs of a slowdown.
The guild continues to look for more ways to educate the public on craft beer and for craft beer lovers to realize, “It is always sunny on Arizona’s beer scene.” And with breweries like Four Peaks that have won a record number of awards at the Great American Beer Festival and Lumberyard with it’s gold medal winning Pinecone Pale Ale, it isn’t hard. The guild boasts a wide array of top breweries including Arizona Wilderness who was voted as the #1 new brewery in the world by Rate Beer.com.
“Arizona’s craft brewery scene has great growth potential and that is what has brewers and craft beer lovers flocking to our state. Arizona beer drinkers are finding that what we’re producing on our home soil is on par – if not exceeding – what’s being produced in the most powerful beer-producing cities in the world,” said Rob Fullmer, the Guild’s executive director. “While we may not have given ourselves the “State of Craft Beer” moniker, it’s our hope that as the industry as a whole continues to grow, Arizona’s production capabilities and distribution footprints will grow right alongside it.”
That is, if the upcoming vote on the Arizona Beer Bill passes, allowing breweries nearing their production limits to continue to operate their restaurants and tasting rooms once the limit is reached.
“Our product is undeniably competitive with what Colorado and the country’s other top beer-producing states are putting out, but now it’s time to ensure that our laws don’t shoot our brewers in the foot by limiting our ability to expand outside our own borders,” Fullmer said. “It comes down to Economics 101 – it’s a simple matter of supply and demand. The demand is there – now we just need to ensure we do everything possible to provide the supply, so we can continue to experience the tremendous success of one of Arizona’s fastest-growing industries.”
For more on the Guild’s growth and its legislative efforts to keep Arizona competitive within the national craft brewing scene, visit http://www.craftbeeraz.com/ or http://azbeerbill.com/.
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