Decline Of The "Homebrewing Lifestyle"

[betarhoalphadelta]

I don't know. Maybe a beer store isn't the right place to sell brewing ingredients. Like a bakery selling flour.

I will take a different tack on that, though...

A homebrew store selling beer is a great idea.

Locally two of my nearby stores [O'Shea Brewing and Windsor Homebrew Supply] also sell craft beer. O'Shea has been doing so for as long as I've known of them, they're the place to get special kegs of craft beer, and they sell a lot of rare and hard-to-find craft beer. Windsor is newer (recently celebrated 2nd anniversary), just expanded their store and added commercial beer. Again, it's more of the rare and hard-to-find stuff.

The LHBS business isn't easy. Margins are thin, there's a lot of competition online, and in highly populated areas like where I live, the LHBS actually are also in competition with each other.

Adding a second revenue stream (craft beer) is helpful to the bottom line. Having that as an additional reason for people to come to the store--where they might decide they need something brewing-related--keeps you more relevant to your customers.

Another local store to me just changed management because the owner was forced to get a 9-5 job. I just met the new owners and they were saying they "hope" it picks up. While the store is w/in 2 miles of my house, I fear they're not going to survive unless they do more than "hope". If they sold craft beer I might go in there more often than I do now, and there are times that I might go to one of the other stores if convenient because they have supplies *and* craft beer.

 

[beernutz]

The author of the Forbes article decided to write about what she perceived as a decline in the number of homebrewers and then looked for evidence to support her claim and then finally came up with a straw man reason (increasing craft beer sales) she believed was the cause for the decline.

She ignored that there is no proven correlation between the number of brick and mortar homebrew stores and the number of homebrewers. It doesn't appear she tried to determine how much homebrew supplies were being sold online.

She relied heavily on data provided by the AHA about homebrew supplies sales volume from B&M homebrew stores when not all LHBS, in fact I would suspect only a small percentage of them, even report sales data to the AHA.

She didn't take into account data such as the increasing membership in the AHA or the number of participants and entries in the NHBC or other evidence to suggest that the number of homebrewers is not in decline.

I think it was a well-written but poorly researched article.

 

[BrewKnob]

I stumbled onto the article listed below. And it got my brain (what's left) working a bit. So I thought I would bring it up in this forum and see what ya' chaps thought.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/taranu...d-heres-why-you-may-be-to-blame/#a292dbe51fd8

I myself brew beer because I enjoy it. I enjoy the smells, the process, the idea of creating something and later being rewarded for it. I basically do it for me.

The article makes a strong suggestion towards many brewers stopping this hobby because they can now buy 'craft beers' they couldn't buy before.

I thought we do this because we love it? Sure I can go to Publix and buy a 6 pack of Jai Alai but that takes away from the fun of me trying to make my own awesome beer.

What do you guys think? Are we losing brewers because we can easily buy great craft beer?

There are very few beers I can buy that I like better than mine.

 

[z-bob]

I dislike the word "lifestyle", because I think the emphasis is on the style rather than the life.

I like the process of brewing beer. And when I'm done, I (usually) have cheap beer that's better than anything I can buy for $1 a bottle. I also buy a lot of dollar a bottle beer because I don't get to brew as often as I'd like.

I generally buy hoppy beers like IPAs, and brew more malty ones.

 

[Lefou]

But then you also get the people who try the Mr Beer, make something moderately tolerable, take the time to do the research on how to do it better, and shazam! they're here on HBT every other day making better and more tolerable beer and helping the noobs. It's cyclical, I tell you.

*takes a bow*

As long as I can make better, cheaper beer from the LBHS than the mass-produced commercials can, I'm a happy guy. That isn't going to stop me from trying - or buying - better examples I haven't learned to brew or appreciate myself.

 

[fredthecat]

good and i hope all the trendy bearded *********s take their sours and ipas and **** off back to their bars.

 

[TimmyWit]

good and i hope all the trendy bearded *********s take their sours and ipas and **** off back to their bars.

Your post seems wildly

But, I do think we can learn something very important from your post; you don't like IPA's, sours or :beard:

Thank you for adding to the discussion

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I like the fact that I can fill a 20 gallon pot full of tap water and turn it into beer. Its the cool factor and knowing how that I like. I also like saving sh*t tons of money brewing my own beer.

I started out with a simple electric system and kegerator to make things as easy and quick as possible. I already have the equipment and knowledge for making beer so why would I possibly stop brewing..its easy at this point.....being able to buy craft beer or not has never been the reason for my brewing.

 

[k1ngl1ves]

The "Homebrewer Bubble" has popped. Norther Brewer sold at just the right time.


We're already seeing it, but expect more lhbs and websites to go out of business. There's just too many options, and many are too expensive to keep competing.


In the For Sale section here, and my local cl, I see people selling it all off much too frequently as well. The "bubble" has popped. We should start to see some fantastic deals in the near future...

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

It seems odd the "bubble has popped" when homebrewing has gotten easier than ever. Equipment is cheaper (BIAB) Online shopping has made it easy for EVERYONE to get ingredients/supplies if they have no LHBS

Its become known you don't need to brain surgeon to make good beer...its really pretty easy.

I find it hard to believe Inbev with there millions of dollars in research would buy out NB on a downward trend

 

[atoughram]

(ex: habanero honey infused coffee porter

Where can I find a recipe??

I've been brewing since around 1992 or 1993 - I don't remember. I do remember my grandfather having a taste of my first batch and he died in early 1994. (No - not from trying my first batch...)

I started because I liked what a buddy of mine was brewing.

I took a few years off during a busy time of life.

I think the hobby is doing better than it ever has. Back in 1993 it was seen as a backwoods redneck thing to do. It sure has evolved over the years. It's still evolving - maybe it's not the "in" thing anymore. And that's ok - the fanboys were starting to drive me nuts.

 

[k1ngl1ves]

It seems odd the "bubble has popped" when homebrewing has gotten easier than ever. Equipment is cheaper (BIAB) Online shopping has made it easy for EVERYONE to get ingredients/supplies if they have no LHBS

Its become known you don't need to brain surgeon to make good beer...its really pretty easy.

I find it hard to believe Inbev with there millions of dollars in research would buy out NB on a downward trend

Just like any hobby, people come and go. I know at least 10 guys who were brewing and have stopped. Life gets in the way of brewing, or it was more than they anticipated, or they decided they'd rather just buy their beer, or they decided they now drink way too much. Lol!

There will always be fair-weather hobbyists. The number of them in homebrewing is large. For some, it was just a fad and they're moving on to the next. There will always be hard core brewers though, but the numbers can't keep this giant market afloat. We have most of the gear we need. We watch costs and buy in bulk. We make our own recipes instead of being overcharged for kits. We DIY equipment a lot.

The homebrewing community is shrinking. There's no doubt about it, and there are numbers proving it from large homebrewing organizations. I can't find the links (although I half-assed it), but it's around here on this website. Less equipment and ingredients/kits are bought when there's less new brewers, and some veteran brewers are walking away.


As for Inbev.... didn't they spend over a billion dollars for Ballast? I'm sure everyone in the business was flabbergasted by that amount. Good for the BP guys! It made the Goose acquisition look like a steal.

NB isn't going anywhere any time soon. My comment was meant to be a joke (hence the dancing banana). IMO, they've got the market cornered and are killing the competitors with their marketing strategies. I don't buy from them because they are way overpriced. I could care less that they're owned by Inbev.




This is all just ramblings from one individual. It's just the way I see it. Only time will tell...

 

[hellomynameisryan]

Based on the experiences of myself and others I know, it's been the boom in craft beer that has given a lot of people inspiration for actually trying home brewing. For a long time, the only people I knew who were home brewing were buying those $15 kits at grocery stores, and the beer was awful, but it was a very very cheap way to have an "endless" supply of beer kicking around.

Now that people know that there are more tastes out there besides mass produced lagers and pilsners, I think people like to think "hey, I can probably do this!"

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

A good guide would be how many people on average are on this site at a given time....is it up or down for the same time other years?

 

[ericbw]

A good guide would be how many people on average are on this site at a given time....is it up or down for the same time other years?

That's one element. But not all brewers are on here or active. I think the beginning brewing threads would be the most telling.

I've noticed that activity here *seemed* to go down after they did a major update.

 

[DromJohn]

I planned to start homebrewing in 1991. I walked into the homebrew store, started filling my cart, turned the corner and saw a wall of refrigerators. I put up the homebrew items and left with 3 cases of singles (mostly foreign and some craft) and one case of Anchor Christmas Ale. Why start homebrewing when I could buy good stuff off the shelf?

Now, I love to homebrew. But every other beer I drink is commercial.

That said, I lost my regional homebrew store, December 31st, when they chose not to re-up their lease. Most of my online purchases are from Northern Brewer because of organic LME. But then, NB doesn't carry spelt, which will get me to Chicago Brew Werks in two brews. It is hard to stock everything.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I never much cared about the money aspect. Commercial beer is more than cheap enough for me. Brewing just hooked me in the way any deep hobby can. I feel like I've learned something on every brew. Every beer I make incorporates something to make it better that occurred to me on a previous brew. I think I could probably go on making incremental improvements and drinking better and better beer as a result for years without getting to the end of what I can learn about making beer. I'm just in it for the long haul. I love the process, the alchemy of taking a bunch of grains and turning them into an alcoholic beverage that I've tailored to my tastes fascinates me. I've got so many plans for things that I want to do in my head. Stuff that I just want to try to see how it works out. I'd brew every weekend if my SO would let me.

 

[ericbw]

Brewing and drinking are two different things.

 

[stylus1274]

Even then I would caution any brick and mortar wanting to sell online if it takes away from their current location. An online shop should be considered & utilized as a 2nd store. That is more inventory and more time to manage. Anymore, I don't believe you can just put up an online store and expect sales. First make sure the store info is found online and go from there. People are pretty good at searching for shops in areas.

Well my current business is building websites and doing SEO (finding your business online).

So pretty sure people will find my shop when they search