Hugh Sisson is a local expert on boutique brews.
He and his family opened Maryland's first brewpub, Sisson's, in South Baltimore in 1989. Six years later, he started Clipper City Brewing on Hollins Ferry Road, almost in the shadow of an old Halethorpe brewery that, over the years, turned out National, Carling, Heileman and Stroh's beers. Today, it's one of many small craft breweries that have sprung up around the nation to satisfy a growing thirst for high-quality beer.
Sisson also serves as co-host along with Al Spoler of Cellar Notes, a weekly WYPR radio show that reviews wines. We asked him about trends and troubles in the beverage world. Craft beer sales increased 12 percent nationally last year while sales of so-called mainstream beers are almost flat. Why?
I think it is part of a long-term trend in many products, where people are trading away from quantity and going up in perceived value.
You definitely see it in the wine industry. The $20 bottle of wine is almost everyday juice. The average high-end craft beer six-packs are running anywhere from nine to 12 bucks.
I think it is also tied to an emphasis on responsible consumption of alcohol. Instead of having three martinis, you have one. But if you only have one, you want it to be something good. The same is true with beer, and with wine. Is this the result of the boomers getting older and drinking less?
That might be a part of it. But craft beers draw younger drinkers as well.
It used to be my rule of thumb that we, as craft brewers, would not attract customers until they were 25 or 26 years old and they could afford us. Now we are beginning to pick up people who are 21 and 22, who are still in college. They are more interested in experimenting and they are interested in trying local products. Part of it, too, may be that they are reacting to their father's Budweiser, they are choosing a beer different than the one their dads drank. Speaking of Budweiser, it and Miller Brewing have made forays into the craft beer market. Miller Lite is test-marketing three Lite craft beers, a wheat, a blonde ale, and amber, in Baltimore. Anheuser-Busch, makers of Budweiser, have a number of new "crafty" beers out in market as well. What do you think of this effort?
My suspicion is that it is not going to work. These companies clearly have the ability to make very good products. Anyone who is a professional brewer has to have an enormous respect for their consistency. They do what they do very well.
