As the craft beer business in the area continues to add taps and barrels to the delight of both locals and tourists, a new organization has been brewed to help support the industry.

The Cape Fear Craft Beer Alliance (CFCBA) has just been launched to promote and unite those businesses that revolve around suds, according to an announcement this week.

“We want to make Wilmington a beer destination, in the way that Asheville is,” said Jeremy Tomlinson, alliance president and one of its founders. “The growth has been phenomenal, and it isn’t going to stop anytime soon.”

The alliance mission statement is “to promote awareness and increase visibility of craft beer in the Cape Fear Region through education and participation in community events.”

Since 2014, Tomlinson said, eight breweries have opened in the region, and the number of bottle shops has grown from three to 10. The increase in breweries, bottle shops, restaurants and bars, has created many new jobs for people with various skill sets, he explained.

The craft beer industry across North Carolina is thriving.

In 2015, craft beer created 10,000 jobs and $1.2 billion in revenue, according to the N.C. Craft Brewers Guild. North Carolina is currently the leading producer of craft beer in the South.

Nationally there were 2,347 craft breweries in the United States in 2012, according to the Brewers Association, a Colorado-based trade group, and they combined for 12 percent of the country’s beer sales in dollar terms. The sales share grew to 21 percent in 2015 with $22.3 billion in revenue. The association predicts that there will be 5,000 craft breweries nationwide by the end of this year.

Brewers in Wilmington agree there is a need for an organization like the CFCBA.

“Organizations like Cape Fear Craft Beer Alliance help everyone in the industry gain access to more information; improvements to brewing techniques, processes, equipment,” said Ellie Craig of Front Street Brewery. “All of this information can be shared between working professionals to enhance our reputation as a craft beer city.

“This is tremendous for our economy and adds to the craft beer sub-culture here in Wilmington, including craft beer tourism,” she added. “Craft beer is not the cut-throat industry that the general public may think it is. We all want to ensure that the beer that is brewed here in southeastern North Carolina is the best it can be -- a representation of what Wilmington has to offer.”

Education is high on the CFCBA agenda.

Tomlinson said the alliance will provide opportunities for its members to increase their brewing knowledge, and he’d also like to educate the consumer about the benefits and varieties of craft beer, and to encourage responsible, moderate consumption.

“It’s a craft," he said. “People who go to the breweries aren’t going there to get wasted. They go to appreciate the craft. The public needs to realize that.”

The alliance is slated to become a 501(c)(6) tax-exempt community organization.

It will focus on advocacy, with the alliance addressing all issues, governmental or other, which affect the industry locally, organizers said. There will also be increased promotion, to market its members and their products to other brewers, suppliers, legislators, tourists and the general public.

“The craft beer community is now coming together in collaboration to enhance or even create new special events and philanthropic measures -- raising money for local nonprofit organizations and causes through the common thread of beer,” said Craig at Front Street Brewery. “The bottom line is we are all able to work together ... and we get to drink some pretty great beer while we do it.”
 
For more information on the alliance, go to capefearcraft.org.