The specialty beer boom.
In Portland, Oregon, it's possible to go into the corner pizza parlor and find a half dozen microbrews on draught, ranging from a hoppy dark ale to a rich, tangy hefe-weizen. Bars in Portland are likely to have 20-30 tap handles--almost all of them for beers produced in the region or local area. There are a dozen breweries in Portland and its environs, and everywhere the sweet smell of malt is wafting on the breeze.It's not clear yet whether Portland is an aberration, or the shape of things to come, but the probability is likely somewhere in the middle. It will be some time before other American cities embrace beer with Portland's ardor, but the trend is there for all to see.
Suddenly, there are well over 400 breweries in the United States again. Back in the '70s, analysts predicted that industry consolidation would come to its logical conclusion by the year 2000, with a half dozen breweries remaining. At that time, the trends seemed to favor such a prediction: The big guys were getting bigger and the ranks of old-line regional breweries were thinning rapidly. The trend was clear, it was common to many industries, and it seemed irreversible.
Not inconsequentially, American beer was becoming consolidated as well, under the category of light lager. A few regional companies still did a small spring runs of bock, here or there a company made a bottom-fermenting porter, and Fritz Maytag kept making his steam beer. Broadly, however, ale was a dying style and light-bodied, light-flavored lagers were becoming preeminent.
The tiny breweries that opened in the early '80s seemed unlikely to reverse this juggernaut. After all, how could they? They were just eccentric former homebrewers, brewing eccentric beers.
It turns out, however, that Americans have a thirst for beer. They want choices. They like an ale occasionally, and they don't just want to drink it after mowing the lawn. These consumers apparently want more than just a constant succession of light, dry, draft and ice. This small segment of the consuming public is curious, and willing to fork over the money to satisfy their curiosity.
In one short decade, a wave of new craft brewery openings has reversed the tortuous game of consolidation and shake-out that had gutted the industry during a succession of beer wars.
America's largest brewers have been a bit behind the curve, waiting to see whether this microbeer thing had any legs. Now, the word is in--it's got legs. It may only be one percent of the market now, but it's going to get bigger. Two or three percent within the next few years, and after that, anybody's guess.
There is new excitement in the industry, new blood, new ideas. Small brewers are brewing a stunning variety of beers, with the untrammeled imagination that is the hallmark of healthy American industry. They are producing beer that is, in both quality and fullness of flavor, the equal of any in the world. Their efforts give the lie to the old international perception of American beer as bland and fizzy.
Micro and craft brewers have also put the United States on the stylistic cutting edge of beer: green chili beer and espresso stout are probably only the beginning.
Micro and specialty brewers have brought a new vibrancy to the U.S. beer market. They may be selling a relatively small quantity of beer, but it is high-quality, high-margin, high-interest beer, beer that brings something to every tier of the brewing industry.
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| Publication: | Modern Brewery Age |
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| Article Type: | Editorial |
| Date: | May 16, 1994 |
| Words: | 583 |
| Previous Article: | Portland Brewing Co. extends stock offering. |
| Next Article: | Making choices. |
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