Am I Killing Craft Beer?

Am I killing Craft Beer? Maybe. Maybe you are too. After my last trip to the beer store, I realized something. I realized that my buying habits can’t be good for the Craft Beer industry. As much as I love certain breweries, especially local ones, I have zero brand loyalty. Whether or not I like a beer doesn’t matter, I rarely buy the same brew twice. Because of that, I think I may be killing Craft Beer.

Ok, I know… I’m not going to single handedly put the dagger into the heart of the Craft Brew world. I do know however, that I am not the only one who purchases beer this way. If I see a new beer on the shelf sitting next to a beer that I know is tried and true, I’m more likely to pick up the new one. That’s got to be hard on the breweries. They spend a lot of time and money on perfecting their recipes and designing the perfect packaging. They want and need us to buy their beer!

It cost a lot of money to get those cans and labels designed. With all the breweries popping up all over the country, they have to invest in it. I’m not an expert in business or marketing, but shopping habits like mine have got to be hard on them. To make a brewery profitable, they have to sell beer, and don’t get me wrong, I want their beer. I just might not drink it more than once a year. Zero brand loyalty, but I’m not sure that’s my fault.

We have too many choices. There may be too many breweries. Every week, I see beer from a brewery I’ve never heard of. Well, despite what score RateBeer or Beer Advocate may give it, I’m going to try it. I’m going to try it probably only once. I know that a lot of people feel the same way, because breweries are starting to combat this. Stone may be one of the best at solving this problem.

Every other month, Stone releases a new Enjoy By IPA. I know, it’s probably the same beer every time, but I buy it. I purchase it because it’s a new check-in on Untappd. They also release new beers from their Stochasticity Project every few months. They have to stay new and exciting to get us to buy their beer. They can do that, they have the financial power to package and distribute new beers every other week. Unfortunately, the majority of Craft Breweries can’t afford to do that. Sam Adams, Lagunitas and Sierra Nevada are a few other breweries that release tons of new beer every year. They’ve got to do something to stay relevant. Again though, most breweries can’t do that.

New breweries are born every day, but we can’t support all of them. As much as I want to, and as much as I try to share info on all of them via my social media pages, I just can’t afford to buy beer from ALL of them. If we’re not buying their beer, they can’t make profit. If they don’t make profit, well, they cease to be.

So maybe it’s my buying style. Maybe it’s because the market is a little over saturated. Or maybe it’s because I only buy new beer. Whatever the reason is, I think I may be killing Craft Beer.