Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 8410 BREWING & BEVERAGE INDUSTRIES BUSINESS You need not be a genius or even a particularly keen observer to recognize that much of the world is growing increasingly insular these days. So-called ‘locavore’ movements are flourishing, farm-to-table cuisine has become almost a menu cliché, and even as industries around the globe grow ever more consolidated, opposition to the free flow of goods and services is on the rise. And so it is with beer. Or at least it is in certain regions, particularly in the United States, and that bodes ill for not only imported brands that wish to do battle on domestic turf, but also for the future development of national markets. Allow me to explain. While a great many young craft beer drinkers may have forgotten or never known it, the fact is that early craft brewing, or ‘microbrewing,’ as it was then known, took much of its inspiration from traditional brewing lands like Germany, Belgium, was then still Czechoslovakia, and, yes, the United Kingdom. This was true in Canada and the United States in the 1980s and 1990s as it was of Japan in the last stages of the last century, Italy during the dawning years of the new century, and countless other countries where commercial brewing had either never had much hold or had long since lost whatever credibility it once had. For Americans and Canadians, it was a frustration at not being able to find beer as good as what they had experienced in Europe; for Italians it was the gastronomic influence of Belgian ales enjoyed while on vacation; for the Japanese it was a change in law that allowed for the opening of small breweries, and the subsequent search for inspiration beyond their borders; and after the juggernaut that was and is the American pale ale and IPA took off, countries like Spain and Brazil found their inspiration in the rapid rise of U.S. craft brewing. Curiously enough, it was that same juggernaut that started the turn of the tide in the United States. Seeing its validation in the embrace of global brewers, and watching IPAs fly off store shelves domestically, American brewers began to feed on the style, first with double and triple IPAs, then with session IPAs, so-called Belgian IPAs, white and brown IPAs, ‘wild’ IPAs and so on. As long as it had those magical letters in its name, people apparently couldn’t buy enough of the stuff. After all that, many American brewers started to buy into the Brewers Association hype about the U.S. being the most interesting place in the world for beer – a statement first made by Michael Jackson around the turn of the century when it was mostly true, or at least far more valid an observation than it is today – and American beer drinkers started believing the marketing mantra that the only way to drink well was to ‘drink local.’ And just like that, outside influences began to diminish dramatically. While all this was occurring, of course, global brewers were consolidating like mad, a long-lasting and, one suspects with reason, still ongoing trend that has seen the world’s largest brewer go from Anheuser-Busch’s 90.1 million hectolitres in 1988 to AB InBev’s estimated 600 million hectolitres following its acquisition of SABMiller. From the perspective of a small brewery owner in Tucson, Arizona, Poulsbo, Washington or Nashville, Tennessee, it must have seemed like the sort of activity that makes you want to stay close to home and cement your company’s position in your own backyard. Which brings us back to the present and the diminishing impact of foreign beers on the U.S. and, to a somewhat lesser degree, the Canadian markets. For while it is true that imported beer has continued to see growth in the United States over the past years, most of that growth has come in the form of surging Mexican brands like Modelo Especial and Dos Equis – hardly beers to inspire a brewer’s creativity. Inventive and potentially influential beers from Belgium, the U.K. and Germany, on the other hand, often struggle to get even a toe-hold or sell in such minute quantities that they are presented as more struggling niche brands than influencers on the scale of such once-landmark imports as Fuller’s ESB, Schneider Aventinus and Rochefort 10. All of which threatens to, if not quite stifle brewing creativity in North America, then at least slow it down a bit. Because whether an industry be brewing or can manufacturing, its advancement depends largely and critically upon two things: An increase in the sophistication of its audience and a broad and competitive marketplace that spurs developers (or brewers) to new heights of creativity. Cut off or drastically tone down the influence of foreign perspectives, those of the ever-inventive Belgians, for example, or the masters of hop manipulation from within the British brewing industry, and you proportionally decrease not only the incentive for American brewers to better themselves and their beers, but also the range of experience of domestic beer consumers. The result being, potentially, yet more IPAs and simplistic kettle sours, and fewer works of great brewing imagination. Stephen Beaumont Letter from North America Consolidation, insularity and the importance of imported beer A professional beer writer for 25 years, Stephen Beaumont is the author or co-author of eleven books on beer, including the new fully-revised and updated second edition of The World Atlas of Beer and The Pocket Beer Guide 2015, both co-written with Tim Webb. Stephen’s latest solo book is the Beer & Food Companion, which was published to much critical and commercial acclaim in October of 2015. Stephen has also contributed to several other books and written innumerable features, articles and columns for publications as varied at The Globe and Mail and Playboy, Fine Cooking and Whisky Advocate. When not writing, he travels the world extensively, tracking down new breweries and hosting beer dinners and tastings from São Paulo, Brazil, to Helsinki, Finland, and Beijing, China, to Seattle, Washington. 10_Layout 1 12/02/2017 08:59 Page 1