Craft Brewers’ Conference in Chicago draws a crowd
Gone are the ponytails and the goatees. Many U.S. craft brewers now sport some silvery strands in their hair and dress more conservatively than in previous years. Well, that’s probably owed to their running successful businesses employing some 100,000 people. But the laid-back, hippyish atmosphere still prevails. Thirty years on, the U.S. craft brewing industry with its 1,500 breweries has very much arrived at the centre of society.
What used to be a homebrewers’ pastime, which was spent in some shed tucked away at the end of the garden, has since become a feature of mainstream America. Fortunately so. Given America’s ambivalent attitude to alcohol, it’s a good thing that craft brewers have been carrying their torch high. As Charlie Papazian, President of the Brewers’ Association, reminded the 3,400 attendees: beer has a cultural and social role to play. “It’s all about good beer, better beer and relationships”, he said.
Apparently, the Brewers’ Association’s relentless marketing efforts have paid off. The U.S. media’s love affair with craft beer is continuing, perhaps aided by the fact that with Anheuser-Busch having been sold, there are no more “American” brewers left – except for the craft brewers.
What is more, this industry has brought forth so many colourful and charismatic characters (or what Americans call “personalities”) who enthusiastically promote craft beers even in the limelight that as an international observer one could really become a tad envious.
The craft brewing industry’s proliferation of brands, the quirky marketing, the tongue-in-cheek-labels, the general improvements in quality and the never-ending stream of innovations – all must have contributed to turning around the image of U.S. beer from a lawnmower tipple and settee-saurus nourishment (aka Joe Six-Pack on his sofa) to a beverage that features prominently in food and drink pairings.
In Chicago beer dinners are popular events, not just at the city’s 28 or so brewpubs but at other restaurants too. Here we should mention the culinary collaborations between restaurateurs and chefs, initiated by Louis Glunz Beer, Chicago, a distributor of fine beers. The Glunz Beer Culinary Council regularly asks famous Chicago chefs to choose their beers from Glunz’s portfolio of over 600 brands in order to create special beer menus. The difference between Glunz’s beer dinners and those put on by the major brewers is that Jerry Glunz, the owner, allows the chefs to pick their beers: they are not given a beer and told: “Now do something with it.”
That may help explain the chefs’ growing infatuation with beer and the public interest in food and beer pairings. For example, tickets to SAVOR: an American Craft Beer & Food Experience, a show for beer aficionados and foodies to be held in Washington on 5 June 2010, sold out within a few hours.
Those who attended the Chicago Craft Brewers’ Conference and all the accompanying events were left with the impression that craft beer in the U.S. is very much alive and kicking. True, craft brewing has been on a roll. For years beer output has gone up, recession or no recession. At present, craft beer has a market share of 4.3 percent by volume. However, that’s still small fry compared to the volumes churned out by the duopoly of major brewers in the U.S.: Anheuser-Busch and Miller Coors.
Nevertheless, as “Big Beer” continues to talk about cost-cuttings, while it turns its back on traditions and ditches its personalities in favour of becoming a leaner and meaner consumer goods company, the craft brewing industry stands a good chance of expanding its niche in years to come.
Looks like the Brewers’ Association will have to look for an even larger venue for its next Craft Brewers’ Conference which will be held in San Francisco in 2011.
