Development trend of craft beer

In addition to the driving force of consumption upgrading, the popularity of craft beer also needs the help of young people. For all industries, seizing the young is seizing the future. This view also applies to the beer industry. Nowadays, young people's demand for personalization and diversification is higher and higher. At present, the main consumers of craft beer are post-80s and post-90s men, who have higher requirements for beer quality. In addition, people's health awareness is constantly enhanced, and the consumption demand of "drink less but drink well" is increasingly strong. A black beer lover believes that drinking craft beer represents a healthier lifestyle, which encourages people to pay attention to communication when drinking instead of just drinking a lot. In addition to more health, the net red property of craft beer has also attracted the attention of many young consumers. On the one hand, the new level of consumption, business people based on high-quality consumer demand, craft beer can be used as a label attribute goods. On the other hand, based on good-looking and delicious, craft beer can be used as a carrier of emotional expression and personality appeal of young people.

Data comparison between craft beer and industrial beer

The beer market will contract at an annual rate of 2%. By 2021, beer sales will be reduced by nearly 16 billion liters compared with 2009. Although the industry was generally not optimistic about this view at that time, at present, in the era of oligopoly with strong brands, it has become the consensus of the industry that beer production is difficult to recover. In the stock competition environment of gradually stable output and industry structure, the upgrading of beer product structure and profit demand has become the focus of industry development.

Throughout the entire beer industry, the giants are upgrading their products and laying out high-end products. This high-end is not only reflected in the price range, but also in the beer's alcohol content and original wort concentration. As a representative of the high-end category of beer, craft beer has been gradually favored by enterprises and consumers in recent years, and the overall market is rising at a compound growth rate of 40%.

It is inevitable that the market share of some industrial beer will be replaced by craft beer. Take the mature beer consumption of the United States as an example, the market share of craft beer has accounted for more than 20%. At present, this figure is only 3% - 5% in the global market, and there is great room for future development.

The difference between craft beer and industrial beer

1. Different liquor making materials

Craft Beer: generally only malt, hops, yeast and water are used for brewing. One of the definitions of modern craft beer in the United States, the birthplace of modern craft beer, is that at least one of the main products or more than 50% of the products sold do not use auxiliary materials for brewing. Even if accessories (such as spices, fruits, nuts, and maybe some rice and corn) are used, the purpose should be to increase a certain style rather than reduce the flavor of beer. In addition, the role of hops is often very important in craft beer, including spice flavor, flower flavor, rosin flavor, citrus flavor, herb flavor and so on. Brewers like to use hops to make craft beer achieve certain characteristics.

Industrial beer: often add accessories, the main accessories are corn, rice, etc., their cost is lower than malt, in scale production can effectively reduce production costs. However, with the addition of auxiliary materials, the flavor of beer will become lighter. Of course, beer close to water flavor will be more easily accepted by the public and the market will be wider.

2. The fermentation process is different

Craft Beer: yeast works at the top of the fermentation tank, floats above the liquor, and the fermentation temperature is generally controlled at 10-20 ℃. The fermentor is usually small, and there is no filtration and sterilization after fermentation.

Industrial beer: yeast works at the bottom of the fermentation tank, sinks under the liquor, and the fermentation temperature is generally controlled below 10 ℃. The fermentation tank is large. After fermentation, filtration and pasteurization are usually used to increase the shelf life of beer.

3. The fermentation time is different

Craft Beer: because we don't need to worry too much about the cost, we often don't pay special attention to the fermentation time and don't think too much about the time cost. The fermentation time of the most traditional craft beer can be as long as 2 months, so that the beer is fully fermented, the wort concentration is higher, and the flavor is more rich.

Industrial beer: for industrial beer, time is money, so the fermentation time of industrial beer is usually only about 7 days, so the fermentation is not particularly sufficient, resulting in low concentration of wort and lighter flavor.

4. Different output

Craft Beer: low yield, high quality, characteristic, rich taste, high and low concentration. From the perspective of equipment capacity, the fermentation tank for brewing fresh beer is usually 100L, 200l, 300L and 500L, which pursues high quality taste.

Industrial beer: the annual output of industrial beer is often more than ten times or dozens of times that of a Craft Brewery. For this super large-scale production, we must reduce our own taste requirements and achieve "Popularization". The lighter the taste, the easier it is to be accepted by most people.

5. Different styles

Craft Beer: it can be brewed in different styles, such as wheat beer, heavy black beer, amber beer and fruit beer. There are nearly 100 styles of craft beer in the world. These craft beers have strong aroma, high content of wort, thick and full taste, and high price.

Industrial beer: in order to unify the taste of the finished product, the brewing process and style of industrial beer are usually single, with the characteristics of light taste, more bubbles, low concentration of wort, less hops and low alcohol content, lower cost and lower price.

The choice of different brewing equipment is also different

Craft Beer: generally from 300L to 2000L, small output, belongs to small and refined equipment, but also according to the customer's site, specific brewing process to determine the model, size.

Industrial beer: generally large output, need to be installed on site