Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/346136
26 Beverage Dynamics • July/August 2014 www.beveragedynamics.com Crafting Profi ts and Rogue. The 1990s brought us the more cutting-edge breweries in their ranks, among them Dogfi sh Head, Allagash, Avery, Smut- tynose, Lagunitas, and Stone. The 1990 class also includes New Bel- gium and Brewery Ommegang, the fi rst of these now regional-scale companies to popularize the unfamiliar beer styles of Belgium. A small number of breweries founded since 2000 have made the extraordinary leap into the regional category, including Short's in Michigan, Florida's Cigar City, Green Flash in Southern California and Rahr & Sons in Texas. All successful brewing companies eventually have to face the question of when, how, and where to add brewing capacity. For small companies, it may be a question of a new fermenter, but for large companies, this means serious expansion or, in recent years, whole new facilities sited across the country. Early this year, Sierra Nevada opened a new brewery in Mills River, NC, under the leadership of Brian Grossman, whose father Ken founded the California-based company in 1979. "Our sales are roughly 50 percent east of the Mississippi and 50 percent west of the Mississippi," said the younger Grossman. "Our current trends show that the area east of the Mississippi has more of the growth, so that's where the barrels will come from to scale this brewery to its ultimate capacity." New Belgium and Oskar Blues, both Colorado breweries, have also chosen North Carolina for second plants, and Lagunitas—the fastest-growing regional—set its sights on Chicago. Now, San Diego's Stone Brewing Co. is shopping for a location, making it the fi fth major western brewery looking for better ways to satisfy demand out east. BEER STYLES—WHAT'S POPULAR AND WHAT'S TRENDY? American craft brewers are rightly renowned for their restless cre- ativity when it comes to beer styles, but it's the fl agship brands that pay the rent. With few exceptions, even the breweries with the most outlandish public images rely for their steady income on styles that were established at the start of the craft beer revolution. Leading the beer style fi eld in popularity are India pale ales, which grew by an eye-popping 41% in volume. As the American palate has evolved, these hop-heavy beers have overtaken pale ale, their tamer sibling. Lisa Morrison, a beer writer and broadcaster, is also a partner in Belmont Station, the oldest and best-known beer store in beer-be- With solid growth east of the Mississippi River, California-based Sierra Nevada Brewing recently opened a new brewing facility in North Carolina. Among its many popular offerings are its Pale Ale and Torpedo Extra IPA. CRAFT DEFINITION W hat is craft beer? The answer to that question depends on who's speaking. To the Brewers Association (BA), keen to act in the interests of its members, a craft brewer is defi ned by a com- plicated list of conditions that cover company size, beer traditions and ingredients, and brewery governance and ownership. To the big brewers who have eyed the growth of craft numbers with potentially predatory interest, a craft brewer is anyone brewing craft beer styles, including themselves. To the general drinking public, a craft beer can be anything that is not mainstream lager, including top-sellers Blue Moon (MillerCoors) or Shock Top (Anheuser-Busch). This year, the BA's evolving defi nition will change again. After much heated discussion in the press and on-line, the association has modifi ed it's three "pillars." The defi nition of a craft brewer as small (six million barrels or fewer), independent (less than 25% owned by a company that is not, itself, a craft brewer) and tradi- tional (generally all-malt beers with adjuncts used to "enhance rather than lighten fl avor) was amended by the board of directors to be more inclusive, accepting that for many brewers, use of adjuncts is, indeed traditional. This won't remove the confusion. Goose Island, whose beers are highly sought-after by many craft beer drinkers, ceased to be a craft brewery upon its sale to Anheuser Busch, even though its beer por tfolio is unchanged. However, some regional breweries that have been in family hands for generations — and there's nothing more traditional than that — will be admitted to the club. A-B InBev's Shocktop is one of the many so-called "craft" beers that have been released by major brewers, as has Goose Island, purchased in recent years by A-B.