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As those of you who read us regularly understand all too well, we’re not geniuses. But as we do cover the craft beer industry daily – we’ve got our own opinions about where things are going this year – and we might even be right about some of them!
More Growth & More Failures
The wave of start-ups and new breweries coming on line will continue in 2015 – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to make that call. And although we didn’t see the number of brewery closings that we predicted in 2014 – we unfortunately will this year.
Brewery Acquisitions Will Accelerate
2014 will be remembered for the acquisitions that took place in the fourth quarter – a portent, we think, of things to come. The biggest and certainly the most decried acquisition was without a doubt Anheuser-Busch’s November 5th purchase of Bend-based 10 Barrel Brewing. Soon after that, Green Flash announced that they had acquired Alpine Beer Company. And then, on December 17th, Founders Brewing surprised the industry by announcing that they had sold a 30% minority stake in their company to Spain’s leading brewing company.We’ve said this before and we will again in the future: “Craft beer is a growth industry and growth attracts consolidation.” We will see more acquisitions in 2015.
Cans, More Cans, a Whole Lot More Cans
No matter what your take is on the whole bottles vs. cans debate, canned craft beers have now entered the industry’s mainstream and are here to stay. And here are some reasons why.
Naming Disputes and Trademark Litigation Will Continue
With more craft breweries than ever before operating within the continental United States, naming disputes and craft beer litigation are only going to rise. The simple truth is that more breweries are producing more new beers than we ever dreamed possible – and virgin beer names are increasingly becoming a rare commodity. As a result, we will see more naming disputes this year and unfortunately more legal actions.
Sour Beer Sales Will Continue To Sweeten
Sours are currently America’s “It” beer and we expect that even more craft beer fans will discover and embrace them this year.
Even More Session Beers – Like it or not, this trend is showing little sign of slowing down – and as long as the public keeps drinking them – it won’t. Will lower octane beers eventually supplant those big West Coast IPAs? Frankly, we’d be surprised if that happened any time soon. But artfully crafted session beers (like this one) will continue to gain market share in 2015.
