The import beer category is rebounding with the economy. Most brands have improved their sales performance, and the overall category is up by almost 5%.
By Michael Sherer
nce upon a time, the imported beer category was a small niche of above-premium beers that offered affluent drinkers a more flavorful alter- native to domestic lagers. Today, the category more closely resembles the industry as a whole. Importers now offer a wide range of products, from more modestly priced lagers with mass-market appeal to vinous ales with prices to match their viticultural cousins. Consolidation within the industry in recent years has meant globalization of the beer industry. That, along with the recent recession, has been a double-edged sword for brewers. On the one hand, it’s produced economies of scale for brewers, enabling them to com- pete more nimbly. And it’s been a boon for consumers, since it’s now almost as easy to get a Trappist ale or South American lager in Boise as it is to get a Budweiser in Moscow.
But fewer brewers importing more brands has
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN MONTANA
increased competition in the category, and the more closely the category mirrors the industry, the more pres- sure there is on individual brands to capture the hearts and minds of consumers.
“In terms of the broad picture, every brewery glob- ally wants to grow in the next guy’s back yard,” said Jeff Coleman, president of Paulaner HP USA. “It’s really become a global business.”
The good news is that as the economy continues to recover from the recession, import sales are on the rise. Imported beer sales were up about 4.8% last year (according to the Beverage Information Group’s prelim- inary 2010 statistics), positive news given that industry sales were down more than 5% in 2009. Most brewers see the trend picking up steam this year. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Herb Heneman, brand director of imports at Tenth & Blake Beer Co., Milwaukee, SABMiller’s import arm, “but val- idated by growth of the craft segment is the fact that
66 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • March/April 2011
