(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s craft beer and spirits industries have been going through a rough spot that mirrors national trends. Noreen Otto is with the Iowa Brewer’s Guild. “Nationwide, craft beer is going through a period of some contraction. We have seen some closures around the state of Iowa. Nationwide, we’re seeing about five percent decline in production overall,” Otto says. She says there is a little good news when it comes to the beer market.
“We have actually gained share in retail. So retail is down, but a larger portion of beer being purchased at retail is craft beer. So kind of some nice glimmers that maybe we’ve seen a swing and now we’re back on the upswing,” she says. Ryan Burchett with the Iowa Spirits Industry says they are seeing some similar issues.
“Iowa saw a revenue drop in spirits for the first time in a long time. We’ve got national producers that raced out during COVID and went through the roof on production and now are sitting on mountains and mountains of whiskey, which is putting a lot of pressure on the marketplace,” he says. Burchett says Iowa producers are trying to deal with that glut of national supply.
“It makes it a lot harder on the little guys, so distribution channels are really clogged, inventories are high, and that makes things difficult as an industry. So just try to help open everybody, weathers it through for better days ahead,” Burchett says.
They made their comments during the meeting of the Iowa Wine, Beer and Spirits Promotion Board meeting.
