Bart Watson, president and CEO of the Brewers Association, says there is positivity in the craft beer industry, despite some negative news. The Brewers Association is the trade association representing America’s small and independent breweries.

At the Association’s annual Craft Brewers Conference, held this year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Watson addressed the thousands of brewery representatives in attendance. The Association had previously released its annual craft brewing industry production report, which showed that beer produced by the craft brewing industry declined 5.1% in 2025, 481 breweries closed and employment in the industry declined by 8,000 jobs. While almost all metrics showed the craft brewing industry was continuing to shrink, the rate at which it was doing so had slowed.

There Is Good News

“The sky isn’t falling,” said Watson during his address. “There is a lot of positive news.”

According to the Brewers Association study, 39% of breweries grew in 2025 and 300 new breweries opened. And the decline in production was not uniform, with breweries in certain regions of the United States enjoying growth.

Brewpubs—restaurant breweries selling a significant portion of their beer onsite—did particularly well with 44% growing. While about 5% of brewpubs closed in 2025, that is significantly below the closure rate of restaurants in general, which is about 8% or 9%, according to Watson.

Watson said that spending at restaurants is growing, even if adjusted for inflation. “Breweries that are able to offer hospitality will shine,” said Watson.

While beer production by distributing breweries declined by 7% in 2025, Watson indicated that the first three months of 2026 has been better, though no specific statistics were provided. In 2025, 42% of regional breweries grew and 35% of microbreweries grew.

There Are Good Vibes

In his address, Watson drew an analogy to the term “vibecession” where people can feel more negatively about the economy than the metrics actually indicate. With negative perception driving behavior, there is risk that focussing on the declines in the craft beer industry can make the situation worse in a sort of self-fulfilling prophesy. But the reverse can also be true.

Watson said that independent brewers enjoy the freedom to respond rapidly to the changing economic landscape and trends in consumer packaged goods. By focussing on the value they bring to their customers, Watson suggested breweries could enjoy continued success.

At a breakfast held for media after the opening night reception for the Craft Brewers Conference, Watson said he sensed good vibes among attendees. Watson acknowledged that breweries attending the conference were self-selecting and more likely to be the breweries that were doing well, since those are the ones that can afford to send representatives to the conference. Nonetheless, Watson, who has served as the Association’s president an CEO since the beginning of 2025 but has been with the Association since 2013, thought there was positivity amongst attendees.

In his state of the industry address Watson said, “This industry has weathered storms before and this storm too will pass,” while a slide with a news article from 1997 predicting that the microbrewing trend had peaked was on the screens beside him.

“If you talked to brewers at the conference, many have already been through the storm and are enjoying the sunshine,” said Watson.

The final event of the Craft Brewers Conference was the World Beer Cup awards ceremony. The ceremony features loud music, plenty of beer and breweries celebrating their wins with their friends. Good vibes indeed.