MAKING THEIR MARK
Craft seal sets indy brewers apart from those bought by Big Beer
Many independent craft breweries around the country are taking craft beer back by adopting the Brewers Association’s independent craft brewer seal to show they have not been acquired by big beer makers, which have recently been buying smaller, independent breweries.
“We’ve definitely seen an effect in the marketplace, especially for access to market and availability of craft brewer brands,” said Julia Herz, program director Brewers Association. “Acquisitions of formerly independent brewers have happened in most concentration in the last few years, and the brands that are acquired do not have a change in their labeling to reflect the new parent company, so beer lovers often are not aware of who owns the brewery for the beer that they hold in their hand. … Anheuser-Busch InBev has purchased formally independent breweries, Molson Coors, Heineken, as well as Constellation. And in any of those brands we’re not seeing the parent company so we kind of flipped the script as a national association and as a voice for small and independent craft brewers, and we created the Independent Craft Brewer Seal. The upside-down beer bottle, which is a certified mark designating that any brewery using it is small and independently owned.”
According to the New Mexico Brewers Guild, 58 percent of New Mexico breweries have adopted the Brewers Association’s independent brewery seal. The Guild is encouraging the other 42 percent to get on board.
“The majority of states are at over 50 percent adoption,” Herz said. “If you average it out, more than 75 percent of the volume of craft brewed beer is now represented by breweries that have signed up to use the seal, and that’s very powerful in the fact that the seal is less than a year old. We launched it June 27, 2017.”
There is no fee to use the seal, but incorporating it into packaging can be expensive. However, breweries are posting signage at their locations, as well as posting the seal on their websites until they can incorporate it their labeling.
“A majority are not packaging breweries, but Bosque, La Cumbre, Santa Fe, Marble, it’s been a slow rollout, especially for brewers that are canning. They have to have their labels redesigned, and that’s $2,000 for each label before it can be integrated into packaging, so it is rolling out slowly,” New Mexico Brewers Guild Executive Director John Gozigian said of New Mexico breweries.
Gozigian said a lot of people are choosing to purchase products that they wrongly assume to be independently and locally produced.
“There’s 6,400-plus brewing locations in the United States,” Herz said.
He said the website craftbeer.com lists all the breweries and designates which are small and independent.
According to Herz, 98 percent of U.S. breweries are small and independent, and 98 percent of the breweries produce less than 13 percent of the beer share by volume.
“So there is a I think a bit of a skewed marketplace there where when 98 percent of the breweries have less than 13 percent by volume and the ability for them to compete is getting harder and harder,” she said. “They are having a slowing of growth. Up through 2016, independent growers had double-digit growth. And now we have our 2017 numbers out, and it was 5 percent growth by volume. … It ties back to that point of illusion of choice where we don’t want any one brewery to become a one-stop shop for beer. That is not a proper choice for the beer lover when you have amazing local, regional and national brands that you should be able and allowed to choose from.”