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A Traveler's Perspective on the Premium Beer Market in North America - November 2003Earlier this year, American Brewer magazine asked me to provide them with my thoughts on the state of the craft brewing and premium imported beer markets in North America today. What follows is an edited version of that article, which originally appeared in American Brewer's summer, 2003 issue.Hitting the Mainstream New Belgium's La Folie alongside Budweiser and Coors Light? Okay, maybe not quite, but there is no question that craft brewed beer has moved from living on the fringes of the beer market to far closer to the mainstream. In even backwater bars, it is often now possible to find a bottle of Sam Adams Lager, a fact which has spared me from many a glass of lame wine or mediocre whisky. Further, most beer stores now stock at least one of Sam, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Anchor Steam. Even more vitally, craft brewed beer is no longer viewed as an oddity by the youngest of North America's legal beer drinkers. College and university students from Victoria to Miami now understand the difference between mainstream lagers and full-flavoured, small brewery-produced beers, even if they don't necessarily find the latter to their taste. On special occasions, or maybe just when they can afford it, they might even buy a bottle or a six-pack or two. The Race Issue While all but the most Neanderthal of chauvinists now understands that women can both drink and appreciate flavourful beer every bit as much as can men, craft brewed beer persists to be broadly a WASP thing. Having in the last several months visited a number of racially-oriented establishments, which is to say music venues that cater predominantly to African American clientele and restaurants that serve mainly Asian or Latino communities, I can say that the chances of finding a beer from a small brewery in one of these places is slim to say the least. The Way of Excess One very general trait of North Americans that can hardly be denied is that we are impressed by bigness. Just travel the highways and byways of this continent for proof -- giant peaches, apples and fruit of all sorts; massive flags, billboards and neon cowboys; the world's biggest this and the heaviest that or the fastest the other. Give us gargantuan and we'll be happy. And so it is with beer. In a bid to grab the attention of the beer-buying public, modern American brewers are crafting numerous beers of huge proportions, from outrageously hoppy ales to malty masterpieces of intense flavour and barrel-aged powerhouses of wood, to say nothing of the ongoing quest to up the alcohol ante and brew the newest strongest beer in the world. As I put it to an audience the other week, we live in an age of monster beers. It will surprise most brewers very little to hear that seriously hoppy beers remain favourites among certain segments of their audience. Particularly in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, parts of the Mid-Atlantic and New England, and in pockets of the Midwest, high levels of hop bitterness continue to be a draw among beer drinkers looking for something bigger and bolder. Brewers with more than just regional distribution on their minds, however, would be wise to note that tolerance levels for hoppiness vary from state to state and province to province, sometimes quite dramatically. Plainly put, what plays in Portland may just be too damn much for Peoria. Save for the bitter behemoths, however, few of these outrageously big beers make their creators a lot of money. The ingredients and time and manual labour involved in brewing such massive, high alcohol brews, coupled with their limited audience appeal, make these brews more labours of love and, it deserves mention, sometimes outstanding vehicles for publicity. And in the latter regard -- hello, Dogfish Head and Boston Beer -- they can be extremely effective. And the Belgians Shall Lead Them While the abbey-style dubbel is not about to usurp the popularity of the pale ale any time soon, there is a definite Belgian mini-trend happening in the United States. Or perhaps I should say continuing. The brewing influence of this tiny nation has been slowly making its way across the U.S. for years now, and its progress continues unabated into this new century. The leaders of the Belgian movement are well enough known -- New Belgium, Unibroue, Celis (now brewed by Michigan Brewing), Ommegang (now owned by Belgians). But what is of greater interest and significance is the 'second wave' of Belgian influenced breweries, including Québec's La Barberie, Maine's Allagash and California's Pizza Port, and the fact that a steadily growing number of ultra-small breweries and brewpubs now feel confident enough to explore select Belgian styles. In Québec, for example, having a Belgian white on tap is almost de rigueur for a brewpub. And Finally ... In the end, after covering almost two dozen states and a trio of Canada's largest provinces, my conclusion is that while craft brewed beer might be suffering some in certain quarters, by and large the prognosis is good. Challenges will always persist -- unenlightened government liquor stores in Canada, narrow-minded distributors in the States -- but it's useful to remember that however tight the market might be now, it's a lot more open than it was when craft brewing was born, regardless of when you think that occurred. Feature Articles
Feedback?We're very interested in your news, notes, comments and questions, so please feel free to contact SBWoB by clicking on the link below. Or you can add your comments when you sign up for the World of Beer Update, a mid-month e-mail newsletter that brings even more of the world of beer to your computer. Send Feedback To: beaumont@worldofbeer.com Bright Beer - Kitchen Table Tastings - Feature - Taste of the Month Copyright 1997 - 2006 © - Stephen Beaumont |