The toughest year in our lives

Australian beer | They had it so good. For nearly three decades, Australia enjoyed an unbeaten run without a recession. It sailed through the dot.com bust and the global financial crisis unscathed. Neither fires, droughts, floods, nor the slump in iron ore price could stop it. The economy just seemed to go up, up and up. Covid-19 might prove a major setback.

Germany | World beer production totalled 1,913 million hl in 2019, compared with 1,904 million hl in 2018. This is a slight increase of 0.5 percent, says the upcoming Barth Report.

GlobalData | According to GlobalData’s recent (June 5) COVID-19 adjusted forecasts, the global beer and cider market will recover to 2019 value by 2022, reaching 630.4bn USD in 2022; this represents a difference of -55.4bn USD against the previous baseline value of that same year [1].

Craft beer, marketing and tourism: A new paradigm

Fight for market share | With more than 8000 breweries currently operating in the United States, the war to capture craft beer drinkers’ dollars is heating up. While it is not clear where the saturation point of breweries-per-capita is – and while it is likely to vary from one region of the country to another – it is clear that “beer tourism” has become a new arrow in the quiver of breweries fighting for market share. If any evidence were needed, the recent “Beer Marketing and Tourism Conference”, held for the fourth year, this time in St. Petersburg, Florida from February 4 to 6, attracted more than 200 attendees from 36 U.S. states, as well as from such countries as Australia, Canada, Germany, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom.

BrewDog goes mainstream

BrewDog goes mainstreamCraft beer | Shock, horror. Scottish craft brewer BrewDog has gone for a rebrand that is so sensible and grown up that it would make the royal tree hugger Prince Charles proud. Is this the way of the world? That eventually all rebellious punks will take out their earrings, get a haircut and wear a tie to work?

Local is the new global

Localism | The globalist dream was persuasive. As the world’s economies grew more interdependent, consumers revelled in the fantasy of the world becoming a single place, and all of us living together like a family. TV channels, movies, and music became universally available. The internet took over our lives. We were happy to see “superbrands” like McDonald’s, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Heineken anywhere we went. They made us feel part of something bigger and gave us a sense of belonging. So when did globalisation become a dirty word?

The new imperative of craft authenticity

Local and sustainable | If you watched television in the United States in the decade between 2006 and 2016, you would know what the most interesting man in the world drinks. You would have learned it from a series of commercials that featured a debonair adventure-seeking 70-something bearded gentleman, played by the now 82-year old actor Jonathan Goldsmith. Each spot ended with the same memorable line: “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.”

A big deal

An exemplary plant | Heineken and KHS are setting standards with the newest and one of the biggest breweries in Mexico on all counts: besides its impressive proportions the plant is also a shining example when it comes to ecological and economic sustainability.

Delivering the circular economy

Cradle to cradle | Businesses around the world are under pressure to operate as sustainably as possible and the global brewing industry is no exception. Understandably, the use of packaging is under the spotlight in terms of supply chain benefits, product protection and with the rise in consumer environmental awareness the packaging end of life and re-use. Reduction in the use of plastics, recycling, was the aim a few years ago but now business models need to move towards a full circular evidenced lifecycle solution.

Corona crisis | Covid-19 took just weeks to overwhelm the world and grind commerce to a halt. No one knows if the lockdown-triggered recession will be short-lived or sustained. But brewers already see mayhem.