Tariffs have hit pretty hard here.B wrote:Plus, beer has gotten very expensive.
The expansion of craft beer was definitely a bubble but it really was a perfect storm 'season' to burst:
Seltzer (with big money backing) took a chunk but sure, that was cyclical though so we'll see plus breweries had the ability to join the product trend.
NonAlc took a very direct chunk (again big money, Athletic was primed from the get-go) but again breweries could join in on the trend just with a much bigger buy-in.
COVID forced just about every brewery to really examine their business model and adapt, expand or die. This is where the fact that many breweries were first-time business owners really exposed a fault.
RTDs hit the scene with huge players and is simply not an arena a brewery can join along without significant change.
GenZ indeed is not drinking or drinking much so the NonAlc dent is sticking hard along with a rash of weightloss drugs and health minded individuals.
The market consolidation hasn't really slowed so the bigger players are just getting bigger in view of the local brewery.
Before cyclical trends like seltzer, FMBs, CBD infusions (though THC additions are certainly an interesting development) were just that 'trends' that came and went with beer able to wait it out.
Certainly a wild ride and I do look back on my time in the industry relatively fondly.
