Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Beer News, Bella Vista, and Just How Big is Craft Beer?

BeerNews.org usually struts out exactly what the name implies, Beer. News. Day in and day out, Adam (and others? I do not know.) passes along all sorts of News: events; product releases; openings; press releases; comings and goings; etc.

Every once in a while, they dig in a bit deeper and create content like in this link back to an interview with Jordan Fetfatzes of Bella Vista Beer Distributors in Philadelphia.

Jordan offers up quite a bit on what it looks like from the beer importing/wholesaling/retailing distributor perspective in the metro Philly market.

One quote that I found interesting was the first attempt at quantifying "craft's" impact on the beer industry in the local market -- or at least the first time that I've heard one. Obviously we hear the stats and trends at the national level. For example, "craft" has grown to over 7.5% of beer sales based on dollars and nearly 5% based on volume.

But I've always wondered and have been asking more of late, "Those percentages must be higher in areas like Philadelphia, right? It stands to reason that my perspective could be skewed a bit since I drink the "craft" at home, hang around a lot of similarly-minded people who do likewise, and frequent establishments with "craft" in their close sights. Could Philadelphia's number be 15%...20%...even 25%?"

I've heard no one do anything but guess, but Fetfatzes pegs his own estimation based on first-hand experience at 12%-15% of dollars and 10%-12% of volume.

Does anyone have any other solid evidence to support or contradict this claim?

It's a good read, a bit long for some of you I'm sure, but one that you should be pleased with by the time you're finished.

No comments: