Social Data

This Was a Marvelous Year for Craft Beer – We Used Social Listening to Prove It

Shauntle Barley

January 27, 2017

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4 min read

America’s beer selection has never been better. In November 2016, the Brewer’s Association reported a record high number of breweries in the US – thanks, in large part, to the rise of craft beer.

The term gets tossed around a lot, but what exactly is craft beer? For one, less than 25% of a “craft” brewery can be owned or controlled by a big alcohol beverage competitor. The brewery must also report production of 6 million barrels of beer or less.

In addition to the brewery boom, the volume of craft beer consumed is also at an all-time high, and the presence of the American craft brew is growing abroad.

To raise a glass to the brewers who make this wide selection possible, we turned to social media to see how people feel, in the U.S. and beyond, felt about the top 20 craft breweries in the country.

Here are our hopservations.

Key takeaways:

1. Most Engaged/Loved Breweries on Social

Over the past year, Stone Brewing was the most engaged – as well as the most loved – of the top 20 craft breweries, with over 1.4 million engagement and 44.5 million earned impressions. Ballast Point was the second most engaged, and Sam Adams (Boston Beer Co) the second most loved.

The most active social account belongs to Deschutes Brewery, which averaged more than ten native posts per day in 2016.

2. U.S. Conversation Differs From Global Chatter

The numbers we drew from the U.S. are slightly different than what we found in the overall, global conversation.

Stone once again came in first in the U.S., but was followed by New Belgium (home of the beloved Fat Tire), Ballast Point (grapefruit IPA, am I right?), and Sierra Nevada (one of the best mountain ranges our fine country has to offer).

3. Saturdays and Sundays see the Most Conversation

Not exactly a surprise: people like to tweet about (and, presumably, drink) beer on the weekend. Worth noting is the gradual climb in beer chatter that begins on Tuesday and works its way up to Saturday, which is home to over 32% of the relevant social conversation per week.

4. People Are Resolving to Drink More Craft Beer

Plenty of people tweeted about their love for specific breweries and craft beers in general, but many took it a step further and resolved to drink more of it! We are excited to report that drinking more craft beer is important to some as exercising or reading more are to others. Hey, it takes all kinds.

5. Most Popular Type of Craft Beer Is IPA

Perhaps the first craft beer type to really capture drinkers’ attention, IPA unsurprisingly was the most discussed craft beer type. Small batch sours: your time is approaching, we can feel it!