Northern Colorado, Boulder Valley craft brewers remain among US largest as production slows

BOULDER —  Breweries in Longmont and Fort Collins were among the United States’ largest craft breweries as measured by Boulder-based Brewers Association trade group. 

Monster Brewing Co., the Longmont-headquartered alcoholic beverage portfolio formerly called Canarchy Craft Brewery Collective, was the ninth-largest craft producer in 2023, down one spot from 2022’s list. Monster Brewing, with holdings that include Longmont’s Oskar Blues Brewing Co. and Tampa Bay’s Cigar City Brewing, was rebranded in February in a nod to parent company Monster Beverage Corp. (Nasdaq: MNST), which bought Canarchy in early 2022 for $330 million in cash.

When Monster bought Canarchy about two years ago, the Brewer’s Association said, “Based on our information, Canarchy meets the Brewers Association’s craft brewer definition under the ownership of Monster Energy as presently constituted. In this instance, Monster is not a beverage alcohol industry member, so this new ownership structure does not affect Canarchy’s independence in regard to the beverage alcohol industry.”

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Fort Collins-based Odell Brewing Co. ranked 25th on BA’s largest craft brewers list, three spots lower than in 2022. 

Tilray Beer Brands, which owns Breckenridge Brewery, was the other craft operator with a presence in the Centennial State to make BA’s top 50, coming it at No. 6. 

Longmont’s Left Hand Brewery has appeared on BA’s list in recent years but has been absent since 2021. 

New Belgium Brewing Co. in Fort Collins was also a mainstay in the association’s top 50 but is no longer considered an independent craft brewery after its acquisition by Australian beermaker Lion Little World Beverages Ltd., a subsidiary of Japanese beer giant Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd.

In the overall brewery rankings, which includes macro-brew conglomerates, Kirin-Lion placed ninth on BA’s list, while Spain-based Mahou San Miguel, owner of Boulder’s Avery Brewing Co., ranked 14th. 

The craft-brewing environment was “competitive and challenging” for operators across the country in 2023, BA vice president of strategy and chief economist Bart Watson said.

Independent brewers made 23.4 million barrels of beer in 2023, down 1% from the previous year, according to BA data. 

“Outside of the COVID year (in 2020), this is the first drop in production since” BA started tracking growth data, Watson said. 

“In terms of positive numbers, we continue to see growth in the number of breweries, as well as jobs,” he said. Brewers directly employed 191,421 people last year, a 1.1% increase from the previous year.

Some of the fastest-growing breweries, Watson said, are those that focus on their own backyards. They have a “real geographic focus, many of them are not super-widely distributed, they’re really going deep in particular markets.”