Draw and Hold the Line

I think we may be on same side.

IF you don''t think supporting local breweries doesn't contribute more to local economy that supporting INBEV then not sure what to tell you. Sure big beer has local salespersons and distributors but a local brewery supports many, many people with the money staying right here.

 

Huh. You certainly have an interesting perspective on the ole reality tunnel there.
Do I grab popcorn. Walk away. Engage.
Please inform.


p.s. @rgordon The funny coincidence here is I was actually listening to the Blade Runner ost.

 

Two thoughts.

In the case of your thinking about big breweries displacing smaller brands, everything I've seen--read, etc. about the period of decline in numbers agrees, with very few exceptions. One of the things I think I've picked up from some of the posts made by @jesskidden is that some breweries were better able to keep up with modernization of their operations than others, and that would favor the bigger operations with an established but growing customer base. Rather than the smaller operations with an established but shrinking customer base.

Also consistent with this is the change in public tastes that led to the gradual decline in the IBUs of AALs. One of the things folks can learn from carefully done focus groups is a great deal about their perceptions, opinions and attitudes, including their immediate reactions to tastings of samples. Who can best afford the expense of using such qualitative research to help inform producers about changes in public tastes amongst their target customer base?

As for the middle ground you mention, I'd expect that some bars will continue to pour SNPA and other craft beers since they know what their customers enjoy, if only by how rapidly a some kegs will kick compared to others. They may go on to include something from GI, for example, in their line up, but the only places around here that I see that offer only big beer company products in their line ups are places where that was already the case but they now also have some new things to "test market" in their line up. So I think we'll see more "dive bars" offering big beer craft acquisitions but that's not replacing beers like SNPA. However, I can readily identfiy bars in this area where you might find an occasional GI product in their line up, but you can't buy a Bud, a Miller lite, or a Coors even if you wanted to.

So my current prediction is that those who already brought a Blue Moon may branch out a bit more and bring something else from a Big Kid line up, and some of those those who used to bring an AAL will also start bringing some new things.

Frankly, I personally am more inclined to think that middle ground is more threatened by the drink local movement. Now mix in the Wine industry and the rapidly surging demand for Spirits as more and more folks are lured away from craft beer (or even trying craft in the first place) by those other alcoholic beverages.

 

Excellent points, both.

 

Unless that brewery has maltsters, hop farms, yeast labs and equipment manufacturers that are local to them, then all they are supporting is the local municipality's water, sewer, and other utilities and whoever they are renting their space from. Sure, those breweries employ people, but the VAST majority of them either left local jobs to start a brewery or are working at the brewery as a side job, so there's not much of an influx of tax dollars in that fashion.

How else are local breweries supporting the local economy that big ones are not?

 

Great article, well said and to the point. Cheers to Craft and the people who love it.