Flounder Brewing Ranked Among Nation's Fastest Growing Breweries

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Flounder Brewing in Hillsborough was named one of the fastest growing small and independent craft breweries of 2018 by the Brewers Association (BA).

Flounder Brewing was the only New Jersey brewery to make the list and was ranked 22 among 50 small and independent breweries from across 27 states, according to BA's second annual list of the 50 fastest growing small and independent craft brewing companies of 2018.

"We're proud to see our hard work recognized in these rankings from the Brewers Association," says Jeremy 'Flounder' Lees, Founder and President of Flounder Brewing. "In 2017, we were just six employees and open one to two days a week. Now we have a full-time Head Brewer and a total staff of 12 people."

According to BA, median growth from all the breweries on the list was 163 percent with the median size being 1,350 barrels of in-house production in 2018. Breweries on the list range from 50 barrels to more than 40,000 and grew from less than 70,000 barrels collectively in 2017 to more than 170,000 barrels in 2018. As a group, these brewing companies represent about 10 percent of total craft growth by volume for the year and include 13 brewpubs, 35 microbreweries, and two regional craft breweries.

The BA looked at only small and independent breweries and took into account several key factors, including:

• Growth measured based on production at their own facilities
• Breweries must have opened by Dec. 31, 2016 or earlier to be considered.
• It only includes breweries that reported 2018 production to the Brewers Association’s annual Beer Industry Production Survey; breweries with staff estimates or data from state excise tax reports were not considered
• Breweries also needed a validated production figure for 2017, either via the production survey, or state excise tax data.

Looking towards the future, Lees noted that Flounder has already maximized their limited capacity in their current space at 1 Ilene Ct. They are planning to relocate to a larger space at Carriage Farm in Hillsborough in 2020.

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