Ohio Breweries Hold Their Ground as Craft Beer Sales Fall

Ohio breweries are showing pockets of resilience even as the national craft beer market keeps shrinking, with several well-known brands in the state holding their ground while the broader industry faces fewer breweries, lower production and more closures.

The Brewers Association said Tuesday that the number of craft breweries in the United States fell to 9,578 in 2025, a net decline of 2.9% from the year before. The group said 481 breweries closed during the year, while openings slowed sharply. Production at craft breweries fell 5% in 2025, after a 4% drop in 2024, reaching a new low outside the pandemic years.

The association said 60% of breweries reported making less beer last year, while the rest saw only modest growth. Matt Gacioch, a staff economist at the Brewers Association, said in a statement that it may be too early to call the current period a “new normal,” but that there are signs the industry is moving in that direction.

The decline in craft beer has been part of a broader slowdown in beer sales. The overall beer market fell 5.7% last year, according to the association’s report. Craft beer still outperformed the wider category, but it was not enough to offset the pressure on smaller brewers.

In Ohio, some breweries are bucking that trend. Garage Beer Co., based in Columbus and co-owned by Jason and Travis Kelce, both natives of Cleveland Heights, has become the state’s largest craft brewery by volume and ranks No. 12 nationally. Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland ranked No. 26 nationwide, and Fat Head’s in Middleburg Heights came in at No. 50.

The report suggests that breweries with strong brands and products that stand apart from mass-market beer are better positioned to hold steady or grow. Many are also expanding beyond beer into hard seltzers, canned cocktails and food service as they try to reach drinkers who are spending less on traditional beer.

Yuengling, based in Pennsylvania, remained the nation’s largest craft brewery by volume, followed by Sierra Nevada and Boston Beer Co., according to the Brewers Association.

For Ohio brewers, the national numbers point to an industry under strain but not without room for growth if companies can adapt to changing consumer tastes and tighter competition for drinking dollars.