There are two schools of thought that explain the insurgence of craft beer in America: 

First School of Thought:  Higher Quality, Greater Variety Paradigm

Why craft beer?  For specialty beer fanatics, this question is a loaded one, but it's one that we work tirelessly to answer.  Perhaps the best way to address it is to consider more common examples of "craft" commodities.  

When a restaurant creates its menu, the goal is simply to provide a variety of items to please their customers' cravings.  If choosing meat dishes, for example, it might seem silly to offer five options of pork chops which are all cooked the same way with identical ingredients.  It might seem even more peculiar to only serve hot dogs from a dozen different hot dog producers.  Depending on the clientele of a restaurant, the chef will generally offer meat at incremental price points, ranging from a simple hamburger up to a prime cut of filet mignon.  Regardless of the customer base, the general rule is to offer a variety of different meats, ranging from chicken to beef to pork. 

Similarly, markets tend to offer varieties of certain foods at various price levels.  A presliced loaf of sandwich bread might be offered for a dollar, but they also sell freshly baked breads of all shapes, sizes, and styles.  Individually wrapped processed cheese is typically one offering, but they will also sell blocks of hand made cheeses of different styles and higher price points.

Behind the bar, a very similar approach is usually taken with wine and liquor selections.  Most customers could order a cocktail with a well liquor, a middle tier liquor, and a "top shelf" liquor.  With the trend toward higher quality, the "top shelf" liquors are frequently the biggest sellers, and they bring a sense of class to an establishment.  Additionally, dozens of varieties of liquor are commonly available.  Wine selections often cover twenty or more styles at price points from $15 a bottle to hundreds of dollars per bottle. 

So why do these stores, restaurants and bars offer foods, liquors, or wines that cost more to bring in?  The answer is two fold.  First, the benefit of offering a wide variety is that it achieves the initial goal of satisfying the customer's demands.  And second, people, particularly New Yorkers, have an affinity for quality, and they are often willing to spend a little more to get a superior product.  The added advantage to the bar, restaurant, or market of offering more costly products is that they can typically earn a greater profit margin.

The fascinating stories behind these craft breweries, their incredible diversity of styles, and their impeccable quality have made craft beer the fastest growing sector of the adult beverage industry.  And this growth is not limited by the ultimate consumers of these beers.  We constantly get questions from first-time craft beer drinkers about where these products can be purchased and why they are not more readily available.  The unsatisfied demand for these amazing beers exists everywhere, and it is growing at an accelerating rate.  By working to develop and promote your own craft beer offerings, you won't just appease the millions of existing craft beer drinkers, but you will help enlighten undiscovered craft beer lovers to an exciting new world. 

To fancy restaurants who believe you are not selling enough beer, consider that you just might not be selling the right beers.  To pubs with twenty draught lines and twenty cheap lagers on tap, consider that you will sell just as much cheap lager through five of your tap lines and you will bring in a higher profit margin on the rest if you diversify your list.  To markets that worry that they don't have sufficient shelf space for craft beer, consider that you will make more on a single cork topped bottle of Belgian Ale than you will on three six packs of cheap beer.  So the question to ask is not "Why Craft," but rather "Why Not Craft"? 

Finally, to those bars, restaurants, and markets that have discovered and embraced craft beer, please make a commitment to spread the gospel of great beer, and to always be willing to learn more.  Even the most accomplished of beer scholars such as "The Beer Hunter" Michael Jackson will attest that there is a limitless amount of information on the subject.  If there is ever anything that we can do to help educate yourself, your staff, or your customers on the craft beers in our portfolio, please let us know. 

 

Second School Of Thought:  Obtainable Luxury Theory

In recent years, New Yorkers have come to look for two main characteristics in a beverage: quality and variety.  A decade ago, most coffee shops offered two options, regular and decaf.  Most juice companies were watering down their beverages to 50% or less of real juice in order to cut costs in an effort to increase sales.  And most restaurants, bars, and markets selling beer provided one basic variety: cheap adjunct lagers.  Today in New York, consumer’s demands have become more sophisticated.  They have proven a willingness to pay for higher quality and greater variety.  A growing number of businesses have capitalized on these more upscale demands.  Starbucks has experienced astounding growth selling a myriad of different coffee varieties for 5 times what one might pay for a regular “cup of Joe”.  Naked Juice Company and Odwalla have defied the “watering down” trend of most mainstream juice makers by producing a vast variety of fresh, 100% juice products that are available at several times the price of more mainstream brands.  Nonetheless, in the past decade Starbucks, Naked Juice Company, and Odwalla have become some of the most popular, fastest growing businesses in New York. 

Simple economics indicate that as price for coffee or juice rises, the demand for these products would decrease.  Starbucks, Odwalla, and the Naked Juice Company have ignored this generalization and proven that a coffee is not always just a coffee, and that not all juice is created equal.  They have splurged for higher quality ingredients, offered greater variety, and as demand for these products has skyrocketed, they have reaped the rewards. 

Like the juice industry, and the coffee industry before it, New York’s beer industry is undergoing a dramatic revolution towards quality and variety, and bars, restaurants, and markets are in a prime position to reap the rewards.  New Yorkers are very rapidly beginning to embrace the fact that a beer is not just a beer.  Beer is one of the most diverse beverages on earth, with over 100 unique styles, nearly all of which are represented by our portfolio.  While the craft beer industry, which focuses on quality above all else, has grown steadily in this country over the past 20 years, it is just now reaching a tipping point, with New York City at the forefront of the industry’s growth.  Customer demand has skyrocketed for craft beers, and every day more and more businesses are reaping the benefits by adapting to accommodate these demands.

Perhaps one of the most disheartening sights for a true beer fanatic is a monotonous beer menu stuck in the past, one with a dozen or more beers of all the same style.  A restaurant or bar that serves a handful of domestic adjunct lagers and a few international lagers may as well offer only a bland lineup of common Chardonnay on their wine menu.  It is certainly advantageous to offer a low-priced, mainstream Chardonnay if it sells well.  But any sommelier will tell you that you need a diverse list to please customers and enhance the status of the establishment.  A successful wine list offers a wide variety of styles from around the world.  The ever more popular examples of international craft breweries and the celebrated regional beers from the United States will enhance any menu, and will please customers and draw new ones by providing the quality and variety demanded in New York today.