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Article: Craft beer sales growing again, but more steadily
- Article from:
- Charleston Gazette
- Article date:
- March 28, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2006 Charleston Gazette. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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PORTLAND, Maine - Like most small breweries, Gritty McDuff's went
through a lull as sales of craft beer leveled off in the late 1990s.
Now Gritty's and the craft beer industry as a whole are enjoying a
resurgence, with sales growing at their fastest pace in a decade.
Production of craft beer - those specialty brews typically made in
small regional or local breweries - grew by 9 percent last year, the
biggest jump since 1996, when the microbrewery fad of the '90s was
still going full tilt. Mainstream beer sales, meanwhile, fell
slightly.
At Gritty McDuff's, production last year rose nearly 30 percent to
more than 250,000 gallons.
Ed Stebbins, brewmaster and co-owner, said consumers are ...