The nation's economic slowdown does not appear to be hurting beer sales. In fact, it might be helping them. America's craft brewers recently increased their prices by about $1 a six-pack, to compensate for the increased cost of hops and grain. Yet, despite the jump in prices, sales of craft beers rose.
In the last six months, prices of craft beers have gone up, said Casey Hard, general manager of Max's on Broadway, a Fells Point pub that serves 72 beers on draft, at $3.50 to $7 a glass. "People are price-conscious, but they aren't going to stop drinking better beer because it cost 50 cents more a draft. They may drink a little less, but they don't go back to the cheap stuff," he said.
Beer's high marks in the Gallup Poll came as no surprise to Barbara Insel, president of Stonebridge Research, a Napa, Calif., firm that studies trends in the consumption of wine and other alcoholic beverages.
Beer has become so popular with Americans because its marketers have positioned it as a premium product, a tactic that the wine and spirits industry took several years earlier, she said.
"It is called 'premiumization,' " Insel told me in a telephone conversation. "Beer companies are stressing small batches and better beers. They are following the consumer to the higher price points." Beers, wines and spirits at the high end and mid-price points of the scale are selling well, Insel said, while cheap beverages are not.
Beer also has cleaned up its image, Insel said, especially among young women. A few years ago, women in their 20s regarded beer and most beer commercials as "raunchy," Insel said. Beer was seen as something young men drank, but not women. Since then, beer commercials have toned down their testosterone content and the beverage has become "more socially acceptable" among young women, she said.
I asked her if the American wine industry was worried about the surge of interest in beer. She said not especially. The Gallup Poll measures popularity, not sales, and wine consumption in America has been growing for 14 consecutive years, she said. And while the wine industry always looks "to see who is chasing you," wine sales in America, she said, are growing faster than either sales of beer or spirits.
rob.kasper@baltsun.com
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