Beer sales go flat at breweries across Washington

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The beer boom of the last decade is fizzling out as competition tightens in the Washington beer industry.

Breweries in Washington sold 1.25 million fewer gallons of beer in 2024 compared to 2023 — a 6.5% decline, according to a Business Journal analysis of Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board data. Beer production also dropped 3.7%, signaling a prolonged downturn.

Washington’s beer industry has fully matured, Andrew Heritage, chief economist at the Beer Institute, told the Business Journal.

“Ten years ago, openings outpaced closings about 10 to one. Now they’re almost even,” he said. “That’s normal in any industry. You kind of reach a point where you have growth. That growth reaches a saturation point. And then you see sort of a plateauing.”

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2025/09/21/brewery-beer-sales-decline-washington-state.html

[erronis]

1. Saturation of markets and change in tastes.

Seeing this in the NE also. Too many small breweries/vineyards trying to get to critical mass.

And cannabis dispensaries are everywhere now that states are legalizing to get their share of the profits.

And new "substances" coming into the market always. And generational - fewer old greybeards that think drinking swill (Coors, etc.) is having "fun".