Think of Craft Beer Like a Book...

Last week I spoke on a panel at the Craft Beer Professionals Connects conference in Chicago alongside Tracey Ireland of Rhinegeist and Matt Steinke of Go Brewing at a session titled “The Wild, Wild West: Preparing for the Next Frontier.” The moderator and former brewery owner, Tim Hohl, began by asking us each to share one thing that we’re genuinely excited or optimistic about right now.

As someone who reads and writes a lot about trends, insights and data, I chose to remind everyone in the room that craft beer is still very well-positioned to answer the call for a lot of what motivates consumers today.

Whether it’s the elevated interest in flavor, rotation based on different moments and needs, the ability to express oneself through their beverage choice, or limiting drinking occasions to experiences that include friends or family, craft beer’s value proposition actually holds up quite well.

Craft just needs to shed some baggage to bridge the gap between the original craft beer fans who remain engaged, and those newer consumers whose priorities may look a lot different.

Later in the panel, Tim brought up an analogy that I used during a pre-call with my fellow panelists a few months back, asking me to share it with the audience.

This timely cue from the moderator gave me the perfect opportunity to shift from that final caveat to my optimism around craft beer, and to highlight the adjustments that need to be made in the way the industry communicates to consumers.

It’s one I’ve been using in conversations for years, but after many attendees approached me afterwards to share how helpful the framing was to them, I realized I’ve never put it in written or video form.

The Plot Thickens

The analogy compares craft beer to a book, one that the majority of its fans picked up and started reading in the early 2010s. The story included flavorful beer, epic events, and the formation of fan communities. What kept enthusiasm so hot for so long is that the story was never stagnant. Craft beer continued to unfold.

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