Beer Thoughts

The rise, fall and apparent resurrection of Smuttynose is the story of the craft beer industry as a whole.  There's growth in the industry , as the Brewers Association reports, but the story is changing from the simple David vs. Goliath narrative of craft beer vs. big beer, of quality vs. quantity, to something else.  It's also a story of complacency and change.  Of new generations, looking to do things a different way.  Breweries inspired by the titans of the past, are making their mark.  And for some, this means eating away at the business of the firms that inspired, and even trained them.  America's regional craft brewers are being eaten by their young. I can think of no place where this trend is more clear than in seacoast New Hampshire, where Smuttynose brewing plays the roll of the fallen giant, lying in a verdant field of upstarts.  The seacoast raises the craft beer standards for the entire state.  It's a region defined by a scant 18 mi...

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)...