Craft brewers commit to work together
By forming an industry association in May 2012, many of Australia's craft brewers have committed to work together, aiming at 5 percent market share in the next five years.
Twelve months after the working group first met to discuss forming an industry association for craft beer, the Craft Beer Industry Association (CBIA) has held its inaugural annual general meeting. With 26 brewer members in attendance, the association voted for its inaugural board. The seven board representatives are:
Pub & nano brewery — Mathew Bebe, Mornington Peninsular Brewery (Vic)
Microbrewery — Owen Johnson, Moo Brew (Tas)
Regional Brewery — Dave Bonighton, Mountain Goat (Vic)
National Brewery — Chuck Hahn, Malt Shovel Brewery
Contract Brewery — Jayne Lewis, Two Birds
Floating Members — Jeremy Good, Cowaramup (WA), Brad Rogers, Stone & Wood (NSW)
The 150 or so craft brewers only take up 2 percent of Australia's beer 17 million hl market, but the CBIA said a joint effort can raise that to 5 percent in the next five years. Australia's craft beer market is growing at nearly 30 percent year-on-year.
The association wants its members to catch up with their counterparts in the U.S., where craft beer has a 6.5 percent share of the market.
In May 2012 the Australian government also introduced AUD10 million (USD 9.86) in tax breaks for the country's microbrewers, which should benefit their growth.
For the time being, Australia craft brewers have the choice between two industry associations: the newly launched CBIA and the Australian Real Craft Brewers Association (ARCBA), also formed last year. The latter has railed against the former that it isn't really all about craft beer, as it has several members that are in fact "big" operators, like the stock-market listed Little Creatures brewery. The "purists" who formed ARCBA, have been fairly quiet as of late. No news in any of the on-line services (Australian Brews News, The Shout, MB News, The Crafty Pint etc), which are all very supportive of the sector and carry stories about CBIA. The ARCBA website also was not really helpful when Brauwelt looked last.
It certainly does not help the craft beer industry if two associations spend more time fighting each other than for the consumers' share of throat. Hopefully, pragmatism will prevail in the end and the two associations will merge.
