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You can find a wide range of beers on the supermarket shelves these days (Photo: Christin Hume on Unsplash)

Where will we go from beer? | The world has turned upside down in many ways when it comes to brewing. In the conflict between hard seltzer and craft beer, between ever stronger beers on the one hand and non-alcoholic brews on the other, we have to ask ourselves which direction brewers could be heading in. This article outlines the current situation and takes a look into the future. It is based on a presentation made to the 36th Biennial Conference of the Asia-Pacific Section of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (held virtually), February 2021.

Market

Biannual publication | At the end of May, The Brewers of Europe released the first issue of BrewUp Magazine, its biannual publication that covers items of importance for the brewing sector at European and national levels. It is made of contributions by brewers, maltsters, hop growers, national brewing association leaders, technical advisors and policy directors and aims at informing their readers about the latest developments and upcoming trends in the European brewing industry.

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Meeting (Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash)

Annual report | Krones, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of filling and packaging technology, published its 2020 Annual Report at the end of April. Titled “Focus on strengths”, the report highlights Krones’ medium and long-term growth opportunities.

Market
Craft beer (Photo: John Perry, Unsplash)

A challenging year | At the beginning of April, The Brewers Association released annual production figures for the U.S. craft brewing industry. In 2020, small and independent brewers collectively produced 23.1 million barrels of beer and realized a 9 % decline, decreasing craft’s overall beer market share by volume to 12.3 %, down from 13.6 % the previous year (Volume by craft brewers represent total taxable production).

Market
We are all made of stories (Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash)

Making sense of the world | Narratives help us make sense of the world and ourselves. Take globalisation. It was presented to us as an inevitable process, forging global champions in its wake. In the brewing industry, the narrative of “biggest is best” was countered by the craft brewers’ own narrative, which was modelled on the biblical story of David and Goliath. These narratives have reached closure. Do we still need a compelling new narrative to maintain a conversation around beer?

Market

0.0 beers on the rise | There is a new prohibition afoot in the United States, but it is very different from the one ushered in by the 1920 Volstead Act, passed by Congress to ostensibly save society-at-large from the scourge of alcohol. This new anti-alcohol sentiment is driven by a grassroots movement of young individualists, still concerned with society, yet, unlike their forebears, more inward-looking and dedicated to a new personal ethos of self-care, fitness, and healthy living. Rather than succumb to what many perceive to be peer pressure to drink more than they would want or should, they prefer to arise each morning clear-headed, able to take on the challenges of the day. They are responsible dads, avid sportsmen, fitness buffs, serious professionals, good citizens.

Market
Smartphone (Photo: Mayofi, Unsplash)

Preliminary figures | Krones, one of the leading manufacturers of filling and packaging technology, slightly exceeded its most recently outlook according to the preliminary figures for 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, revenue fell 16.1 per cent year-on-year, from 3958.9 million EUR to 3322.7 million EUR. This is a slightly smaller revenue shortfall than the 17 per cent decrease forecast in early November 2020.

Market
One of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.’s impressive state-of-the-art brewhouses in 2020	Source: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

A matter of definition | Back a generation or so ago, it was easy to determine who was and who was not a craft brewer. At the beginning of the craft brew movement, the BA’s members were simply called “microbreweries,” and there was no need for a legal mind to parse the qualification criteria for membership. In the following article BRAUWELT International author Elva Ellen Kowald shows that today defining “craft” can be a “crafty” business indeed.

Market
The Munich Oktoberfest encapsulates nostalgia for beer, lederhosen and all (Photo: Volker Derlath)

Beer and nostalgia | As the deadly pandemic wears on, many of us can be forgiven for feeling nostalgic, pining for the times when life felt normal: when we got together as a family, when we had an after-work beer with colleagues, when we hugged our friends and kissed our grannies. Who can blame brewers for tapping into the value of sentimentality to provide exhausted, anxious consumers with emotional escapism?

Market
North Country Hard Cider Company’s canned cider portfolio (source: Elva Ellen Kowald)

Category building | The new cider wave really got going only in the second decade of the new millennium. Between 2010 and 2014, seven of today’s ten market leaders in hard ciders, along with a plethora of specialty cideries, were founded.

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Current issue

BRAUWELT International

Receive the most important BRAUWELT news three times a month for free.
Newsletter archive and informations
Your data is secure and will not be passed on to third parties. You can revoke your consent at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the end of the newsletter.

By clicking on "Subscribe to newsletter," you confirm that you have read our privacy policy and accept the processing of your data as described therein.

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