Will microbrews kill the King of Beers?

Last year craft beers experienced a 12% rate of growth compared to less than 1.5% for non-craft and imported brews. MSN Money article.

No. And here is, in my opinion, why.

Americans are sheep and will basically drink anything that is, "less filling, only 64 calories, cold filtered, tapped from the rockies, etc... etc.. etc.." The fact is, many people just see beer as yellow fizz and enjoy it at that. I think there will always be a huge swill beer presence in the brewing market. I work in a higher end wine/beer/liquor shop that carries a very large amount of craft beer from around the world and even a nice selection of hard to find belgian beers. Out of all of the beer, we have, our biggest seller is Michelob Golden Light. Most states don't sell it because it was so bad they couldn't get people to buy it in test markets. Here in Minnesota however, people eat the $hit up. For these reasons, I believe that although the craft brew world is growing, there will always be a huge mass marketed yellow fizz market.

Greg

I agree with Greg. Here in MN it really is all about Mich Golden. The bar I used to work at, we would go through 5 kegs a week easily, as opposed to 1 maybe 2 kegs for every other beer on tap...

I don't believe the King will fall soon, if at all unfortunately.

Wow freak out much??

I was just waiting for a vein to pop in that guys head. Either way it was entertaining.

Absolutely not. There are people that will always want to drink cheap beer by the pitcher. As one neighbor put it, "The less flavor a beer has, the faster I can drink it."

Microbrews will never be able to compete with macrobrews on one level - price. The economies of scale work strongly in favor of the macrobrews. And if a microbrew can develop the economies of scale to compete on that front - well they won't be micro anymore will they?

summersolstice said:

Last year craft beers experienced a 12% rate of growth compared to less than 1.5% for non-craft and imported brews.

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Simply a case of interpreting statistics to mean something that they don't.

There is plenty of room for growth in the microbrew market, so the market will naturally show a high rate of growth with occasional spikes.

There is little room for growth in the fairly saturated macrobrew market that's dominated by relatively few companies, so the market will show a relatively low rate of slow and steady growth.

Also, the two markets don't compete very directly. Mass marketed macroswill is advertised to a completely different demographic and in a completely different way than microbrews. There is room enough for both to exist.

Yuri_Rage said:

Simply a case of interpreting statistics to mean something that they don't.

There is plenty of room for growth in the microbrew market, so the market will naturally show a high rate of growth with occasional spikes.

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I agree totally. The 1.5% growth for the King would be a larger dollar amount that the bigger % growth shown by the microbrews...

Well, regardless of the statistics, both sectors are experiencing growth and that bodes well for both micro and macro.

There's nothing wrong with American lager. Why homebrewers are so against it is still beyond me. It's a beer with minimal taste and is a good lawnmower session beer. It's fine not to like the style. But to continuously hammer on the style because one's a brewer and chooses to make styles with more flavor is just overdone.

There will always be college and high school students who drink the cheapest beer they can find.

Anyone remember 25 cent drafts?

xamers said:

There's nothing wrong with American lager. Why homebrewers are so against it is still beyond me.

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You're right. Light American Lager is it's own style and has merit.

But I think, for home/craft brewers, it's much bigger than what the beer is vs. what the companies are as allowed by our society of free enterprise. Home/craft brewers feel that the American public has been lied to by these corporations. If it weren't for intense marketing, the light Am. lager would probably be a side show in the beer industry (based on its merit). BMC has convinced the majority of the Am. public that the light Am. lager is what beer is and what it should be. The corporations did it to make money. It's a cost of having the free country we have. It's similar to how the fast-food/snack/soda industry has been shoving commercials in our face for the past 30+ years and we wonder why we have a problem with obesity... or how oil prices have sky-rocketed and we're wondering why we bought a vehicle that gets 12 mpg. We should really be trying more for a campaign of education vs. just plain bashing BMC. If America stops accepting the light Am. lager as a standard for beer, BMC will make better beer... and what's wrong with that? They only care about the bottom line. They couldn't care less what style America drinks, as long as it's theirs.

Me?... it's not an issue of how I feel about BMC, it's that I don't care for the light Am. lager style. As for free enterprise... I'm all for it. However, I must say that when I was in the UK a few months ago, driving down the motorway, I had a difficult time finding a billboard. The sides of the roads were open to the beautiful green countryside, free of ugly, in-your-face billboards telling you what to buy. That was refreshing after driving down highways in the States being inundated with billboards every mile.

Along the same lines... I got this email yesterday from the Brewer's Association. I was going to copy and paste the whole thing, but it is pretty long, so here is a bit of the whole story.

"A bill sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, Assembly Bill 1245 is being voted on in committee this Tuesday, June 24th. This bill would significantly expand the limits on what a brewer can give away to a retailer. Currently, a brewer can only give away small items of minimal value to a retailer or consumer. The law now in place helps create an equal playing field for both small and large breweries. This law has helped the craft brewing industry flourish in California.

Anheuser-Busch wants to increase the limit 1,600% so they can use give-ways as an inducement to gain placements in stores, bars and restaurants. Craft brewers - because we are small, independent businesses which brew with passion and typically do not have large marketing budgets - cannot afford to compete with the big brewers on this level. Passing this bill will allow large corporate brewers to “buy” retail placements at craft beers expense."

Anyone remember 25 cent drafts?

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I remember 10 cent drafts. Just got back from a beer fest where the $1 samples were TWO ounces. FIVE bucks for a 12 ounce glass. Always wanted to visit Europe, but it looks like my wallet beat me to it.

Kill the king of beers? Probably not. Eat up their market share so they're a way smaller force than earlier on? I'd bet my money on it.

They already have, the trends suggest they will continue to do so, but there will come a point where most converts are made and the die hards will remain as the primary drinkers of yellow fizz, including poor college students and even folks like us who want something cheap and easy.

xamers said:

There's nothing wrong with American lager. Why homebrewers are so against it is still beyond me. It's a beer with minimal taste and is a good lawnmower session beer. It's fine not to like the style. But to continuously hammer on the style because one's a brewer and chooses to make styles with more flavor is just overdone.

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If there's nothing wrong with Bud then why does drinking one of their beers make my head feel like it's going to exploded?

abracadabra said:

If there's nothing wrong with Bud then why does drinking one of their beers make my head feel like it's going to exploded?

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And my taste buds organize a rebellion against my mouth such that everything tastes like crap for an entire night Seriously, I go beyond not caring for BMC, it is so bad it is actually starting to make me angry when people around me are drinking it. Sorry, that's just how I feel. Hate me for hating BMC if you will.

As for the OP... I definitely notice an increased awareness of good beer in general. The big boys will never go out of business, but the market share is not growing as fast as it would be if not for the micros and imports being so popular. to good beer.