Tag: Brewers Association

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Public Hops


You have heard of wild hops, now there will be public domain hops because The Brewers Association publicized an agreement made with the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS). For what purpose? “To fund public hop breeding for the purpose of developing and releasing disease resistant aroma hop cultivars into the public domain… ”

Probably stemming from the recent hold-out of hops by the Captain Hook of beer SABInBev and their South Africa business decision. This combined effort of government and small(er) business looks to be an effort to keep the Hop torpedos full.

According to Chris Swersey, supply chain specialist for the Brewers Association. “Research to develop and release hop cultivars with no intellectual property protection ensures that all growers have access to high quality, disease-resistant cultivars they need to sustain production at levels required by brewers.”

The key takeaway outlined in the press release: “The research will prioritize breeding efforts in four areas: sensory requirements as determined by the Brewers Association through a collaborative and participatory brewer and industry stakeholder program; improved downy mildew resistance; improved powdery mildew resistance; and improved agronomic performance compared to existing aroma cultivars.”

And if you thought the Smithsonian beer historian job got a few applicants well, the USDA will move forward to hire a professional breeder and a facility to begin research. Sounds like a hard but fun job.

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Signs Ahead


With SABInBev and it’s “High End” and ZX disrupters trying to muddy the water of the craft beer scene, a counter tactic has been unveiled on both a city and national level.

First off, the San Diego Brewers Guild will be issuing window clings, flags and even tap danglers for use in tasting rooms and at events. You can read more about it HERE.


The Brewers Association has created a new seal to promote independent craft brewers. Dogfish Head is the first to promote that their packaging will sport the upside down bottle logo. (A design that I think is fine though the interwebs seem to have an issue with it)

Bringing this down to earth, I think window clings and seals on premise are of little use out in the real world because the point of contact with a beer is the key purchasing decision point not a sticker on the front door. Because the main purpose (in my mind) for these seals is for those who are “casually” into beer. That will look for an IPA but don’t want to deep dive into the business side.

Bombers and six-packs with either seal of approval will be stocked without any problem since the bottle shops and stores aren’t put out by extra work or expense and will be the most effective in my mind because people can easily see that one has the seal and another doesn’t. And the aforementioned “casuals” will see it and be cued to look for it again. Especially if they see it on more and more brands. You can bet that BA member breweries are already designing their labels to fit the new seal. Some will complain that they are forced into adding it, lest they be left out, but they also have to put SKUs and other labeling onto a bottle and can be creative about it.

But that leads to a nitpicky query on my part, which bar or bottle shop will willingly go along with demarcating their keg merchandise.

A brewery taproom can splash #independent everywhere and if they have guest taps are probably already choosing fellow like-minded breweries so there is no battle to be won. Getting a consumer there was the win. A tap dangler ain’t gonna help.

It is in the bottle shops and bars and restaurants that a tap dangler or other means of communicating “not Bud” could make someone stop and think. Say you go to the fancy Spire 73 at the newly opened Wilshire Grand building here in DTLA. They have Boomtown Brewing, Angel City Brewing and Golden Road on tap. A fully independent brewery, a brewery owned by Sam Adams and the faux Bud craft option. It would be great to see the Seal next to the first two and nothing next to the third on both the paper menus and online.

But would the bar they play along? What’s in it for them?

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and the Award [redacted]

I have to applaud the Brewers Association. They have walked the fine line of being a trade organization while also adding a bit of policing to their actions as well. This is all due to offensive beer labels. A problem that sits in the corner mostly but will occasionally flare up whenever a brewery in some weird bubble decides to use a name that most would find offensive, primarily aimed (99%) against women.

The plan is that a brewery can make and name a beer in an offensive way and they can enter it into competitions like the World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer Festival BUT if they win, the beer will not be announced from the stage (I assume an awkward pause will be the substitute) nor can the brewery market the win by using the name of the competition won.

Basically, a brewery can say it won a medal and that seems to be the extent of it. They will not be allowed to link the BA or the competition name with the beer. New will be required signing of licensing agreements with terms of use for using the BA name PRIOR to entering a competition.

And while adding this new code, they acknowledged that this action was not going to be easy to enforce. Bob Pease the CEO of the BA made it clear (through some unfortunate phrasing) that , “..it’s gonna be sticky. It’s going to be hard.”

I think this action will help. Either a brewery will change a name, hopefully forcing a burst of creativity, or they will not enter the beer in competition. It does not abridge their rights of free speech or get them blocked from joining or staying in the craft beer club. It basically starves the brewery of the attention that it probably desired. Each time a beer name is typed into a form for one of these two competitions the one doing the typing had better be doing so with this rule in mind.

Before anyone flies off the handle with this is America, this is PC bulls..t, everyone is too easily offended, remember who are Not-My-President is right now. This country could use a LOT more rules about denigrating speech than it currently has on the books.

Breweries need to craft great beer and great beer names.

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4,656


Here are the latest stats from the Brewer’s Association : “As of June 30, a record high of 4,656 breweries were operating in the U.S, an increase of 917 breweries over the same time period of the previous year. Additionally, there were approximately 2,200 breweries in planning.”

917 breweries in a year! That is a big number for a maturing marketplace. If my scratchpad math is right, that is right around 20% more.

The other positive number is that there are still way more openings than closings. Even with a decrease in growth to 8%, there hasn’t been any major bloodletting.

Next, onto the “in planning” number. I would like to know specifically the criteria for this one. Are there tiers to it? Long-term in planners who have been on the list for years or are these all new since the last number? I would like to see a breakout of this category because closing numbers are one negative indicator but the first one will be the drying up of the pipeline. But if the pipeline numbers are wonky, well then we may not know till later that the tide has turned.

Anyhoo, check out the video. If nothing else, with Bart Watson on board, we are getting a steady stream of data to parse.

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Let’s Do the Numbers

To recap 2015 in craft beer….
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The Brewers Association (BA), recently released their 2015 data on the state of craft brewing.

Here are what I consider the important take-aways:

12% market share of the overall beer industry but if you look at it as retail dollar value then the number goes up to 21% market share.

Throughout the year, there were 620 new brewery openings and only 68 closings.

One of the fastest growing regions was the South, where four states—Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Texas—each saw a net increase of more than 20 breweries, establishing a strong base for future growth in the region.

None of these numbers shock me as much the sheer brewery total but what it does tell me is that there is still growth happening. Maybe not spikes upward but steady walking up the hill for sure. And I like to see that the South is starting to catch-up with the rest of the country, it speaks to me of the fact that either cities and states see the growth and are helping OR breweries are looking for open spots on the map to do business in. And from this year forward, I think it will be important to chart the opened-closed number and see how that trends.

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4K

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4K. That is an amazing figure. Probably by the time that I finish typing this sentence, there will be more breweries in the United States than ever before. OK, that is hyperbole for sure but not by much. If the current trends bear out, there literally will be more breweries than at any time in our country’s history. Granted, we will never know for sure if 4,131 was the high water mark (Back in 1873!)

Now, each time an all-time high is reached the chorus of doomsayers start singing the dirge of over saturation, remember that craft is still not threatening the Industrial Beer Complex. They are running scared for sure and grasping at straws but there is still plenty of beer consumers that can be converted to craft. In addition and here I am cribbing from the Brewers Associations chief economist, Bart Watson, if there were 4,131 breweries in 1873 the per capita equivalent for 2015 would be 30,000 breweries. That is a huge number that would be over saturation.

I think the one-two punch of market share available to steal and the fact that per capita we could handle more leads to a more promising future than others think.

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The Firkin for July 2015

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Usually, I have no shortage of rants to get me frothing at the mouth like Cujo or if I am feeling more upbeat, kudos to hand out.

But it has been a relatively quiet month. Yes, there was the Firestone Walker convergence with Duvel but as I thought would happen, the collective goodwill of those two companies pretty much doused any incipient interwebs displeasure.

That means I can take the time to dig into the numbers from the Brewer’s Association that recently arrived in my inbox.

Here are the Three Big Numbers:
1.6 million more barrels sold so far this year versus this point in 2014.
699 more breweries now than last year.
1,755 breweries in the planning stages.

Now let’s do some comparin’ and contrastin’. The 1.6 million barrel growth is impressive compared to the 2011 to 2012 and the 2012 to 2013 increases and is only .2 behind both of those jumps combined but it falls a distant second behind the 2013 to 2014 time frame which saw a huge 3.3 million bump with a gain of 502 new breweries.

That 1.6 number seems even paltrier because this was the biggest jump in the brewery count in the last five years. If the trend from last year had held, you would have expected barrels sold to go up from 3.3. Which tells us that the new 699 are/were producing at a much smaller pace. More Nano’s and garage projects in the mix? Or were there more larger facilities that came on-line last year compared to this year.

There were 1,929 breweries in planning which yielded the new 699. My simple math skills kick out a percentage of openings rate of 36% which if that holds means that at this time next year there should be another 631 breweries around putting the total well over 4K and triggering another round of bubble talk once it hits 4,000 mark. Even if the pace of new breweries is cut in half, it will still crawl over the 4,000 total by this time next year.

What does this all mean? It means more choices and more competition for tap handle space and it means that rotating taps aren’t going away soon. With that choice comes a corresponding duty to be more selective. Even my picky self has started running into not so good beer and I have to come out and say it. No more generic 2.5 star ratings on Untappd. It also means that publicans have to be honest too. If the new brewery isn’t up to snuff, they shouldn’t be on tap. If they are, it better be on discount. Which leads us to the brewers. I know it is financially horrible and damaging to the psyche to dump a bad beer. But I do not want to go to your brewery and hear that a beer was a failed experiment and won’t be brewed again. Morbid curiosity may get me to order it but it would be much better for the brewery and it’s possible long term customers to use it as an educational tool and give away tasters of it to say, compare and contrast to another beer.

Craft beer will continue to grow even if those three things do not happen. But that trajectory will not be fueled by the mediocre to bad beer makers. Nope. Remember that craft beer started as a REACTION to bland and flavorless corn water masquerading as beer. New brewers may not have to react to Bud-Miller-Coors, they may react against bad craft beer.

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50 Biggest (with notes)

Each year, I check out the Top 50 U.S. Craft Brewing Companies based on 2014 beer sales volume when it hits my inbox. The stat geek in me likes to see how many breweries make the cut from Oregon and California. (4 and 11 respectively). You can compare 2013 to 2014 if you so desire but I eventually end up going through the list and looking for trends. Which I have highlighted inside the list.

Rank Brewing Company City State
1 D. G. Yuengling and Son, Inc Pottsville PA
2 Boston Beer Co Boston MA
3 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co (two breweries) Chico CA
4 New Belgium Brewing Co (also two breweries) Fort Collins CO
5 Gambrinus Shiner TX
6 Lagunitas Brewing Co (yup, two breweries) Petaluma CA
7 Bell’s Brewery, Inc (enough beer to come to L.A.) Galesburg MI
8 Deschutes Brewery Bend OR
9 Stone Brewing Co Escondido CA
10 Minhas Craft Brewery (brewing for hire, we need more) Monroe WI
11 Brooklyn Brewery (yet still not in L.A.) Brooklyn NY
12 Duvel Moortgat USA (where would Ommegang & Boulevard rank separately?) Kansas City & Cooperstown MO/NY
13 Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Milton DE
14 Matt Brewing Co Utica NY
15 Harpoon Brewery Boston MA
16 Firestone Walker Brewing Co (Venice location coming, not soon enough) Paso Robles CA
17 Founders Brewing Co (possible entrant to L.A.) Grand Rapids MI
18 SweetWater Brewing Co Atlanta GA
19 New Glarus Brewing Co New Glarus WI
20 Alaskan Brewing Co Juneau AK
21 Abita Brewing Co Abita Springs LA
22 Anchor Brewing Co (tied to Giants & Mission Rock) San Francisco CA
23 Great Lakes Brewing Co Cleveland OH
24 Oskar Blues Brewery (Perrin might move them to 23) Longmont CO
25 Shipyard Brewing Co Portland ME
26 Stevens Point Brewery Co Stevens Point WI
27 August Schell Brewing Co New Ulm MN
28 Summit Brewing Co Saint Paul MN
29 Victory Brewing Co Downingtown PA
30 Long Trail Brewing Co Bridgewater Corners VT
31 Ballast Point Brewing (grapefruit & habanero fueled) San Diego CA
32 Rogue Ales Brewery & Headquarters Newport OR
33 Full Sail Brewing Co Hood River OR
34 Odell Brewing Co Fort Collins CO
35 Southern Tier Brewing Co Lakewood NY
36 Ninkasi Brewing Co Eugene OR
37 Flying Dog Brewery Frederick MD
38 Uinta Brewing Co Salt Lake City UT
39 Bear Republic Brewing Co Cloverdale CA
40 Left Hand Brewing Company (coming soon to L.A.) Longmont CO
41 21st Amendment Brewery Café (why not in L.A.) San Francisco CA
42 Allagash Brewing Co Portland ME
43 Lost Coast Brewery and Cafe Eureka CA
44 Troegs Brewing Co Hershey PA
45 Karl Strauss Brewing Co San Diego CA
46 Saint Arnold Brewing Co Houston TX
47 Narragansett Brewing Co Providence RI
48 Green Flash Brewing Co (another west to east) San Diego CA
49 Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries, Inc Chattanooga & Louisville TN/CO
50 Breckenridge Brewery Denver CO

1. D. G. Yuengling and Son, Inc Pottsville PA
2 Boston Beer Co Boston MA
3 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co (two breweries) Chico CA
4 New Belgium Brewing Co (also two breweries) Fort Collins CO
5 Gambrinus Shiner TX
6 Lagunitas Brewing Co (yup, two breweries) Petaluma CA
7 Bell’s Brewery, Inc (enough beer to come to L.A.) Galesburg MI
8 Deschutes Brewery Bend OR
9 Stone Brewing Co Escondido CA
10 Minhas Craft Brewery (brewing for hire, we need more) Monroe WI
11 Brooklyn Brewery (yet still not in L.A.) Brooklyn NY
12 Duvel Moortgat USA (where would Ommegang & Boulevard rank separately?) Kansas City & Cooperstown MO/NY
13 Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Milton DE
14 Matt Brewing Co Utica NY
15 Harpoon Brewery Boston MA
16 Firestone Walker Brewing Co (Venice location coming, not soon enough) Paso Robles CA
17 Founders Brewing Co (possible entrant to L.A.) Grand Rapids MI
18 SweetWater Brewing Co Atlanta GA
19 New Glarus Brewing Co New Glarus WI
20 Alaskan Brewing Co Juneau AK
21 Abita Brewing Co Abita Springs LA
22 Anchor Brewing Co (tied to Giants & Mission Rock) San Francisco CA
23 Great Lakes Brewing Co Cleveland OH
24 Oskar Blues Brewery (Perrin might move them to 23) Longmont CO
25 Shipyard Brewing Co Portland ME
26 Stevens Point Brewery Co Stevens Point WI
27 August Schell Brewing Co New Ulm MN
28 Summit Brewing Co Saint Paul MN
29 Victory Brewing Co Downingtown PA
30 Long Trail Brewing Co Bridgewater Corners VT
31 Ballast Point Brewing (grapefruit & habanero fueled) San Diego CA
32 Rogue Ales Brewery & Headquarters Newport OR
33 Full Sail Brewing Co Hood River OR
34 Odell Brewing Co Fort Collins CO
35 Southern Tier Brewing Co Lakewood NY
36 Ninkasi Brewing Co Eugene OR
37 Flying Dog Brewery Frederick MD
38 Uinta Brewing Co Salt Lake City UT
39 Bear Republic Brewing Co Cloverdale CA
40 Left Hand Brewing Company (coming soon to L.A.) Longmont CO
41 21st Amendment Brewery Café (why not in L.A.) San Francisco CA
42 Allagash Brewing Co Portland ME
43 Lost Coast Brewery and Cafe Eureka CA
44 Troegs Brewing Co Hershey PA
45 Karl Strauss Brewing Co San Diego CA
46 Saint Arnold Brewing Co Houston TX
47 Narragansett Brewing Co Providence RI
48 Green Flash Brewing Co (another west to east) San Diego CA
49 Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries, Inc Chattanooga & Louisville TN/CO
50 Breckenridge Brewery Denver CO

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Digital Style Research

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The Brewers Association (BA) website now boasts a new Beer Styles Guide on CraftBeer.com.
Two years in the making this style guide covers 77 styles in 15 groups and lets the beer geek sort by color, bitterness, alcohol level and flavor with the Beer Style Finder. Each style has the following information: “overview of color, appearance, aroma and sensations, along with recommended food pairings, proper glassware, suggested serving temperature and commercial brand examples.”
American Brett or Cream Ale? IPA or Stout? You get a one page visual with handy information in summary form. It is a good blend of words, photos and graphics and easy to navigate through. It is a great place to start to gather information from a reliable source.

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Let’s Do the Numbers

Time to break out my best Marketplace announcer voice for the latest edition of the numbers from the Brewers Association.

My eye always lands first on the openings and closings numbers and this year saw another net gain 615-46 or 569 new to the fold breweries. This probably provides more fodder for the bubble crowd but each year they sound a little more like Chicken Little. I still stand by my prediction that the number of breweries to open will eventually drop but that will be a slow drop that will be offset by the growth in amount of craft beer made…..

…Which rose 18% in 2014. That is a big number and it pushed the overall volume over the magic 10% mark. If only retail had pushed over the 20% line. It “only” grew 22% to 19.3% overall.

Now if only “big” beer wouldn’t drag our numbers down.

Here is the graphic for you to peruse…
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