Skip to main content

Box Scores for the Craft Beer Business 2017

By
Brewers Association Infographic
The business of craft beer continues to grow both in barrels of beer, and in dollars.  The Brewer's Association just published headline data from their annual assessment of industry trends.  It's teasing out a more detailed presentation at the Craft Brewer's Conference at the end of April.

Here are a few key take aways from the data shared so far.
  • Craft beer prices went up by about 1% in real dollars.  There was an 8% Increase in retail sales.  Inflation was 1.8% in 2017.   
  • Breweries are opening faster than the market grows.  There was a 16% increase in brewers.  
The report does not discuss changes in craft brewing capacity, which I think is the an interesting part of the story.  However a follow up analysis by Bart Watson, BA's resident economist, indicated that the revenue growth was limited to the microbrewers and brewpubs, while the larger so-called regional brewers (>15,000 bbl/yr) lost ground, or at best held near constant volume of +/- 1%.  These large regional brewers are stalwarts and trail blazers of craft brewing: Bells, New Belgium, Stone, Sierra Nevada, etc.

The narrative is that the "medium sized" brewers are squeezed from both above and below.  However, volume numbers suggest that craft continues to eat away at big beer.  The pressure from above is most likely for mergers and acquisition.  The real challenge seems to be from the smaller, emerging players with shiny new tap rooms. coupled with some established players making overly aggressive expansions.  There has been a trend of West Coast companies opening east coast breweries citing environmental concerns, related to shipping, leaving stability concerns related to aromatic hoppy beers unsaid.

Recent press has covered a couple high profile regional brewers who over expanded, assuming that their business would grow in trend with the segment. San Diego based Greenflash just closed their new Virginia Beach brewery, and pulled out of distribution to the east coast.    The brewery had been open less than 2 years, and opened while Green Flash was expanding nationally, and at least in New England, was once the next great thing.

One of New England's oldest craft brewery's, Smuttynose, was just sold at a bankruptcy auction.  The financial missteps of this 25 year veteran brewery may end up being the definitive case study for this era of craft brewing.    I'll provide my take on it in a follow-up post, as this is already quite verbose for something entitled Boxscores.

The 7 - 20 bbl breweries expanding to keep their tap rooms supplied, aren't taking money from the big 3.  They are taking it from their inspirational predecessors. It will be interesting to see how the industry frames the narrative around the upstarts taking business from established players.  It's no longer a collaborative us vs. them battle of flavor vs. bland, or small business against multinational corporations with rigged distribution systems.  Its a coming of age story, and a tale of stubbornness leading to decline.  Quality and consistency of product may not be valued as much as an experience. Could craft beer stop being better beer?

Labels:

Comments

rashidafahn said…
All participants provided a written informed consent of their participation and to utilization of} 아벤카지노 their data for publication. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 7, 149–167. Gainsbury, S., King, D., Delfabbro, P., Hing, N., Russell, A., Blaszczysnki, A., & Derevensky, J. Gambling on-line was just easier – with associates they did not all the time have time. Please enter the cellphone number which is registered on your Caxino account and we are going to ship a affirmation code to vary your password. Pragmatic Play Ltd is also be|can be} licensed and regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority.
November 5, 2022 at 8:59 AM
Post a Comment

Greatest Hits

Beer Destinations: Prague

By
Beneath a fairy tale skyline of spires, domes, and towers, a modern city of industry and commerce sits upon cobblestone streets and ancient bridges.   Prague is a maddening riddle.   Brilliant minds like Franz Kafka and Bohumil Hrabal relied upon surrealistic visions to make sense of it.   Despite the city’s complex and frankly tumultuous history, there’s a millennia of brilliantly preserved architecture, miraculously spared the devastation of fire, war, and tasteless modernizations that have continuously reshaped many European cities. Located between the noble hop fields of Žatec (Saaz in German) and Moravia’s cascading barley fields, Prague is within easy reach of the ingredients to needed to sustain a vital brewing scene.    However, the city was not spared the 20 th century’s assault on local beer culture.   In the early 1990s, international breweries monopolized the city’s tap handles.   Brewpubs were mostly forgotten, a novelty for tourists, at best. This Prague earned a reput
1 comment
Read more

Nostalgia and New Ideas: Craft Beer Luminaries Find Ways To Stay Relevant

By
I'm not envious of the youngsters starting out in an era when good beer is available on every street corner.   Yes, things have never been more exciting in US Micro brewing but I feel the grip of  nostalgia.  New breweries are opening almost weekly.  New taprooms draw crowds to taste new, photogenic beers.  Novelty, at times, seems to surpass quality in importance to today's promiscuous drinkers.  Which isn't to say that we didn't get around in my day.  It's just that we didn't make such an effort to make an obvious trail, or tally our conquests.  Which were, admittedly, somewhat smaller in number.  Might today's craft drinkers missing some great beers from great breweries, in a quest for the next big thing, and a desire to avoid drinking one of dad's many microbrews?  The good news is that many are doing cool things to stay interesting, and remain in conversation. So many brewing luminaries of my youth are now ancient.  Great Lakes Brewing is 30. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Fathers Day Gift Ideas for the Beer Lover

By
June is a busy month with graduations, the coming of summer, and the wind down of the school year.  Fathers day always seems to come out of no where.  No worries.  Here are some ideas for the last minute father's day shopper. Beer Tour Beer tourism is a real and growing business segment.  Your city probably has one or two operators guiding minibus loads of attendees to typically 3-4 craft beer destinations.   It's a great way to sample a lot of new beers, and meet like minded folks.  Operators are a quick google away.  Consider companies like  Boston City Brew Tours ,  The New Hampshire Beer Bus , Portland OR's  BeerVana ,  The Chicago Beer Experience ,  Indy Brew Bus,  the Evan Rail designed  Eating in Prague Czech Craft Beer Tour , and even a  Napa Valley Hop Train .  Books I read a lot in the summer.  If your dad does too, here are some books he may enjoy. Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out: Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business   b
2 comments
Read more