Brewery taproom sales sit at the intersection of beer production and hospitality. The Brewers Association defines a taproom brewery as a business selling at least 25% of its beer on-site without significant food service. The U.S. had 3,784 operating taproom breweries in 2025, while taproom beer volume fell 3.9% from the prior year. These figures describe the size and direction of the market, but they should not be confused with taproom-only revenue.
Table of contents
- What counts as a taproom brewery
- U.S. taproom brewery counts
- Taprooms beside brewpubs
- The wider brewery landscape
- Taproom volume trends
- Craft-beer dollar sales and production
- On-premise sales and guest-beer benchmarks
What counts as a taproom brewery
The Brewers Association uses business-model definitions that matter when comparing statistics. A taproom brewery sells 25% or more of its beer on-site and does not operate significant food services. That threshold identifies a sales model built around visitors consuming beer at the brewery, rather than a producer whose volume is primarily distributed through outside retailers.
The same source defines a microbrewery by production and distribution: it produces less than 15,000 barrels per year and sells 75% or more of its beer off-site. A brewpub is different again: it sells 25% or more of its beer on-site and operates significant food services. These categories can overlap conceptually in the broader market, but the food-service distinction is important when interpreting on-premise sales data. (Source: Brewers Association, Craft Beer Industry Market Segments, current definition accessed 2026.)
For readers tracking sales, the definition also sets a useful boundary. A count of taproom breweries measures operating businesses classified by this model; it does not report average checks, revenue per location, margins, or the percentage of visitors who purchase food. Likewise, a change in taproom beer volume is a volume measure, not a direct change in dollars.
U.S. taproom brewery counts
The number of operating U.S. taproom breweries increased each year from 2019 through 2024, before declining in 2025. The Brewers Association reported 3,091 in 2019, 3,389 in 2020, 3,643 in 2021, 3,771 in 2022, 3,910 in 2023 and 3,936 in 2024. In 2025, the count was 3,784, down 2.7% from 2024. (Source: Brewers Association, National Beer Sales & Production Data.)
| Year | Operating taproom breweries | Change information reported by source |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 3,091 | — |
| 2020 | 3,389 | — |
| 2021 | 3,643 | — |
| 2022 | 3,771 | — |
| 2023 | 3,910 | — |
| 2024 | 3,936 | — |
| 2025 | 3,784 | Down 2.7% from 2024 |
The 2025 count is therefore lower than the 2024 peak, but it remains the latest operating-location figure in this series. The numbers describe the United States as a whole and do not indicate how many locations are in a particular state, city or tourism market. They also do not establish that every location has the same sales mix or capacity.
The six-year rise through 2024 and subsequent one-year decline provide two different signals for anyone studying taproom sales. First, the model expanded in operating-location terms during 2019–2024. Second, the latest year shows contraction in the number of operating taproom breweries. A location count alone cannot determine whether surviving businesses gained or lost revenue, so it should be read alongside the volume measures below.
Taprooms beside brewpubs
Brewpubs are a neighboring on-premise model, but the Brewers Association includes significant food service in the definition. U.S. operating brewpub counts were 3,171 in 2019, 3,309 in 2020, 3,337 in 2021, 3,511 in 2022, 3,502 in 2023 and 3,552 in 2024. The 2025 count was 3,525, down 2.5% from 2024. (Source: Brewers Association, National Beer Sales & Production Data.)
| Year | Operating taproom breweries | Operating brewpubs |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 3,091 | 3,171 |
| 2020 | 3,389 | 3,309 |
| 2021 | 3,643 | 3,337 |
| 2022 | 3,771 | 3,511 |
| 2023 | 3,910 | 3,502 |
| 2024 | 3,936 | 3,552 |
| 2025 | 3,784 | 3,525 |
In 2025, the reported decline was 2.7% for taproom breweries and 2.5% for brewpubs. Those percentages are source-reported year-over-year changes. The categories should not be combined into a single taproom-sales total because their definitions differ, especially on food service.
The wider brewery landscape
The broader count of operating craft breweries gives context for the taproom footprint. The Brewers Association reported 8,419 operating craft breweries in 2019, 8,921 in 2020, 9,210 in 2021, 9,675 in 2022, 9,761 in 2023 and 9,796 in 2024. In 2025, the count was 9,578, down 2.9% from 2024. (Source: Brewers Association, National Beer Sales & Production Data.)
Operating breweries of all types numbered 8,557 in 2019, 9,092 in 2020, 9,384 in 2021, 9,824 in 2022, 9,906 in 2023 and 9,922 in 2024. The 2025 total was 9,724, also down 2.9% from 2024. These figures include more than the taproom category, so they are a market-context measure rather than a taproom sales measure.
The parallel 2025 declines in the craft-brewery and all-brewery counts show that the latest contraction was not isolated to the taproom category. Still, the available counts do not identify causes, closures by state, or changes in individual brewery revenue. They are best used to describe the number of operating businesses at each measurement point.
Taproom volume trends
Taproom beer volume moved unevenly across the available year-over-year measures. U.S. taproom beer volume declined 0.1% in 2020 from the prior year. It increased 9% in 2022, then declined 2.4% in 2023, 4.1% in 2024 and 3.9% in 2025. The 2020 figure is reported in the Brewers Association’s taproom archive; the 2022 figure appears in The New Brewer industry review; the 2023 figure appears in the subsequent industry review; the 2024 figure is in the taproom archive; and the 2025 figure is in the Brewers Association’s annual industry report. (Taproom Archives; The New Brewer, Industry Review Issue; The New Brewer, Industry Review Issue; A Year of Correction for Craft Beer, With Early Signals of Recovery.)
| Measurement year | U.S. taproom beer-volume change from prior year |
|---|---|
| 2020 | -0.1% |
| 2022 | +9.0% |
| 2023 | -2.4% |
| 2024 | -4.1% |
| 2025 | -3.9% |
These are year-over-year volume measures, not dollar-sales measures. The dataset does not provide a taproom-only revenue total, average price, or inflation-adjusted sales series. Consequently, a volume decline cannot by itself establish an equal percentage decline in revenue. It does show that the quantity of beer sold through the taproom channel was lower in each reported year from 2023 through 2025.
The 2025 industry report also recorded production sentiment among U.S. craft breweries: 60% reported production declines, 39% reported production growth and 1% reported production holding steady. The categories sum to the full reported distribution and describe brewery-reported production direction, not taproom revenue. (Source: Brewers Association, A Year of Correction for Craft Beer, With Early Signals of Recovery.)
Craft-beer dollar sales and production
Broader craft-beer measures help place taproom activity within the overall beer market. U.S. craft brewers produced 23.1 million barrels in 2024, and craft-beer production declined 3.9% from 2023. The same Brewers Association report estimated U.S. craft-beer retail dollar value at $28.8 billion in 2024, up 3% from 2023. (Source: Brewers Association Reports 2024 U.S. Craft Brewing Industry Figures.)
For 2025, U.S. craft brewers produced 22.034 million barrels. U.S. craft brewer volume sales declined 4%, while overall U.S. beer production and imports declined 5.7%. U.S. craft-beer retail dollar sales totaled $28.0 billion, down 2.8% from 2024. Craft beer represented 24.8% of total U.S. beer retail dollar sales. (Source: Brewers Association, National Beer Sales & Production Data.)
| Measure | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. craft-brewer production | 23.1 million barrels | 22.034 million barrels |
| Craft-beer retail dollar value/sales | Estimated $28.8 billion | $28.0 billion |
| Reported change in craft production or volume sales | Production down 3.9% | Volume sales down 4% |
The 2024 dollar figure is explicitly an estimate, while the 2025 figure is reported as retail dollar sales. Neither is taproom-only revenue. The figures instead show that craft beer remained a substantial retail category while both production and retail dollars were lower in the latest year supplied.
On-premise sales and guest-beer benchmarks
A 2017 Brewers Association survey provides an older benchmark for on-premise beer mix. Across 135 participating brewpubs, average on-premise sales represented 69% of beer volume and average off-premise sales represented 31%. This survey describes brewpubs, not a census of taprooms, and the measurement period was 2017. (Source: Brewpubs Guest Beers Survey.)
The same survey found that house-brewed beer averaged 91% of beer sold by participants, while guest beer averaged 9%. Guest draft beer was sold by 68% of participating locations, and guest packaged beer was sold by 36%. Participating locations represented an average of 9 guest beer brands per location. These are survey averages and participation rates from 2017, so they should be treated as historical benchmarks rather than current taproom standards.
Pricing patterns were divided: 46% of participating locations priced guest beers approximately the same as house beers, 46% priced guest beers below house beers and 8% priced guest beers above house beers. The figures describe reported pricing relationships, not dollar prices or margins.
For a brewery evaluating its taproom sales mix, the benchmarks offer narrowly defined comparisons: on-premise volume was the larger share in the surveyed brewpub sample, house beer dominated the beer mix, and guest-beer programs were common but not universal. They do not support a current forecast for an individual brewery, and no forecast figures are included in the available evidence.