As the year ends remember this. Even though beer sales have dipped slightly over the last year due to the economic crisis, sales figures continued to be healthy for craft beer brands, far greater then either imports or domestic macro beers. And growth by dollars continued to rise, in part due to higher prices, but also due in part to the consumer’s willingness to pay a little bit more for better beer, as seen in the past months sales of local high ABV brands.
This essentially confirmed the recession-proof nature of beer, and especially craft beer. Many Local breweries are continuing to see excellent sales and sales growth in stark contrast to the big guys. Even expanding their operation into the coming year.
Cheers and Happy New Year!
5 comments:
Happy New Year Mikey, beer geeks everywhere, and Utah's brewing community! 2009 was one hell of a year for beer in Utah. Moab's Black IIPA and the Outer Darkness stand out.
Have a great New Year Mikey!
Cheers!
Mikey, you may have done more than anyone to help keep the Utah Craft Brands Strong. Thank you for your insights, knowledge, support and in particular this important venue.
When you used the term recession proof, it caused me to flash back to 1985 when I told my parents I was going to start a brewery in Utah, my Mom actually used the term recession proof. As she explained, " people will drink in the good times to celebrate and in the bad times to try and forget." She went on to say, " you have had a lot of crazy ideas, but I really like this one". I think she may have missed the part about Utah and just thought I was going back to my hometown of Milwaukee. Another great memory of that story is that it was well known in my family that my grandfather had made beer in his basement in Beloit , Wisconsin during Prohibition. My Mom told me it was especially good business in those days because you didn't have to pay any taxes.
Concerning the state of craft beers here in Utah, I completely agree that our brands are strong and getting stronger all the time. The new competition will be good for everybody, especially the consumers.
Here at the Utah Brewers Copperative, higher alcohol beers are the biggest area of growth for us. The change in some of the state laws and the gowing awareness ( that you help foster) are probably the biggest reasons. There also might be some validity to the "more bang for your buck" theory.
Anyway, sorry to ramble, but I wanted to say thanks for your blogg. Happy New Year to you and all of us that love to make, drink, talk about and enjoy great beers.
Cheers!
Greg Schirf
The funny thing is, not all of the better beer does actually cost more. 6 packs of UBC stuff at the LS are what, $8.59 after tax? When I go to Smith's or Harmon's most of the 3.2 stuff is $8.99 or $8.49 or $7.99, so basically right around the same price. Obviously the really special beers like Outer Darkness cost quite a bit more, but those aren't regular staples. Then of course you have Full Sail and Sierra Nevada which are great and dirt cheap in Utah for some strange reason.
Thanks Greg, that was nice of you to say. Your brands put Utah's beers on the map in 2000's. I'm sure this next decade will blow the previous one away.
I'm still waiting on that Wheat Wine!
Cheers to You!
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