OnlyCans is *right* there, man

INDIANAPOLIS—The 2025 Craft Brewers Conference is in full swing in Indy, and your fearless Fingers editor is walking the floor of the Indianapolis Convention Center, distributing stickers and collecting the hot beverage-alcohol industry gossip you crave (?) in return. If you’re here, get in touch, and let’s try to meet up.

Despite the rough picture painted in the aggregate national data—brewery closures outpacing openings last year for the first time since 2005, with segment volume down ~4%—the vibes are mostly alright, if a little more urgent. That’s certainly shaped in part by self-selection: as Isaac Arthur at CODO Design remarked to me last night, any brewers here this year “are still investing in their businesses.” Stands to reason that breweries circling the drain would skip sending somber staff to Circle City.

I’ll have a full column at VinePair this Friday with a comprehensive take on the conference and what it means for the struggling segment and the overall beverage-alcohol landscape. Stay tuned for that. As a teaser, here are some quick observations, charts, and quotes from CBC 2025.

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