Weekend Reading: Too many breweries, Pennsylvania raids, Craft Beer in Japan
Too many breweries in the U.S.?
A controversial blog post by World Class Beverages yesterday sparked quite a bit of discussion. Per the article:
“Are there too many brewers in the US? Are there too many beers? It sounds a little bit like crazy talk, but there are a fair number of brewers who seem to feel that this may be the case.”
Really interesting given that we were just celebrating how well craft beer has done in 2009 and now the question is asked . . . is the industry doing too well? Greg Koch from Stone Brewing chimed in as both a brewery owner and a distributor. Lots of talk about this over at RateBeer as well. Finally, some great insight from Erik at Top Fermented.
By the way, cheers to World Class for diving headfirst into our little web community. It’s great to get their perspective considering many of us aren’t in the industry. I wish that more distributors would start blogs even if it is to just identify and/or update what brands they carry.
Pennsylvania Beer Raids
Joe Sixpack wrote yesterday about the disclaimer on the PLCB beer brand registry more or less proclaiming not to use the list. It is funny how burdensome the PLCB has made it for the industry to follow its rules though no one has made it burdensome for them to enforce them (until now, I suppose). Wouldn’t it just be grand if retailers, brewers and distributors rang their phones off the hook next week because the registry disclaimer clearly implies that people shouldn’t go by the list? Spin it right back in their direction . . .
More state representatives are speaking out against the raids and a hearing could be scheduled on April 13th. Is there a live web feed for these things for the rest of us?
Jack Curtin is reporting that he’s hearing that there are rumors that the PLCB is trying to smooth things over “behind the scenes.”
Lew Bryson’s Abolish the PLCB Facebook group is now 3,000 strong.
Craft Beer in Japan
CNN just ran a story on a craft beer bar in Tokyo, Japan, and the main picture shows Three Floyds, Southern Tier, Great Divide, Stone Brewing, Green Flash Brewing and Coronado Brewing on tap.
On one hand, it’s an incredible display of how far craft beer has come but on the other hand, how does it make those who can’t get these beers right in the States?
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March 12th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Beersage – thanks for commenting on the blog. I think it’s a topic worthy of some healthy discussion.
We certainly encourage all craft distributors to start blogs for the very reason you suggest – getting product release info out to the public. Of course, we like to throw in some discussion and highlight our great brewers as well.
Cheers to you!
Bob Mack
World Class Beverages
March 15th, 2010 at 8:42 am
[...] Beernews.org drew my attention to a blog post by World Class Beverages which brought up a point that a lot of people are discussing on the net. Are there to many brewers in the United States? This is an idea. The blog post points out that it is difficult for start up breweries to get the kind of exposure they may need on shelves due to the “clutter” of other craft beers. I think we should look at things historically. At one point there were over 4,000 breweries in the United States(1893). Shortly after that we saw a step decline to around 1,500 just before the 18th amendment was passed. With consolidation after prohibition, at one point, there were just over 80 breweries(1980). Now after an incredible growth in the number of breweries we are back to 1500. I think this is due to equilibrium. I believe that the United States can support this number of breweries and industry will survive due to annual attrition and opening of new breweries. Is there a chance that we could surpass this mark. Maybe, but it would require two things. An increase in market share for craft brewers, and a focus on local or state wide only distribution as seen by breweries like New Glarus. It is important to point out that when America had 4,000 breweries times were very different. Regulation was non existent, and there were no larger than average breweries providing millions of barrels a year. What does the future hold. I don’t think any one knows for certain, but it will be interesting to see. [...]
March 12th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Weekend Reading: Too many breweries, Pennsylvania raids, Craft Beer in Japan http://ff.im/-hp6Mz
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March 12th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Weekend Reading: Too many breweries, Pennsylvania raids, Craft Beer in Japan http://bit.ly/8ZMV82
This comment was originally posted on Twitter