BA economist Bart Watson has the best Twitter account

It’s tough at the top. YTD in IRI scan data (includes brands like Blue Moon/Shock Top), top 30 craft are up 2.5%, all other brands up 13.6%.

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) March 31, 2016

Not only is Bart Watson one of the most gorgeous men in craft brewing, he’s also one of the most informed. Since Watson is the chief economist for the Brewers Association, we’ll occasionally bug him out of the blue. We’ll email him some questions, looking for answers, numbers and insights for a story that was due yesterday. Like a gent, he always answers quickly and responds with incredible insights we can’t find anywhere else. Sometimes, we just scroll down his Twitter feed looking for story ideas. Just look at all the amazing info below. The dude is a numbers beast, and we always appreciate his help and perceptiveness. Enjoy his observant Tweets below.

91% of CA breweries only sold in CA in 2015. Those 91% of the breweries made 2.5% of the beer. Plenty of room for the tail to grow.

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) June 30, 2016

565 breweries had taxable production in CA in 2015. That’s more than there were in the country from 1943-1993.

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) June 30, 2016

~10% of US craft exports go to the UK. Potential for that % to drop if the £ continues its weakness vs the $. https://t.co/JbsGwquBfW

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) June 24, 2016

I guess “underdog” is relative. Pabst has been a top 10 brewing company in the U.S. every year since WWII. https://t.co/HjtxoN0qWo

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) April 20, 2016

Other states having growing hop industries, but WA is still the dominant player with OR/ID as clear #2 & #3. pic.twitter.com/uEshlSgUVY

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) June 23, 2016

In 2011 AB president predicted a “shakeout” of small brewers in @WSJ. Since then 2,800 have opened, 300 have closed. pic.twitter.com/gTmJ5V8KSZ

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) June 17, 2016

Not a lot of metro areas with 100K+ people left without a brewery. McAllen TX has a new one and Odessa/Midlands has one in planning.

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) June 17, 2016

Where else? Don’t see one in Merced, CA; Monroe, LA; or Lima, OH.

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) June 17, 2016

19% of the new acres are Citra. ~1,000 new acres in WA alone. 31.5% are Citra or Mosaic.

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) June 10, 2016

More weird data: Belgian imports +15% YTD in scan, -31% YTD in commerce data. Is AB shipping Stella through another country first?

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) June 5, 2016

New IRI data has craft up “only” 6.5% YTD by volume. But take out Blue Moon (-4%) & Shock Top (-9%) and growth goes up to 8.9%.

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) May 26, 2016

Shift to aroma/proprietary varieties has pushed the real value of hop crop/lb back to levels last seen in WWII… pic.twitter.com/gGqN658FeO

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) May 11, 2016

Map of breweries (excl. AB/MC) in CA by size of prod. and exports. Green = most stays in CA. Blue = more out of CA. pic.twitter.com/K3W3tpONw4

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) April 29, 2016

According to TTB data, brewers less than 100K bbls had 4.9 share of US production in 2015. The last year they had share that high was 1957.

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) April 15, 2016

If this study is correct, 5% of US adults visited a brewery in Portland in the last 2 years (h/t @BryanDRoth): https://t.co/UVSpj0Yo9p

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) April 11, 2016

Hard soda, sports drinks, seltzer & aguas frescas. How long until someone makes the alcoholic chicken from Seinfeld? pic.twitter.com/5PZlJ6zuzz

— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) April 14, 2016