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Stone Brewing’s recent announcement that they’d be building an international production brewery and an expansive destination restaurant in Berlin sent shockwaves throughout the craft beer industry over the weekend. Many of us expected that something like this would eventually happen – but the fact that this is happening now, that a major American craft brewery will actually be bringing its vision and its brand to Europe in 2015 – feels game-changing in every way.
And here’s the kicker – Stone’s announcement is just the first of what will eventually become many, because American craft beer is on fire and fast becoming a global movement.
Case in point – we just received a press release from Green Flash Brewing announcing what they call an “unprecedented new partnership” with the Belgian-based brewery St-Feuillien that will allow them to brew, bottle, and ship the San Diego craft brewery’s flagship beer, West Coast IPA, throughout Europe.
Mike and Lisa Hinkley, co-founders of San Diego-based Green Flash Brewing, explained their decision to enter into an ongoing, cross-continental brewing alliance this way:
We’ve been pursuing European distribution of West Coast IPA for some time, however the obvious challenges in delivering fresh IPA to the region have been a huge roadblock,” says Mike Hinkley. “After testing various export scenarios on a small scale, it became apparent that the quality of our IPA when transported to Europe was not ideal and cost-prohibitive for consumers. We were not satisfied with the customer experience and felt we had to come up with a better solution.”
Last year, I turned to our friends at St-Feuillien and proposed that we work together in our efforts to get fresh West Coast IPA to market in Europe” Hinkley continues. “I am proud that Green Flash is the first US brewery to both brew and deliver locally crafted, fresh American IPA to the European consumer. Working with our friends at St-Feuillien is the most logical and efficient way for Green Flash to introduce high-quality and affordable West Coast IPA in the market.”
Last month, Green Flash Brew Master Chuck Silva returned from one of many trips to Belgium over the past year. Chuck has been working closely with St-Feuillien’s Brewmaster Alexis Briol to brew West Coast IPA, ensuring that the brand’s most popular beer will be consistent on both continents. The recipe for Green Flash West Coast IPA in Belgium is promised to be as close to the US version as possible. All the ingredients will remain the same. The only difference is that the West Coast IPA produced in Belgium will be bottle-conditioned to protect beer quality in areas of Europe where unrefrigerated conditions may be unavoidable.
Two different American breweries – with two different approaches to how they’re entering the European marketplace – but for both, the timing couldn’t be better.
According to the Brewer’s Association, American craft beer exports have spiked over a one-year period by an astounding 46% (from 56,204 barrels in 2012 to 82,058 barrels 2013), a huge jump compared to the previous year when exports to Europe grew by a mere 5.6%. That trend is expected to continue, and we’re going to see more and more American craft brewers getting into the European game very soon.
Stone and Green Flashing Brewing’s decisions to bring their brands to Europe are just the beginnings of American craft beer’s emergence on the world’s stage – and we only see this thing going one way.
So fasten your seat belts everybody – because American craft beer is now crossing borders and going places some of us never dreamed of -and we don’t see that stopping anytime soon.
