July 18, 2025

425: Economist Lester Jones Shares the Truth of Today's Craft Beer Market and Debunks Prevailing Misconceptions

1 hour 6 minutes

This week’s interview wasn’t initially intended for the podcast and wasn’t recorded that way (Brewing Industry Guide subscribers read it last month), but the topics are salient and the audio listenable, so we thought it would be an interesting change of pace. Lester Jones is the VP of Analytics and Chief Economist for the National Beer Wholesalers Association, and has some pretty deep data-driven insight into what is reality and what is just vibes in today’s world of beer sales which he shares in this conversation. Throughout, we try to unpack what’s actually going on, comparing anecdotal experience to real sales data, for a more accurate picture of the opportunities and challenges in today's beer world.

This episode is brought to you by:

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Brewery Workshop (https://breweryworkshop.com) If you’re launching a brewery or acquiring an existing one, consider our brewery workshop and new brewery accelerator, September 14 through 17th in Fort Collins, Colorado. Over four days, we engage in panel discussions, technical brewery tours, networking, and small working group sessions that help you better understand and prepare for the challenges of brewery operation. Tickets are on sale now.

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