Craft beer, it not Glam Rock!

For a while now I've struggled in seeing what makes some of the craft beers seem so popular. Palate wise some of them are not always so great, they can be inconsistent, some have off flavours and with many being hop driven, one IPA merges into the next to form a multi-coloured ground hog day wallpaper of similarity. Coming from a background of building strong beer brands where consistency and quality are the cornerstone of the offer, craft beers can exude exactly the opposite.

Beer brands are of course being built in the craft market, just look at Punk IPA from Brewdog, its now the UK's largest IPA in the take home market, bigger than Greene King IPA or St Austell Proper Job, the latter of which is a fine beer, whilst the former is a fine brand, whatever you think of the beer.

So perhaps the attraction craft comes from elsewhere and its not just about the flavour of the beer? Locally brewed beers fit in the craft sector and this is an attraction in itself but not necessarily an asset that will grow a brand outside of its core area, there has to be more to it. So what else?

One of the major factors has to be the design of the can, label or clip. Can designs in particular can be really quite outlandish with colour ways that defy the norm and do just about everything you should not do to get a design noticed but there is no doubt, they work. There seems almost a backlash against what used to conform a good design that reflected tradition, heritage and quality. It now seems right to be different away from accepted normality.

An analogy would be a throw back to the 1970's when the first garish outfits of glam rock hit the TV screens of Top of the Pops which seemed so attractive to young people at the time. Here the garish can designs are now hitting the shelves attracting the young people of today. Glam rock was a fashion in music and clothes which came and went within a few years. Some established brewers would doubtless have felt the craft beer movement would do similar and go as quickly as it came just like Glam rock, but no, that's not the case, craft is here to stay.

1970's Glam rockers, The Sweet

I think the key measure is at what level craft stays. If anyone can predict the answer there are many brewers out there all eager to know. Business decisions made now by both established brewers and craft brewers alike will dictate where some of today's strongest players sit in 5 to 10 years time. All are trying to predict the future and there will be some big winners and even bigger losers. Its true, there are examples of fashions within the drinks market that come and go, for example the smooth flow beers of the late 1990's, although it seems unlikely craft will go the same way as smooth.

Craft will hit a ceiling for certain, just like smooth flow but its no Glam Rock its here to stay. It has shaken up the established market and attracted younger people away from the dreaded standard lager brands. People now appreciate not just the taste, but the design and provenance play an equally big part.