Does it seem to anyone else like the craft beer thing has peaked already and is maybe on a slight decline? Richmond has seen several craft breweries close, and hardly any new ones have opened. I feel like the problem continues to be the distributors, who favor the bigger players like Devil’s Backbone (owned by Anheiser-Busch) and the various breweries owned by Boston Beer Company. Smaller operations are left to struggle to do their own distributing or rely solely on sales at their taphouse locations. I think there was a bill in the VA legislature not long ago that would’ve cleared away regulator hurdles for the smaller operations, but that bill didn’t go anywhere.
Bubble started popping ~ 5 years ago on the West Coast. As is practice for any industry, one large corps see there is a buck to be made, the throw ungodly amounts of money to acquire, co-opt, or duplicate the value. This diminishes established players and as a broader consumer market emerges that can’t tell the authentic from the megacorp mimics, the smaller orgs of course start to feel the pinch first, and can weather the change for less time. Then the megacorps of course offer to buy them at a discount, there is massive consolidation, and then you have a few large players left.
Luckily craft beer can be small/local enough and be sustainable, but yeah, the 2010s of every brewery needing 8 different IPAs is over. If you don’t have a solid plan and are just hoping to underwear gnomes to profit?? you’re in trouble.
That’s the report from Portland anyway.