After years of substantial growth, craft beer is beginning to slow down slightly, while craft spirits are passing into a phase similar in scale to craft beer’s previous decade-long expansion, according to the Craft Breweries and Distilleries Machinery and Automation Trends white paper by PMMI.

Three friends and former classmates at Cornell Business School noticed that the best, most daring beers in America were being developed by homebrewers. That, along with an enduring passion for the craft of beer making, led them to start Barebottle, a brewery devoted to beers inspired by the San Francisco Bay Area. By sourcing local ingredients wherever possible and employing a community-inspired homebrewers competition, their mission is to create the most innovative brewery in the Bay Area.

The Skidmore Studio designs for Eastern Market Brewing Co. gave beer drinkers a reason to spend a little more time with the brand outside the taproom. 

DESTIHL Brewery has rolled out new brand packaging for its 12-ounce cans with the release of Synchopathic Apricot, a seasonal sour, as part of DESTIHL’s Wild Sour series.

Evans Brewing Company, the oldest craft brewery in Orange County, CA and owner of The Public House by Evans Brewing Co. in Fullerton, CA is set to release three new bottle offerings.

Indeed Brewing Company has released its latest offering - Lucy Session Sour Ale, which is brewed with lemongrass, orange peel and passion fruit. The packaging and identity system was created by design experience firm Duffy.

Craft brewers sold $23.5 billion in 2016, according to the Brewers Association. That amounts to 21.9% of the $107 billion U.S. beer market. That's up from 19% last year – and continued growth from the 10% that craft brewers held in 2012.

For the first time ever, I had the privilege of attending the Craft Brewers Conference last month in Washington, D.C. and got a behind-the-scenes look at craft brewing, the people behind the segment, and the businesses that are involved in the processing and packaging of this popular drink.

Many craft brewers take circuitous career routes. Cory King, owner of Maplewood, Missouri’s Side Project Brewing, is no exception.

PSA will showcase canning line technology designated for craft beer packaging at the Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America in Washington, D.C.