Change is brewing: Could the future of American craft beer be canned?
“It's definitely changed our business model,” says Matt Cronin, the founder and head brewer of Astro Lab Brewing in Silver Spring, Md., of the coronavirus closures that have rapidly pushed his company toward a new strategy.
Between 2010 and 2018, American craft beer sales doubled. But COVID-19 has brought many American breweries to their knees. The closing of taprooms and brewpubs across the country has meant an average decline of 65 percent in sales. Across America, small business owners have had to get creative to keep themselves afloat, and the brewing industry is no exception. Online sales and direct-to-consumer delivery have sustained these brewers, and some say they’d like to see these changes stick.
“We're going to be pushing for a broader rethinking of delivery and shipment as necessary,” Bob Pease, CEO and president of the Brewers Association, told Fox News a day after meeting with Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia.
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When Pease and Scalia met last week to discuss how his members are holding up, Pease said the conversation focused mostly on the "now." However, when it comes time to reopen, the Brewers Association is ready to stand behind state guilds and members as they fight to make coronavirus-prompted regulate easements a permanent fixture of the industry.
The most impactful alleviation has been direct-to-consumer delivery, with some states fast-tracking permit approvals and others releasing the requirement altogether. In an April survey of its members, the Brewers Association found that over 50 percent of members found that the most helpful policy changes centered around market access, meaning greater to-go, delivery and direct-to-consumer rights.
Eight states allowed the direct shipment of beer and wine pre-coronavirus: Delaware, Massachusetts, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Virginia. The remaining states only allowed direct wine shipments.
“We don't agree with that, because you know, we've seen how the wine industry has been able to do that for over 20 years, and they've achieved near-universal direct to consumer shipping rights around the country," Pease said.
Pease points out that most wines have higher alcohol content than most beers, and the lack of any crisis caused by coronavirus easements proves that whatever differentiation between wine and beer is negligible as far as shipping policies are concerned.
“If you want to keep these breweries in business, we need to find ways to get the beer to the beer drinker,” Pease said.
Cronin, of Astro Lab Brewing, has already predicted that the new online-ordering model will likely stay. His business partner, Emma Whelan, designed and launched their online ordering system overnight using a feature of their point-of-sale (POS) system. By taking all payments ahead of time, they created a completely touch-free pickup transaction and will begin processing orders for direct delivery on May 14.
"Certainly, having an online forum to buy and purchase beer has been, again, like something new for us, and I believe that will definitely stay and be part of our future,” Cronin forecasted.
Cronin admits that the pickups may involve more interaction once social distancing restrictions are lifted, but called the addition of the online platform "huge" for his brewery and insisted that any additional ways of getting product in his clients' hands helps — coronavirus crisis or not.
In Washington, D.C., the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board began permitting similar purchasing platforms in 2014. But according to Meth Gunasinghe, the lead brewer of 3 Stars Brewing Company, few took advantage of their new rights until COVID-19 closed down their taprooms.
Gunasinghe said that despite the limitation of delivering only within the District’s borders, their new system has been embraced by both regulars and newcomers. "We've seen a lot of support, especially once we started doing delivery, people [are] choosing to buy, you know, our beer instead of going to the grocery store and getting a six-pack of macro lager. So we're really lucky to be a part of this community and have a bunch of fans that are still supporting us.”
Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly, co-chairman of the House Small Brewers Caucus, told Fox News that "time is of the essence" to get reopening standards right, but setting those benchmarks is in the hands of the states.
“Small business people usually find a way to survive, when they're given a set of standards to actually comply with," Kelly said.
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Beer is a highly volatile product. Its freshness matters more than in other alcoholic beverages, and timing plays a key role in brewers' business models. It may seem obvious, but in order to ship or deliver beer, it must first be packaged. For many like Astro Lab and 3 Stars Brewing, the only solution has been to can everything.
“Nothing -- not a drop of beer -- is going into a keg anymore. It's just going straight into cans,” Cronin said. "This is kind of the way that we see it's going to be for the foreseeable future.”
“If you want to keep these breweries in business, we need to find ways to get the beer to the beer drinker,” Pease said, adding that companies like Wild Goose Filling that provide small canning lines, have seen an uptick in sales as brewpubs and taprooms attempt to transition away from draft pours. Wild Goose tells Fox that sales of 'the Gosling' their new, smaller scale canning machine have quadrupled expectations. "Most of our customers are seeing increased off-premise sales and plan to add more can options to their long-term sales strategy," said Alexis Foreman, co-founder of Wild Goose.
Astro Lab’s canning line arrived a month before coronavirus closures were announced. “If we didn't have this canning line, I think it would be a struggle to get to the end of this, to be honest,” claimed Cronin.
“That's the only format that we can still sell,” Gunasinghe explained of cans -- and bottles. Prior to the coronavirus, midsize brewers like 3 Stars mostly packaged beer in cans for distributing to grocers, liquor stores, bars and restaurants. But restaurants and bars have shuttered, and distributors are playing it safe, reducing the number of SKUs they carry, and keeping orders to "core" brands and beers.
Female Brewing Pioneers and Innovators Talk Gender Equality in Craft Brewing
MARCH 10, 2020
Ahead of International Women’s Day, and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, nine pioneering and innovative women in craft beer gathered at a media event in Manhattan Thursday, March 5. During the event, organized by the Brewers Association, publisher of CraftBeer.com, the brewery leaders talked about the beer community, mentoring, and the value of building strong relationships.
From Mari Kemper, who opened Thomas Kemper Brewing in Seattle with her husband in 1984 and now co-owns Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen in Bellingham, to Tamil Maldonado Vega, who launched Raices Brewing in Denver five months ago, nine women reflected on topics ranging from the need for gluten-free beer to the surprising number of women working in Mexico and Turkey’s craft brewing industries. That said, much of the session revolved around ways the women make their US-based businesses more inclusive to females and ways they recommend women get ahead in their careers.
“My advice is similar to what I tell men: Put your head down and hand up. You would be amazed at how quickly you can get promoted,” said Leah Cheston of Washington, D.C.’s Right Proper Brewing. “And be out there. Keep doing it. Be an example so that ‘women in beer’ is not a weird thing anymore.”
(Related: Discrimination Lawsuit Targets California Brewery’s Women’s Beer Forum)
“Build relationships with other women,” advises Maldonado Vega. “Be part of the craft beer community and be your best. Keep up with all the evolutions and patterns.”
And Julia Herz, BA Craft Beer Program Director, who moderated the event, added that women who want to get into the craft beer world might first teach themselves how to homebrew.
“Start brewing,” she said. “It gives you professional brewing experience in your own home.”
SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA, RUSSIAN RIVER BREWING CO-OWNER NATALIE CILURZO SPEAKING VIA RECORDED VIDEO. (BREWERS ASSOCIATION)
Speaking via recorded video because she caught a bug that kept her from flying in from Santa Rosa, California, Russian River Brewing co-owner Natalie Cilurzo said she makes herself available as a mentor to women just as she works to set an example for her employees.
“I consider mentoring to be very similar to how I run my company,” she said. “I want my employees to feel they can come to me.”
Karen Hertz of Golden, Colorado’s gluten-free Holidaily Brewing, said in addition to learning everything possible about the craft beer industry, styles, pairings, and more, “Have female leaders (at the brewery) willing to show people the ropes.”
“Look beyond just the industry,” adds Dogfish Head Craft Brewery co-founder Mariah Calagione. “We look to our vendors, our banks, all the people supporting our brewpubs, and make them understand we want them to value this and we’re looking at who they’re sending in.”
And Theresa McCulla, who’s curating the BA-supported Brewing History Initiative at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, takes care to include women in her collection and talk about them whenever possible. She rarely misses an opportunity to mention investors and workers Suzanne Stern Denison and Jane Zimmerman when she speaks about Sonoma, California’s long-shuttered New Albion Brewing as the first ground-up brewery built in America since after Prohibition. Founder Jack McAuliffe usually receives all of the credit for that endeavor.
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“Suzy had the van and brewed the beer herself when Jack wasn’t there. Two women funded the first craft brewery,” she told the audience.
And Virginia Morrison, of San Diego’s Second Chance Brewing, tells men that women can’t eradicate discrimination on their own.
“If you’re in a room and someone talks over a woman or takes over an idea, speak up. Speak up. We will be your best friends.”