Draft beer:
Why it’s time for a renaissance
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Over the past two decades draft beer has been old fashioned, stagnant, rebellious, cool, booming, oversaturated, and now, depreciating. After running the gauntlet from bust to boom and back again, could a rethink, and a rebrand, prime it for success?
Drinks trends, like fashion, are cyclical. And if fashion has taught us anything, it’s not to write anything off too soon. Yes, we know that bucket hats, shoulder pads, bleached tips, and cargo pants to name a few, really have no right to make a comeback. Yet they have. So, despite a brutal few years, is it now beer’s turn to reinvent itself and find a new audience?
We’re not saying beer has totally gone out of style – it’s a staple. But it’s also in decline. Rising costs and falling demand have driven many smaller ‘craft’ brewers into collapse; 100 closed in the 18 months to August 2023 according to the Observer. Global producers are not immune; Heineken recorded a 7.6% fall in the amount of beer sold across Europe and a 4.2% dip worldwide to October 2023. And the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) reports 124 million fewer beers were sold in pubs in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the year before.
And it's not just market conditions driving the decline. Since the white-hot momentum of the craft movement, beer has lost its way image wise too, failing to really identify who and what it stands for. Now that the term ‘craft’ has become obsolete, and the market overcrowded, the category is at a stalemate.
So, after craft beer, what’s next? How can beer update its appeal, especially when it comes to recruiting Gen Z?
Draft is the draw
Want freshness? Draft. Looking for experimental brews you’ll find nowhere else? Draft. Campaigns like CAMRA have long worked to cement the idea that cask is best – totally unique as it is to the on-trade, and ‘finished’ upon pouring – only later relenting to let keg into its remit too. Draft is an experience, but post-pandemic uncertainty has meant quality issues, and smaller ranges in pubs. While taprooms for all their industrial-chic, have become a bit samey.
Brands and brewers need to focus on the experience of draft, seeking it out, hyping limited launches, and creating more inclusive, more appealing taprooms that offer an experience in their own right. In short, draft serves needs a little excitement.
Target, don’t patronise
Gen Z like fun. They like a little 90s nostalgia. But they don’t like to be pandered to. The ‘punk’ image craft beer cultivated in the late noughties onwards doesn’t fit them. As well as a visual overhaul, liquids that seem new and justifiably for them, are needed.
Heard of gummy beers? US brewer Noon Whistle may be on to something with its dialled-up fruity style that recalls chewy sweet flavours, but in a grown-up way. It uses varying combinations of hops to give full fruit flavour, across a range of styles from lager, to IPAs. Squishy Gummy (with Citra, Mosaic & Simcoe for citrus, passion fruit and berry) and Paranormal Gummy Hazy IPA (El Dorado, Lemon Drop, and Vic Secret hops for pineapple, pear, watermelon, lemon, and citrus) are just two. Juicy. It’s s a shrewd way to bounce new drinkers through a range of styles.
Intrigue, don’t challenge
Craft often challenged consumers with the hoppiest, most bitter brews man could make. Full flavour was its mantra. The new wave of beer simply doesn’t need to do that. The opportunity with Gen Z is a blank slate, where subtle, approachable flavour-profiles, easy sippers, low calorie, low ABV, as well as experimental brews are all welcome. Brands that fit in with active, image-conscious lifestyles but still deliver on taste and an authentic beer experience will have cracked the code.
New sensations
That said, with more competition than ever thanks to RTDs, the pressure is on to deliver something unique. Could it be smoked beers? Unlike the previous full-noise iterations (think ash trays or burned bacon) are we due for a more subtle, culinary approach? Or wine-beers, such as Dogfish Head’s Mixed Media, brewed with grapes? Technological advances are widening the possible flavour profiles of beer. So, what would suit the zeitgeist best?
But still, do the classics well
That Guinness has revived its fortunes to become UK’s bestselling draft beer, accounting for one in every nine pints sold, tells us there’s demand for the ‘classics’ still. Having a focused specialism and doing it well, never goes out of style.