What is the current state of the craft beer sector in Spain?

The Spanish Association of Independent Craft Brewers (AECAI) has published its own socioeconomic report on the independent craft beer sector in Spain. To do so, it used as a sample the 420 active production centers nationwide. A true exercise in technical rigor for the sector.

On the map, Catalonia is the region with the highest number of craft breweries, followed by Andalusia and Castile and León. In total, Spain produced more than 17 million liters of craft beer in 2020, after surpassing 22 million in 2019. This drop is due to the health crisis caused by Covid-19. In this context, each Spanish brewery produced an average of 41,663 liters in 2020.

In terms of production share, 1 out of every 200 beers brewed in Spain is craft. On the consumption side, 1 out of every 100 beers drunk comes from independent microbreweries. Spain is still far behind in market share compared to neighboring countries, which range between 3–5%, and up to 11% in Germany.

If we bring together all the craft beer brewed in 2020, Spanish microbreweries released 3,856 different beers. That’s at least 9 different types of beer per brewery. It’s worth highlighting the link with local raw materials, since 36% of breweries used local grain and 45% added Spanish-grown hops.

In terms of packaging, most breweries use glass bottles over other formats. Interestingly, 1 in 4 breweries already uses aluminum cans, and 1 in 3 ages some of its beers in barrels.

In terms of sales, specialty venues rank ahead of supermarkets as the main destination for the product. In addition, 1 in 3 producers exports an average of 13% of their output. The main destinations for Spanish craft beer are Andorra, France, Italy, China, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, Portugal, and Belgium, in that order.

It is also worth mentioning the relationship between brewery owners and contract brewers. More than half produce for third parties, which accounts for 28% of their production.

When we look at employment, craft beer creates 1,342 jobs in Spain, of which only 21% are held by women. Compared with industrial beer, the craft sector generates 28 times more jobs for the same volume of liters. Likewise, the average salary is usually below €20,000 gross per year and rarely exceeds €30,000 gross per year in the best-paid positions.

On the digital front, the main social networks are Instagram and Facebook, but only 77% of craft breweries have their own website.

For his part, Javier Donate, president of AECAI, concludes that “a global report on craft beer across the entire country, like the one we have produced, was absolutely necessary to know who we are, where we are and, also, what we craft producers need so that, with all this data, we can present it to the authorities at their different levels of responsibility.”