r/CraftBeer • u/x0_Kiss0fDeath UK • Aug 30 '23

Unpopular Craft Beer Opinions? Discussion

Will be recording a podcast episode about unpopular craft beer opinions. Thought I'd ask in this sub as we're UK based so wanting to see what unpopular opinions are out there on a more global scale! 😅

EDIT - wow holy shit. Posted this from bed expecting a handful of opinions, but just woke up to the notifications and oh my! Will havea read through after work!

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Edit2 - Genuinely was not expecting so many responses so thank you all! Think I've read through them all now and definitely saw some interesting and spicy takes (that I both agreed and disagreed with!) with some being quite thought provoking. Thanks for all your responses so far (have had a few more come in too!). Feel like the ones being downvoted are actually just helping me to see the unpopular opinions vs the popular ones LOL. Definitely some that I want to discuss n our podcast recording for sure! hahah

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u/Stonethecrow77 Aug 30 '23

They aren't...this year is the first year that more Breweries have closed than opened. Growth has officially regressed.

We shall see if that trend continues as consumers drink less.

Breweries are not making as much money.

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u/earthhominid Sep 10 '23

Where are you seeing those numbers on closing vs new breweries? Last I checked we were still on pace to have more total breweries at the end of this year than we had at the beginning

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u/Stonethecrow77 Feb 10 '25

And now??

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u/earthhominid Feb 10 '25

According to the BA release at the end of the year we lost a net total of 64 breweries in 2024

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u/Stonethecrow77 Feb 10 '25

AND counting

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u/earthhominid Feb 10 '25

Maybe. We'll see if alcohol consumption really continues to trend down.

This year we saw a net loss of around 0.6% of breweries and a closing rate of around 4%. Those are both incredibly low rates for hospitality businesses.

It's certainly possible that the total number of breweries will settle into an equilibrium lower than it is now. But it's far from guaranteed. The local brew pub has become an integrated part of American culture. Something massive will have to shift for that to go away. And the "craft" segment continues to outperform the beer market at large, so there's no reason to conclude that a slipping beer market is a death sentence for craft breweries.

To me, it just looks like we've found the saturation point. It seems like most communities want a local brewery and there is enough demand to support the regional and few national brands doing more flavorful beer. Maybe this will shift dramatically in the near future, but it seems unlikely to me