![]() Much like today, supply seemed to far outstrip demand. This was the first time a cohort developed to defend “beer flavored beer.” Some of the most iconic breweries were founded during this period as a reaction not to big beer, like micros of the first era, but against the wave of highly commercial, sweet and flavored beers. For those beer drinkers who were way into beer, it was a great time-but they were turned off by the excesses. More parallels: for the first time, while all this sweet beer was hitting the market, America was finding its voice in the form of expressive, hoppy ales. Many of the old-timers complained about tarted-up beers that seemed to be aimed after an audience hitherto satisfied with “alco-pops” and “malternatives,” categories that also, familiarly, flourished during this period. In the 90s, a lot of it was not good, and a lot of the new breweries weren’t, either. Much like what we saw in the 2016-2019 period, breweries chased after these new drinkers with sweet, fruity, adjunct-heavy beer. But by the ‘90s, regular folks were starting to sample the beer. Throughout the 80s, “microbreweries” were the domain of only the most avid fans. Visibility was also way up, and this was the biggest change. Scores of the larger breweries made big capital investments into new facilities that would produce the much larger volumes they expected to sell. It was a frothy time, and breweries assumed it would continue. The two cases actually look a lot alike, and it made me think that what we’re seeing is in part just the cyclical nature of fashion. I’d like to throw one more thing into the mix that only old folks like me are likely to remember: the first time craft crapped out. We had a fruitful discussion about this on Twitter, and a lot of interesting thoughts bubbled up. Even premium light beer seems to be rebounding better than craft. Among other categories of beer, imports have been eating craft’s lunch for at least half a decade. Flavored malt beverages and seltzers became the hot new thing, and young people turned away from beer. Even before Covid arrived, however, things started shifting. Craft was doing great for the decade after that, even as domestic lagers cratered. It was doing great the last time we had a major disruption, in the great recession of 2007-2010. Yet craft is doing bad even compared to other segments.Ĭonsider that circumstances didn’t always hurt craft beer. Most of those things affect breweries of other sizes as well. ![]() But there’s something else going on here. In one way, this isn’t surprising, given all the recent challenges: a global pandemic, supply chain disruptions, steel tariffs, barley shortages, wholesaler consolidation, grocery shelf reductions, and pretty serious inflation. In about a week and a half, the Brewers Association’s Bart Watson will offer more detailed information, but has hinted the news will be grim. I offered one tranche of data on Wednesday, from the National Beer Wholesalers Association, and other sources also cite fairly steep declines. According to a lot of available data, the craft beer segment is in trouble.
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