Stone Cali-Belgique IPA, Stone Ruination IPA, and Stone Sublimely Self- Righteous Ale (our black IPA) have been seeing tremendous growth every year, but it's been exceptionally strong as of late." Hop bitterness may pucker a drinker's lips, but to really make folks pucker up, you need a sour beer, and those are on fire. "Sour beer enthusiasts continue to want more," affirms Joe Menetre, sales direc-
is up because drinkers are demanding high quality craft beers. Secondly, because craft drinkers will pay a little bit more money for a higher quality, full-flavored beer, the profits go up for the retailer."
California-based Lagunitas is another craft brewer that is building a brewery on the east Coast to facilitate dis- tribution. Its several brands include Maximus India Pale Ale, Imperial Red and Censored Rich Copper Ale.
tor for New Belgium Brewing, "and we've just increased our wood beer-aging capacity threefold. High end beer is still selling." Their challenging "Lips of Faith" brand is a great example.
SPREADING THE SHELVES M Reprints Eprint
entioning all these large craft brewers — and, it goes without saying, all the great local and regional brands in your own mar- ket — makes it clear that having a good representation of craft brands is going to take a lot of shelf space: beer's not a compact product. Can't you just have a few strong sellers? Why is it worthwhile to have that much space dedicated to all those different brands?
"First and foremost," answers Jim Koch, "because that's what drinkers are looking for — the craft segment
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Julia Herz cuts right to the heart of it for the retailer: "Selection and diver- sity allows for bigger basket rings. When there's a larger selec- tion, with craft in the mix, that establish- ment will have higher
rings. No one asks this question about cheese, or coffee. The demand for more SKUs has been put on many items, not just beer. Instead of carrying multiple SKUs of the same product — just different package sizes — some establishments are shifting the SKUs from multi- ple packages of light lager and using them for craft." Like Willie Sutton said about robbing banks: that's where the money is. Finally, Herz downplays speculation that the craft beer market may be headed for another 1996-style cor- rection. "Speculate all you want," she says confidently. "This is a mature, stable industry with experienced brewers. As long as they're making world-class beers, with a good business model, they'll be successful. There's more demand than supply right now." That's going to keep craft swimming strongly for a while. s
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cnaughton@m2media360.com Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • July/August 2012 • 23
