Category Archives: Craft Breweries

Craft Breweries, Economic Development, Small Towns

Brewing in Small Town America

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The United States is a very urban society. Approximately 83% of Americans live in urban areas, up from 64% in 1950. More than 300 urban areas in the U.S. have populations greater than 100,000. I live in one of them – the city of Toledo, OH has a population of ~271,000, while the Toledo Metropolitan Area has a population of ~641,000. The largest city in the country is New York City, with a population of ~8.4 million.

Not surprisingly, most of America’s craft breweries are to be found in urban areas. Some calculations that I did for a 2018 paper that I wrote estimated that 72% of America’s craft breweries are located in metropolitan areas with populations of at least 250,000, while 16.2% of America’s craft breweries are located in just ten metropolitan areas. Brewing beer, it appears, is a big city business.

But what about brewing in small-town and rural America? I recently started thinking about that question after a Zoom conversation I had with Nicki Werner, Co-Founder and Brewer at Jefferson Beer Supply, in Jefferson, SD. Jefferson Beer Supply is a brewery in planning; it is not open and operational yet; but should be by the summer of 2021. Nicki was preparing a presentation to be made to the city council and loan approval board. She had been following my blog for some months and was reaching out to see if I could help her craft some arguments about the beneficial impact of craft breweries on small towns. Jefferson does not have a craft brewery – hardly surprising given that it has a population of 622. However, the addition of a craft brewery to the Jefferson landscape will mirror what is happening in other small towns and rural communities across America. Between 2013 and 2018 the number of breweries located in places with a population under 2,500 grew by 129%.

Nicki Werner, co-founder of Jefferson Beer Supply in Jefferson, SD

Just as craft breweries can breathe new life into urban neighborhoods, they can do the same for smaller communities. In Valentine, NE (population 2,706) Bolo Beer Co. is contributing to a renewed sense of economic vitality. Other examples of craft breweries playing a similar role in their communities are Hand of Fate Brewing in Petersburg, IL (population 2,214) and Driftless Brewing Company in Soldier Grove, WI (population 541).

Rural communities face a number of socio-economic challenges. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, rural communities, compared to their urban counterparts, “have less internet access, fewer educational institutions, see more hospitals close and experience less economic growth.” In the past, many rural communities could depend on agriculture for their economic well-being. That is no longer the case, however. And it has been that way for some time. A 1999 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis noted that, “agriculture is no longer the anchor of the rural economy”. In many rural economies manufacturing is the dominant income generator . . . if policymakers want to help shape the economic future of all of rural America, they must engage a much broader range of issues and economic engines.”

Now I am not naive enough to think that craft breweries are the answer to the socio-economic challenges facing rural and small-town America. But having a successful craft brewery in town can surely do no harm. In the aforementioned Valentine, NE the Bolo Brewing Company has become a place for the community to gather – or what the urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg called a Third Place. Third Places play a critical role in human societies. There is research that suggests that Third Places can combat loneliness while also strengthening community cohesion. In research conducted with colleagues, the highly regarded British Anthropologist Robin Dunbar provides evidence which suggests that enjoying a beer with friends provides us with “the single most important buffer against mental and physical illness”.

While many craft breweries function as Third Places in America’s large urban areas, Jeff Alworth believes that their importance as community gathering places “may even be stronger in smaller communities. Little towns are often underserved with regard to cool places to hang out. When they open up shop, they provide much-needed social hubs . . . They’re not only a nice place to spend an evening, but serve as venues for events like meetings, weddings, and even children’s birthday parties.” Nicki Werner of Jefferson Beer Supply shared her brewery’s business plan with me. One of Nicki’s goals for her brewery is to create “a tasting room and experience that offers a family oriented gathering space for our community.” As the business plan notes, “there are no family oriented spaces in Jefferson and very little in the surrounding areas, which offer primarily dive bars with casino machines, no children’s menus, and focus primarily on one demographic.” A family-oriented craft brewery would be a tremendous asset to Jefferson, SD. In Valentine, NE local resident Whitney Mayhew describes the taproom of the Bolo Beer Company as a “community gathering place”.

Craft breweries can also attract tourists to a small town. Beer Tourism is “a thing” and is becoming more popular every year. According to the Brewers Association, in the United States, 1.6 percent of craft-beer drinkers take 10-plus trips annually to visit breweries more than two hours from their home. Attracting tourists is critical to the success of small-town breweries as it lessens their dependence upon local residents. I recently co-edited a book with two Italian colleagues that explored how craft beer tourism, wine tourism, and agritourism can make a positive contribution to the economies of geographically peripheral areas. Last year (about 6 weeks before Covid-19 resulted in lockdowns) I gave the keynote presentation at the Beer Marketing and Tourism Conference in St. Petersburg, FL. One of the things I highlighted in my presentation is that craft beer tourists have above average incomes and, as a result, have a fair amount of disposable income to spend. A challenge facing craft breweries in small towns is that they often exist in geographic isolation – in other words, they are the only brewery in town. This contrasts with larger cities where we see the emergence of brewery districts, providing beer tourists with the opportunity to visit three of four breweries, often on foot, within the space of an afternoon or evening. Craft breweries in small towns can utilize a number of strategies to overcome their geographic isolation. For example, they can collaborate with other breweries as part of an Ale Trail. This literally puts them on the map and they become one of the suggested stops for Ale Trail participants. An excellent example of an Ale Trail in is the Finger Lakes Beer Trail in New York State. The trail, which includes both larger cities and smaller towns, comprises over 75 craft breweries, tap houses and brewing-affiliated businesses across an area spanning over 200 miles.

Craft beer tourism can benefit geographically peripheral areas
Larger cities, such as Bakersfield, CA, often have brewery districts
The Finger Lakes Beer Trail in New York spans over 200 miles

Another strategy is to collaborate with other attractions in their region. Marketing a larger geographic region and its multiple attractions is a smart approach for smaller communities. Greenbriar Valley in West Virginia is an excellent example of a rural area that does an excellent job of promoting the area’s 80+ attractions, including Greenbriar Valley Brewing Company in the town of Lewisburg (population 3,897). If a small town is located in an agricultural region, it may be possible to develop a tourism industry around agritourism. The National Law Agricultural Center sees agritourism as the “crossroads of tourism and agriculture” and defines it as “a form of commercial enterprise that links agricultural production and/or processing with tourism in order to attract visitors onto a farm, ranch, or other agricultural business for the purposes of entertaining and/or educating the visitors and generating income for the farm, ranch, or business owner.“ Example of agritourism include pumpkin picking patches, U-Pick operations, demonstration farms, cut-your-own Christmas tree farms, and petting and feeding zoos. As craft breweries are utilizing agricultural crops (hops and barley primarily) it is hardly a stretch to include them within a region’s agritourism attractions. A brewery in a small town where opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, kayaking, and camping exist may want to utilize these assets in attracting beer tourists.

The arrival of a craft brewery in a small town can also be the catalyst for additional development. The opening of Hand of Fate Brewing in Petersburg, IL (population, 2,226) in May 2017 had a beneficial impact on the small community. According to one observer:

“After just a year, the small brewery has brought good fortune to the town. After taking over an old Dollar General discount store in the sparsely occupied town square, the brewery-and-taproom has become a community hub and a catalyst keeping businesses open later. It’s encouraged others—including two new boutiques—to open shop, and drawn visitors from across the region. “

Neil Gurnsey, Assistant Vice President of the National Bank of Petersburg, noted that after the brewery opened, “life was just injected into the square”.

Finally, because a brewery is in a small town does not mean that it has an inexperienced brewer and does not produce great beer. Nicki Werner, the Brewers at Jefferson Beer Supply, has a wealth of brewing experience. Prior to relocating to a Jefferson Nicki worked in the brewing industry for six years at three different breweries in three different states.  She learned to brew at Brenner Brewing, a midsized production brewery in Milwaukee, WI. After Brenner, she took a job brewing for Left Hand Brewing company in Longmont, CO. In 2019 she moved to South Dakota to be near family and worked as a brewer at Fernson Brewing Company (the state’s largest brewery) in Sioux Falls, SD. Nicki also received a scholarship from the Pink Boots Society and spent time in Bavaria, Germany visiting breweries and learning about brewing methods. Chris Hernstrom, brewer at the aforementioned Bolo Beer Co. in Valentine, NE, cut his teeth as a brewer in the craft beer mecca of Bend, OR, before moving to Nebraska. Yes, many small town brewers come with an impressive pedigree.

Further Reading:

Dunbar, Robin I. M., Jacques Launay, Rafael Wlodarski, Cole Robertson, Eiluned Pearce, James Carney, and Pádraig MacCarron. 2017. Functional Benefits of (Modest) Alcohol Consumption. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 3:118–133.

Pezzi, Maria Giulia, Alessandra Faggian, and Neil Reid (eds.). 2021. Agritourism, Wine Tourism, and Craft Beer Tourism: Local Responses to Peripherality Through Tourism Niches. New York: Routledge, 264pp.

Craft Breweries

2020 Year in Review

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So another year is about to draw to a close. And with that, it is time to look back on my brewery and taproom visits for the year. At the start of the year, I set myself a goal of 52 breweries/taprooms, an average of one per week. By the middle of March, I had visited 17 breweries and 5 taprooms, so I was well on course to meet my target. And then, as we all know, large parts of the United States started to go into lockdown mode in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. I was one of those individuals who took the threat of Covid-19 seriously, its appearance severely curtailed my brewery and taproom visits. Indeed, in the period since mid-March I have only visited 3 breweries and 1 taproom (all in my home state of Ohio). So, in total, I visited 20 breweries and 6 taprooms during 2020 – exactly half of my original target. This compares with 46 in 2017, 66 in 2018, and 63 in 2019.

Before providing more statistics on my 2020 visits, let me explain the difference between a brewery and a taproom. The difference is quite simple. A brewery is an establishment where beer is produced, whereas a taproom is an establishment owned by a brewery that sells but does not produce beer on-site.

Of the 20 breweries that I visited 5 were in Ohio and 15 were in the United States but outside of Ohio. All of my non-Ohio brewery visits were in California, Florida, Michigan, and Nebraska – states that I had the opportunity to visit before Covid-19 lockdowns were implemented. Of the 20 breweries, I had visited 4 before (all in the Toledo metropolitan area and indicated by italics in the list below). Of the 6 taprooms that I visited 4 were in San Diego, CA, 1 was in Omaha, NE, and 1 was in Hudson, OH.

Unfortunately, there are no international breweries or taprooms on this year’s list. For the first time since 2003 I did not venture outside of the United States. With several vaccines now available hope that I will be able to resume my travels and brewery/taproom visits during 2021. Due to the uncertainty that still exists with regard to the impact that Covid-19 will have on our activities during 2021 I will not set myself a target.

As is my tradition, I have provided one photograph from each of the breweries/taprooms that I visited during 2020. To me they capture the beauty and diversity of the world of craft beer. I hope that you enjoy them.

Ohio Breweries (5)

Non-Ohio US Breweries (15)

Ohio Brewery Taprooms (1)

Non-Ohio Brewery Taprooms (5)

Pizza Port, Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA
Green Bench Brewing Co., St. Petersburg, FL
Inside The Five Brewing Company, Sylvania, OH
Swamp Head Brewery, Gainesville, FL
Brickway Brewery & Distillery, Omaha, NE
Black Frog Brewery, Holland, OH
Cigar City Brewing Company, Tampa, FL
Salt Springs Brewery, Saline, MI
Blue Monkey Brewing Company, North Royalton, OH
First Magnitude Brewing Company, Gainesville, FL
Thorn Brewing, San Diego, CA
St. Pete Brewing Company, St. Petersburg, FL
Upstream Brewing Company, Omaha, NE
4KD Crick Brewery, Defiance, OH
Patron Saints Brewery, Toledo, OH
Ypsi Alehouse, Ypsilanti, MI
Cycle Brewing, St. Petersburg, FL
Coronado Brewing Company, San Diego Tasting Room, San Diego, CA
3 Daughters Brewing, St. Petersburg, FL
Coronado Brewpub, Coronado, CA
Iron Fist Brewing Co, San Diego, CA
Thunderhead Brewing Company, Omaha, NE
Mike Hess Brewing, Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA
Border X Brewing, San Diego, CA
Pure Project, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA
The Brew Kettle, Hudson, OH
Craft Breweries, Diversity

Diversity in Craft Beer – A Hot Cause in Need of Cool Mobilization

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One of the attractions of craft beer is its diversity – particularly the diversity of styles (the Brewers Association recognizes over 150 styles of beer), flavors (Black Cherry Porter anyone?), and strengths. Walk into any craft brewery and the chances are that your choice will include Brown Ale, Stout, Pilsner, Pale Ale, several different IPAs, and a host of other different styles, while the strength of the beer on offer may range from a sessionable 4.2% ABV to a more intimidating 12% ABV. No one can deny, that when it comes to offering the beer drinker diversity, craft beer is king.

A diverse selection of beers at Basecamp Brewing in Portland, OR

There is, however, another type of diversity that is sorely lacking in the craft brewing industry, and that is, what I term demographic diversity. When we look at any population, we can break it down along a number of different parameters – age, gender, race/ethnicity being three of the more important ones. If we look at the U.S. population, for example, 50.8% are female, 16.5% are 65 years of age or older, 18.5% are Latino or Hispanic, 13.4% are Black or African-American, and 13.5% are foreign born (I am part of that 13.5%). No matter how you look at it, America is a diverse place. According to the Population Reference Bureau, “the U.S. population is significantly more diverse racially and ethnically now than it was in 1900“. And as the 21st century progresses, America will become more diverse.

A 2019 survey by the Brewers Association showed, not surprisingly perhaps, that ownership and employment in the craft brewing industry is disproportionately White and Male. Starting with race/ethnicity, 88.4% of brewery owners are White. In contrast, Whites only comprise 76.3% of the U.S. population. Of the various racial/ethnic groups in the United States, the one that is most underrepresented in the craft brewing industry are Blacks or African Americans. Despite compromising 13.4% of the U.S. population, only 1% of craft brewery owners and 0.6% of production brewers are Black or African American. When you walk into a craft brewery taproom, it is unlikely that the bartender pouring your pint will be Black or African American – only 4.2% of non-managerial service staff are Black or African American. When an African-American bartender serves the newly released IPA, the chances are that the person he or she is serving is White – in 2018, 85.5% of craft beer drinkers were non-Hispanic Whites.

Only 4.2% of non-managerial service staff in American craft breweries are Black or African American
Black Frog Brewery – A Black-owned brewery in Holland, OH

With the recent widespread protests over racial injustice, the issue of demographic diversity within the craft beer industry has come to the fore. To their credit, the Brewers Association had already established a number of initiatives (prior to the events of 2020) to encourage, support, and facilitate diversity within the craft brewing industry. These include the establishment of a Diversity Committee, the appointment of a Diversity Ambassador, the creation of Diversity and Inclusion Event Grants Program, and a number of Diversity Best Practices resources. All of these initiatives and resources are extremely important and have the potential to make a difference. They are not enough, however.

As I ponder the issue of diversity within the craft brewing industry, I think that the ideas of Hayagreeva Rao are instructive. Rao (his friends call him Huggy) is a Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources at Stanford University. Rao is an expert in collective action within organizations and in markets. In 2009, Rao published a book titled Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations. Rao is primarily interested in how innovations (e.g., personal computers, hybrid cars, craft beer – yes he does devote a chapter to craft beer) become a market success. Many innovations, such as craft beer, challenge the status quo. Successfully challenging the status quo requires challenging and overcoming cultural values that are often deeply entrenched within society, or a sub-group thereof. The two keys to successfully challenging the status quo are what Rao calls hot causes and cool mobilizations. According to Rao, “hot causes mobilize passions and engender new beliefs, and cool mobilization triggers new behavior while allowing new beliefs to develop.” Hot causes “inspire feelings of pride or anger“. Take the craft beer revolution as an example (which Rao does in his aforementioned book) – the hot cause was dissatisfaction with mass produced beer, while the cool mobilization were the homebrew clubs and then brewpubs and microbreweries that were established as a response. Now let’s take these two ideas and apply them to the issue of diversity (or lack thereof) in the craft brewing industry.

The hot cause is quite apparent – there is a lack of diversity within the world of craft brewing. So how do we change that? To begin with, any successful challenge to the status quo requires activists; folks who feel passionate about the cause. In the beginning, these activists are often few in number. Therefore, they have to be able to grow the movement by inspiring others to join them. Identifying a hot cause, while necessary, is an insufficient condition for change, however. Change occurs when the hot cause leads to cool mobilization. Put simply, cool mobilization is when you actually take action to bring about the change that you desire to see. Cool mobilization, as Rao notes, “requires conscious participation—indeed, participants have to ‘fill out’ the experience through their actions and experimentation.”

So with respect to increasing diversity with craft brewing, what does cool mobilization look like, and who is going to undertake it? These are important questions. When it comes to increasing diversity with craft beer, no single person or entity is (nor should they be) charged with making it happen. As I said above, the initiatives and programs started by the Brewers Association are excellent, but are insufficient. Real change is going to be grass roots and bottom-up. “Be the Change You Wish to See in the World” is a phrase we sometimes hear invoked. Erroneously attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, this maxim does, I believe, provide clues as to the way forward. What is the change we want to see? It seems astonishingly simple – we want to see more Black-owned breweries, more Black brewers, more Black brewery staff, and more Black craft beer drinkers (have I missed anything)? Now this is a blog entry (not a doctoral dissertation), so I really do not have the space to address all of these in the detail that they deserve. But take something simple, like having more Black bar staff at a craft brewery taproom. It is incumbent upon brewery owners to make this happen – they, after all, are the ones making hiring decisions. This is where the Diversity Best Practices resources available from the Brewers Association can be tremendously helpful. They provide breweries with strategies, tactics, and benchmarks for creating a more diverse and inclusive brewery staff. For example, to enhance the diversity of an applicant pool, one tactic offered by the Brewers Association is to “strategically list advertisements in locations that will increase the size and variety of your labor pool”. When it comes to creating benchmarks, the BA suggests that brewery staff should “reflect the demographic diversity of the surrounding community”. It is clear, from reviewing the Best Practices resources on the Brewers Association website, that increasing diversity within the industry will not be easy; nor will it happen overnight. It will require effort on the part of breweries. It will require them to be strategic. It will require them to be intentional. Will enough breweries be willing to step-up and do what is necessary to change the status quo? The hot cause exists. Whether it is hot enough and/or whether the necessary cool mobilization will occur, only time will tell.

Further Reading:

Rao, Hayagreeva. 2009. Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ.

Craft Breweries, Health

Covid-19: Craft Breweries Responding to the Challenge

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Craft brewers and the breweries they represent have a reputation for creativity. As craft beer drinkers we see this manifest in the creation of new beer styles (or derivatives of existing styles) such as New England IPAs, West Coast IPAs, and Pastry Stouts. When it comes to creativity, craft breweries are facing a new challenge – that of selling their beer while the world is in the grips of the Covid19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. In attempts to mitigate the impact of the Covid19 (the so called “flattening the curve”) many Governors have ordered the closing of bars and restaurants for an indefinite period. This includes my own state of Ohio. In most cases, the restrictions do allow bars and restaurants to deliver food and drink to customers, as well as for curbside pick-up.

In some states home delivery and curbside pick-up of beer was, until Covid-19, illegal. Recognizing that craft breweries (and restaurants) need every bit of help they can get, many of these states have relaxed, albeit temporarily, these restrictions. In Tennessee, for example, craft breweries who have on-premise beer permits can request a temporary “on- and off-premise” permit that allows them to deliver beer to customers’ homes. The $250 permit application fee has been waived.

In Cincinnati, OH MadTree Brewing started sending what they called “adult ice cream trucks” into city neighborhoods. Instead of ice cream, however the trucks were selling Mad Tree beer and Catch-a-Fire pizza. After a couple days, however, MadTree suspended this initiative, as the trucks were attracting crowds that were “uncomfortably big”. In other words, social distancing, was being compromised. In Syracuse, NY, Now and Later Bottle Shop and Taproom had a similar idea, and are taking their delivery truck from neighborhood to neighborhood. Like MadTree in Cincinnati, Now and Later’s owner, Jason Purdy likens his beer delivery truck to an old fashioned ice cream truck. Other breweries, such as Stone Brewing in Escondido, CA and Karl Strauss Brewing Company in San Diego, CA are using couriers such as DoorDash to get beer to customers. In Memphis, TN, Matt Wilson, owner of three Swanky’s Taco Shops in metropolitan Memphis is going the extra mile to help craft breweries. Although his restaurants sell beers such as Budweiser, only locally brewed canned beer will be available for curbside pick-up.

In Ohio, the Ohio Craft Brewers Association (OCBA) maintain a list of breweries that are offer carry-out and delivery of beer. The list, available on the OCBA website, includes the hours the breweries are open for carry-out, whether they accept online orders, offer food for sale, and accept gift cards. At the time of writing 173 of OCBA’s operating brewery members are offering curbside pick-up. One Ohio brewery in particular is pulling out all the stops to encourage beer drinkers to utilize their curbside pick-up service. With store shelves empty of toilet paper, Black Frog Brewery of Holland, OH were offering a free roll of toilet paper with the purchase of a Howler or Growler of their beer.

Black Frog Brewery of Holland, OH were offering a free roll of toilet paper with the purchase of a Howler or Growler of their beer

States are also helping craft breweries by postponing sales tax collection. This will facilitate cash flow during this difficult period. Some private sector companies are also stepping in to help. Codi Manufacturing of Golden, CO are a mobile canning company. Realizing that some Colorado breweries have never canned their beer before, Codi offered their canning services for free. Breweries still have to pay for the cans, but not having to pay for use of the mobile canning system is a significant help. With taprooms closed, being able to offer their customers canned beer is critical to craft breweries. Closed taprooms, bars, and restaurants means that kegs have become almost obsolete (the exception is customers stopping by a brewery to get their growler refilled). As a result many breweries are scrambling to transfer kegged beers to cans. That can be a time-consuming process. For example, it took staff at Chicago’s Dovetail Brewery 13 hours to transfer (by hand) 50 kegs of beer into 5,000 sixteen ounce cans.

Despite all of these efforts, the slow down in business resulting from Covid-19, will have have an economic impact that is negative and significant. A survey by the Brewers Association paints a sobering picture. Ninety-five percent of craft brewers who responded to the survey expect year-over-year sales, for the first month of the closure period, to be down. On average, breweries expect a 59.5% drop in sales.

In the midst of these economic challenges, however, craft breweries have neither forgotten or abandoned their commitment to their local communities. As hand sanitizer is hoarded, and becomes a near-impossible product to find on the shelves of local retailers, many breweries (and distilleries) have stepped up and utilized their production capacity to produce this increasingly hard-to-get product. Craft breweries from New Orleans to Tampa Bay are producing hand sanitizer. And, in many cases, they are giving it away for free. Maumee Bay Brewing Company in my home city, Toledo, OH is one such brewery. Anyone can drop by the brewery and pick some up, for free. Last Thursday, I dropped by the brewery to pick-up some dinner and get a growler refill. While there, one of the brewery’s staff members offered a bottle of hand sanitizer to everyone in line. In addition to the general public, their ‘customers’ also include health care workers, many of whom are working with the disabled and elderly members of the northwest Ohio community. In Boulder, CO, Avery Brewing Company is giving away 4,000 cases of beer (96,000 beers) to workers at the frontline of fighting Covid-19 – healthcare, police, fire, grocery store workers etc. That craft breweries would step up and support their community at a time when they themselves are hurting may surprise some people; but to those of us who understand the industry realize that supporting their community is quite simply part of the industry’s DNA.

A bottle of hand sanitizer and a growler of Buckeye beer from Maumee Bay Brewing Company in Toledo, OH
Craft Breweries, Trends

Going Out Of Business

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Last September, one of the breweries in my town, Toledo, OH, closed. Black Cloister Brewing Company had opened its doors in March 2015. It was located in the heart of downtown Toledo, and was one of the many businesses contributing to the vibrancy of our city center. The announcement that it would close was sad news. In closing Black Cloister was not alone. While we do not yet have data for 2019, we do know that in 2018 a total of 213 breweries closed across the United States. Breweries, like other businesses, close for a variety of reasons. These include a poor location, cash flow problems, expanding too quickly and aggressively, etc.

Black Cloister Brewing Company in downtown Toledo closed in September 2019

To examine the closure of craft breweries from a national perspective, I used data available on the website of the Brewers Association. The data I examined was only for craft breweries producing 15,000 barrels of beer or less. So it did not include the so-called Regional Breweries that produce more than 15,000 barrels of beer annually.

As you can see from the first graph below (green bars), the number of breweries that closed increased each year between 2010 and 2018. In 2010, fifty-four breweries closed. In 2018, the number of breweries that closed was two hundred and thirteen. Indeed 2017 and 2018 seem to have been a bad year for breweries. In addition to the 2018 closures, one hundred and ninety-five breweries closed in 2017. These raw numbers suggest that, year after year, breweries are finding it tougher to stay open.

However, part of the reason why the number of breweries closing increased each year was because there were simply more breweries. So to asses whether breweries were finding it harder to survive, we really need to look at the number of breweries closing as a percentage of breweries that existed. For example, there were 1,525 breweries in the United States in 2009. In 2010, fifty-four breweries closed. The fifty-four breweries that closed in 2010 represent 3.5% of the breweries that were open in 2009. Looking at the second graph, it is clear that the year-to-year variation in the percentage of breweries that closed was very small. The percentage ranged from 2.4% in 2012 to 3.6% in 2017. These data show considerably less variability from year to year.

Another way to look at brewery closure rates is to compare them with similar businesses. This, of course, begs the question as to what is a “similar” business. Many craft breweries are, after all, part manufacturer, part bar/restaurant. A 2014 study of 81,000 full-service restaurants over a 20-year period by Tian Lou of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Philip B. Stark of the University of California, Berkeley showed that 17% closed within twelve months of opening. The same study found that the median lifespan of restaurants to be approximately 4.5 years. So it seems that craft breweries are faring quite well compared to full-service restaurants. Having said that, it is probably an unfair comparison. Full service restaurants are a mature industry, in contrast to craft breweries which are still in growth mode,

As a geographer, my interest lies in detecting the existence of any spatial patterns in brewery closures. Along with my colleagues Isabelle Nilsson of the University of North Carolina, Charlotte and Oleg Smirnov and Matt Lehnert of the University of Toledo, we examined craft brewery closures in Chicago, IL, Denver, CO, and Portland, OR between the years 2012 and 2016. One of the things we were interested in investigating was whether being geographically isolated versus being part of a cluster of breweries impacted the chances that a brewery would close. There is evidence from a number of different industries that being part of a cluster (a brewery district) is beneficial. To craft beer drinkers, geographic clustering of breweries inside a city is attractive because it makes it easier for them to brewery-hop, and visit several breweries within the space of an afternoon or an evening.

Our study showed that the brewery closures do not appear to occur where a concentration of breweries exist. Rather, they tended to occur in more residential areas, outside of downtowns. Closed breweries had an average of one other brewery within a one mile radius, while those that were still open as of 2016 had an average of 2.5 other breweries surrounding them. Of the breweries in our analysis that closed, 58% had no other breweries within a mile. Of the breweries that remained open, 26% had four or more breweries within a mile, while 9% had ten or more breweries within a mile.

Bakersfield, CA has an evolving brewery district. Source: Bakersfield.com

Whenever a craft brewery closes in a community, it is not unusual for a local newspaper to run a story that asks whether the local market has hit saturation point with respect to the number of craft breweries. Has the craft beer bubble bust is another commonly asked question. In fact, as I was thinking about writing this blog entry the Virginia-Pilot newspaper reported the closure of Coelacanth Brewery in Norfolk, VA. And the story’s headline read, asked the question – Is the craft beer bubble bursting?” It is a question that has been asked for several years now, in markets ranging from Cleveland, OH to Grand Rapids, MI. More often than not, however, the feeling is that in most markets there is still room for growth. In a piece in Crain’s Business Chicago, Dalton Baker wrote about craft brewery closures and declining craft beer sales in the city of Chicago, IL. Baker describes the Chicago craft beer market as mature, a characteristic that it shares with Denver, CO, San Diego, CA, and Seattle, WA. I think there is no doubt that certain markets are nearer saturation than others. On the other hand, there are places where the market is under-served by craft breweries. The city I live in, Toledo, OH is one of them. It has, I believe, significant room for growth.

In a recently published end-of-decade piece published in Forbes, Chris Funari asked a number of brewers to gaze into their crystal ball and share their thoughts on what the next ten years might bring for the craft segment of the brewing industry. Kim Jordan, Co-Founder of New Belgium Brewing believes that industry will experience a shakeout, which will result in a significant number of brewery closures. The net result will be a smaller population of breweries. Daniel Kenary, Co-Founder and CEO of Harpoon Brewery seems to agree. He believes that the recent growth is “unsustainable” and that “the fast money will try to leave as quickly as it entered” . Tom Wilkes, writing in Beer & Brewing, believes that the future may be brighter for breweries at opposite ends of the size spectrum – small breweries and very large breweries. The small ones can focus on the local market and develop a loyal customer basis from the surrounding community, while the very large brewers have the capital to engage in effective marketing and distribution. But those in the middle, who are “attempting to fight for that retail and grocery and tap handles” may find the future challenging.

Of course, as I sit here today the world is in the grip of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. Across the United States, Governors have ordered bars and restaurants to close temporarily as part of the efforts to minimize the spread of the virus and flatten the curve. With their taprooms closed, craft breweries are offering curbside pick-up and home delivery. The impact on sales is potentially devastating. For some breweries, that were already struggling, this represents the final nail in the coffin, and closure has already been announced. Depending upon how long restrictions associated with Covid-19 last, 2020 could be a record year for brewery closures.

Further Reading:

Nilsson, Isabelle, Oleg Smirnov, Neil Reid, and Matthew Lehnert. 2019. To cluster or not to cluster? Spatial determinants of closures in the American craft brewing industry. Papers in Regional Science, Volume 98, Issue No. 4, Pages 1759-1778.

Community, Craft Breweries

From Orwell To Oldenburg

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George Orwell is one of my favorite authors. I have read, several times each, every novel he wrote. I first became acquainted with Orwell in high school in Scotland, where we read his two classics, Animal Farm and 1984. Neither of those are my favorite Orwell novels, however – that honor belongs to his 1934 work Burmese Days. It was Orwell’s first novel, and tells the story of John Flory, a timber merchant, disillusioned with life in 1920s imperial Burma. Orwell had lived in Burma between 1922 and 1927, where he had served with the Indian Imperial Police; so he had first hand knowledge of life in that part of the world. In addition to Orwell’s novels, I have also read and enjoyed, all of his essays. Among my favorites are A Day in the Life of a Tramp (1929), Shooting an Elephant (1936), and The Moon Under the Water (1946). It is to this latter essay that I now turn.

Orwell’s Burmese Days

The Moon Under the Water is an imaginary London pub. It is a creation of Orwell’s imagination. It is, in fact, Orwell’s ideal pub. In actuality, Orwell’s ideal pub, comprises several distinct bars where drinks are available – a public bar, a saloon bar, a ladies’ bar, an upstairs dining room, and a bottle-and-jug – the latter serving “those who are too bashful to buy their supper beer publicly”.

In discussing his ideal pub, Orwell identifies ten qualities that it should have. These are:

  1. It is highly accessible. In the case of The Moon Under the Water, it was a two-minute walk from the nearest bus stop.
  2. Most of its patrons are ‘regulars’, who occupy the same chair every evening. Their motivation for going is to engage in conversation as much as it is to drink beer. In fact, the atmosphere of the pub is more important than the beer.
  3. The barmaids know the names of most of their customers, and take a personal interest in everyone. 
  4. The architecture and the internal decor of the bar are “uncompromisingly Victorian”, and includes a “good fire”.
  5. It is not too loud and so is always quiet enough to talk. There is no radio or piano.
  6. It sells tobacco, cigarettes, aspirins and stamps. If you need to use the pub’s phone they are good about letting you do so.
  7. It sells Draught Stout.
  8. They are careful to use the proper glassware. For example, a pint of beer would never be served in a handleless glass. They also have both pewter mugs and strawberry-pink China mugs. The latter were going out of fashion, and were rarely seen in London Pubs when Orwell was writing this essay.
  9. It has an outdoor garden with tables and chairs. The garden has swings and a chute (slide) for children. On summer evenings families gather in the garden. Orwell likes the garden because “it allows whole families to go there instead on Mum having to stay at home and mind the baby while Dad goes out alone”.
  10. Games, such as darts, are only played in the public bar.

Reading Orwell’s essay reminded me of the work of Ray Oldenburg, an urban sociologist at the University of West Florida. In 1989, Oldenburg published a book titled “The Great Good Place”. It was subtitled, “Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community”. It was within the pages of this book that Oldenburg introduced the concept of the Third Place. A Third Place is a strikingly simple concept. To Oldenburg, Third Places are “nothing more than informal public gathering places.” As Stuart M. Butler and Carmen Diaz tell us, they are places where people come to “exchange ideas, have a good time and build relationships.” They are, according to Michael Hickey, “the living room of society”. Third Places exist in contrast to First Places (home) and Second Places (work).

The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg

In The Great Good Place, Oldenburg devotes six chapters to specific types of Third Place – The German-American Lager Beer Gardens, Main Street, The English Pub, The French Café, The American Tavern, and Classic Coffeehouses. In three of these (German-American Beer Garden, English Pub, and American Tavern) beer is the staple product sold. Third Places, according to Oldenburg, have seven characteristics. These are:

  1. Third Places are neutral meeting places,
  2. Third places are inclusive and everyone is welcome; no one is excluded,
  3. Conversation is the main activity,
  4. Third Places have regulars; people who go there on a regular basis,
  5. Third Places are physically plain and have an unpretentious ambience,
  6. In Third Places, the mood is playful and wit is prized,
  7. Third Places are a home away from home.

In a later piece, Oldenburg describes some other characteristics of Third Places. For example, “they work best when within walking distance of the people they serve.” Reading Orwell’s description of his ideal pub and Oldenburg’s descriptions of Third Places, I can’t help but feel that they are describing very similar places. Both are places where community gather. Both are frequented by regular customers. Both are easily accessible to their clientele; they are either walkable from home (in the case of Third Places) of are within a few minutes walk of a bus stop (in the case of Orwell’s ideal pub). In both places, conversation is one of the main activities that occurs. In Orwell’s ideal pub, the opportunity to engage in conversation is, to some patrons, more important than the beer. In Orwell’s ideal pub proper glassware is used – as it would in the taproom of a reputable craft brewery.  Many Victorian pubs also had a “bottle-and-jug”, where patrons could purchase beer to take home. This is not unlike the concept of walking into a craft brewery with a growler and asking the bartender to fill it with your favorite IPA or Brown Ale, which you then take with you for home consumption. A wide variety of venues in a community can function as Third Places, including libraries, coffee shops, churches, and craft breweries. Indeed, as I have argued before, many modern-day craft breweries deliberately position themselves as Third Places within their communities; places where neighbors, friends, and family can come together and enjoy the company of one another.

There is one important aspect of Orwell’s ideal pub that may seem inconsistent with the philosophy of modern-day craft breweries. And that is the fact that it had a number of distinctive and separate drinking areas. As noted by Geoff Brandwood in his essay “The vanishing faces of the traditional pub’, the English pub (that Orwell would have been familiar with) was a “multi-room establishment and one which involves a hierarchy of rooms.” At the bottom of this hierarchy was the public bar, which Brandwood describes as a“predominantly male preserve”. Drinks in the public bar were cheaper than in other parts of the pub. Brandwood suggests the cheaper drinks acted as as “an effective financial incentive towards keeping customers in their appropriate place.” It was “where the working class were expected to congregate and drink.” Other rooms included the ‘lounge bar’, where drinks were more expensive and the customers middle class. Females, accompanied by males, patronized the lounge bar. As noted by Brandwood, “financial (and social) segregation was an entrenched feature of pub-going until well after the Second World War.” The ‘snug’, a small private drinking room, was another feature of English pubs in the Victorian era. Orwell’s ideal pub, however, did have a beer garden – and it was here where families (father, mother, and children) could be together. Given the English climate, the beer garden would have been very much a summer phenomenon.

The separation of drinkers based on characteristics such as sex or class was antithetical to the ideas of Oldenburg, whose Third Places welcomes everyone. Segregation is not a feature of Oldenburg’s Third Places. And modern-day craft breweries see themselves as more inclusive than typical bars. Walk into any craft brewery today and do not be surprised to see young children there, with their parents. Dogs are also an increasingly common piece of the craft brewery landscape. Craft breweries consciously promote themselves as a community space where everyone, regardless of socio-economic status, are welcome.

Children and/or dogs welcome at (left to right) Swamp Head Brewery (Gainesville, FL), Birdsong Brewing (Charlotte, NC), and Tannery Bend Beerworks (Napa, CA)

Orwell’s ideal pub and the modern day American craft brewery are separated by ~70 years and thousands of miles. As such, however, they provide us with a timely reminder that the fundamental human desire to gather and enjoy each other’s company transcends both time and space.

Further Reading:

Brandwood, Geoff. 2006. The vanishing faces of the traditional pub. The Journal of the Brewery History Society, Summer, Number 123, pp. 110-128.

Oldenburg, Ray. 1989. The Great Good Place. De Capo Press: Cambridge, MA.

Oldenburg, Ray. 1996-97. Our vanishing “third places”. Planning Commissioners Journal, Number 25, pp. 6-10.

Orwell, George. 1946. The moon under the water. Evening Standard, February 9.

Craft Breweries

2019 Year In Review

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As has been my tradition for the last couple of years, my final blog entry for the year reviews my brewery visits during the previous 12 months. This year I visited a total of 63 different breweries. That is an average of one brewery every 5.79 days. Overall, I visited three less breweries in 2019 than I did in 2018. Of the 63 breweries, 14 were in my home state of Ohio, 46 were in other parts of the United States (excluding Ohio), while three were outside of the United States. In addition to Ohio, I visited breweries in 10 different states – California, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Of the 63 breweries I visited, I had been to 15 before (indicated in italics in the lists below). Late in the year, I did manage to visit some breweries outside of the United States. A late-November trip to the Netherlands afforded me the opportunity to visit three breweries in Amsterdam, two of which I had been to before. The most breweries I visited in one day was six – when I participated in The Napa Beer Mile in Napa, CA in February. The city where I visited the most breweries was Charlotte, NC. During a trip there in October I visited nine breweries. At the start of 2019, I set myself a target of visiting 52 different breweries during the year. I easily hit that target. I will set myself an identical target for 2020.

Below you will find a list of all the craft breweries that I visited during 2019. Following this list, you will find one photograph from each of the places that I visited. I hope that you enjoy these. They are intended to capture the beauty and diversity of craft beer and the places that brew and sell it.

Ohio Breweries (14)

US Non-Ohio Breweries (46)

Non-US Breweries (3)

Downtown Joe’s Brewery & Restaurant, Napa, CA
Bierfabriek, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
St. Elmo Brewing Company, Austin, TX
Round Barn & Brewery Public House, Baroda, MI
Catawba Island Brewing Company, Port Clinton, OH
Lazarus Brewing Co., Austin, TX
Pilot Brewing Company, Charlotte, NC
Goodwood Brewing Co., Louisville, KY
Inside the Five Brewing Company, Sylvania, OH
Pavlov’s Brewing Company, Temperance, MI
Earnest Brew Works, Toledo, OH
Black Narrows Brewing Company, Chincoteague Island, VA
Carillon Brewing Co., Dayton, OH
Birdsong Brewing Company, Charlotte, NC
Oddwood Ales, Austin, TX
Tannery Bend Beerworks, Napa, CA
Wooden Robot Brewery – The Chamber, Charlotte, NC
Sonder Brewing, Mason, OH
Against the Grain Brewery, Louisville, KY
Working Draft Beer Company, Madison, WI
Springfield Manor Brewery, Thurmont, MD
Resident Culture Brewing, Charlotte, NC
Fifty West Brewing Company, Cincinnati, OH
Brouwerij de Prael, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Southern Tier Brewery, Pittsburgh, PA
Neon Groundhog Brewery, Grand Rapids, OH
Live Oak Brewing Company, Austin, TX
Corner Brewery, Ypsilanti, MI
Protagonist, Charlotte, NC
South Bend Brew Werks, South Bend, IN e
Atwater Brewery, Detroit, MI
RAR Brewing, Cambridge, MD
Draught House Pub & Brewery, Austin, TX
Brewers at 4001 Yancey, Charlotte, NC
Ghost Isle Brewery, New Buffalo, MI
Der Bekeerde Suster, Amsterdam. The Netherlands
Hillsboro Brewing Company, Hillsboro, WI
Austin Beer Garden Brewing Company, Austin, TX
Findlay Brewing Company, Findlay, OH
Two Bandits Brewing Co., Hicksville, OH
Stone Brewing, Napa, CA
Patron Saints Brewery, Toledo, OH
St. Clair Winery & Brewery, Napa, CA
Pinthouse Pizza, Austin, TX
Bluegrass Brewing Company, Louisville, KY
Heist Brewery, Charlotte, NC
Hops & Grain Brewing, Austin, TX
Beer Church Brewing Co., New Buffalo, MI
Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co., Madison, WI
Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, Charlotte, NC
Anchor Brewing Company, San Francisco, CA
Bait House Brewery, Sandusky, OH
4KD Crick Brewery, Defiance, OH
Napa Palisades Brewing, Napa, CA
Grainworks Brewing Company, West Chester Township, OH
Railroad City. Brewing Company, Altoona, PA
Tapistry Brewing Company, Bridgman, MI
Legion Brewing, Charlotte, NC
Dented Keg Brewing Company, Mars, PA
Maumee Bay Brewing Company, Toledo, OH
Haymarket Brewing, Bridgman, MI
Trade Brewing, Napa, CA

Craft Breweries, Technology

Craft Brewing And Industry 4.0

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In my last blog entry I wrote about a recent trip I made to Budapest, Hungary. I was there attending the annual conference of the International Geographic Union Commission on the Dynamics of Economic Spaces. The theme of the conference was Rethinking Economic Geography in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Manufacturing, Entrepreneurship, Employment and Industry 4.0. My presentation at the conference was about the applicability of Industry 4.0 methods to the craft brewing industry.

So what is Industry 4.0? Put in historical context Industry 4.0 is referred to, by many, as the fourth industrial revolution (see diagram below). It is in fact, a “general term for networked, digitized production; machines and products are seen as networked and intelligent components that can exchange data locally, globally and among companies.” The different parts of an Industry 4.0 manufacturing system include the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, artificial intelligence, automation of processes with robots, 3D printing, and artificial intelligence (AI). For example, the Internet of Things (whereby machines connect and communicate with each other) permits manufacturers to use sensors that collect real time data on manufacturing processes. These data, in conjunction with powerful analytical techniques, can provide manufacturers with insights into inefficiencies in their manufacturing processes. Acting upon these data and analysis allows manufacturers to realize increased levels of productivity. In short an Industry 4.0 factory is a smart factory.

The four stages of the evolution of manufacturing
Source: Machines4u.com

While concepts such as the Internet of Things and big data might seem a million miles away from making craft beer, there are, in fact, several examples of breweries utilizing Industry 4.0 technologies. These include New Belgium Brewing who have production breweries in Fort Collins,Co and Asheville, NC. A major problem that New Belgium faced was unscheduled downtime on their bottling line. This meant that the brewery was not bottling as much beer as it could. To address the problem, New Belgium utilized what is known as a Manufacturing Execution System (MES). An MES is a computerized system which allows manufacturers to “track and document the transformation of raw materials to finished goods. MES provides information that helps manufacturing decision makers understand how current conditions on the plant floor can be optimized to improve production output.” The MES allowed New Belgium to identify the sources and number of downtime events. They were then able to take steps to remedy them. Downtime fell by 50%, and there was a significant increase in bottling efficiency. As a result, the number of cases of beer being produced per week increased from ~150,000 to ~200,000. All of this was achieved without any new capital investments.

While New Belgium is a relatively large craft brewer (the 4th largest in the United States), Industry 4.0 methods have been utilized by smaller craft breweries. Take Sugar Creek Brewing Company of Charlotte, NC. Opened in 2014, Sugar Creek specialize in Belgian-style ales. Annually, the brewery produces ~5,000 barrels of beer. When Sugar Creek realized that they were losing $30,000 a month due to excessive foaming they knew something had to be done. Excessive foam in bottles coming off the bottling line was a particular problem. Somewhere between 10% and 13% of a batch of beer was being wasted. The brewery turned to IBM and Bosch for help. Sensors were installed on the production line and the generated data were analyzed. The analysis showed that the excessive foam was created as a result of imbalances in pressure and temperature as the beer went from tank to tank on the bottling line. Armed with this new knowledge, Sugar Creek were able to make adjustments that solved the problem and reduced waste. An added bonus was more controlled and precise fermentations which resulted in better flavored beer. A short video explaining how Sugar Creek benefitted from Industry 4.0 technologies can be viewed here.

Sugar Creek Brewing Company of Charlotte, NC have utilized Industry 4.0 technologies

The two examples above clearly demonstrate the benefits of Industry 4.0 to the craft brewing industry. In addition to New Belgium and Sugar Creek, there are other craft breweries that are using Industry 4.0 technologies. These include Deschutes Brewery of Bend, OR and Tröegs Brewing of Hershey, PA. In reality though, I wonder about how many craft brewers are in a position to take advantage of Industry 4.0 technologies. Most craft brewers are quite small. Many, for example, do not have their own bottling or canning equipment, and so utilize the services of mobile canning companies. As one observer noted, “the use of sensors throughout the premises would seem appropriate in larger facilities. Smaller microbreweries would specifically struggle with the adoption of this advancement, due to height of cost. Smaller locations might not possess the space large enough to see any success either.“ While Industry 4.0 technologies may not become widespread in the craft brewing industry, those breweries that are able to utilize them are likely to realize unforeseen and unprecedented improvements in efficiency and productivity.

Community, Craft Breweries, Economic Development, History

Where Community Convenes

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Last month I was in Altoona, PA. I was there at the invitation of the Altoona Blair County Development Corporation (ABCDC), who had asked me to give the keynote address at their Annual Meeting. ABCDC’s President and CEO, Steve McKnight, had read my blog entry, Craft Breweries as Third Places, and wanted me to share my perspective on the topic to the broader Altoona-Blair County community. I drove to Altoona from my home in Toledo, covering the 328 miles in a little over five hours. Shortly after checking into my hotel I met up with Steve who gave me a tour of downtown Altoona, with a focus on the redevelopment initiatives that are under way there.

Promotional material for ABCDC’s Annual Meeting

Altoona has a population of just over forty-four thousand people. Like many cities in that part of the country it has lost population over the years. It’s population, in fact peaked in 1930, at just over eighty-two thousand. It is what is known as a shrinking city. Like many shrinking cities, Altoona is grappling with the challenge of how to stem, perhaps even reverse, decades of population decline. Third Places may be one piece of Altoona’s revitalization jigsaw.

Altoona’s population has been declining since 1930

Altoona owes its existence to the Pennsylvania Railroad. The community that would eventually become Altoona started out, in 1849, as a staging area for the construction of the rail line. Such was the importance of the railroad that in 1925, fourteen thousand of the area’s seventeen thousand industrial workers were employed by The Pennsylvania Railroad.

Like many American cities, Altoona has a proud brewing history. Also, like many American cities that history follows a familiar pattern. At various periods prior to Prohibition. Altoona was home to nine breweries. Two of those – the Oswald Brewing Company and the Altoona Brewing Company – survived Prohibition. But as with many smaller breweries they did not survive the post-Prohibition era, when economies of scale became the keys to success and smaller breweries were either bought by larger competitors or simply closed down. The Oswald Brewing Company closed in 1935 and the Altoona Brewing Company closed in 1974. Some of the beer produced by the Altoona Brewing Company included Altoona Bock,  Horseshoe Curve Porter,  Altoona Pilsener Beer,  Altoona 36 Beer, American Maid Ale, and Pops Brau Beer.

Today, Altoona is home to two breweries – Railroad City Brewing Company and Marzoni’s Brick Oven and Brewery. The Railroad City Brewing Company, of course, is a nod to the important part played by the railroad in Altoona’s social and economic history. I love it when a brewery pays homage to some aspect of its local community, be it a historical figure, local landmark, or industrial heritage.

Railroad City Brewing Company is contributing to the revitalization of downtown Altoona, PA

After a walk around downtown Steve and I dropped into Railroad Brewing Company, where we met up with some of ABCDC’s staff, as well as brewery owner Matt Winrick. The brewery opened in 2016 and is a key part of the revitalization that is happening on Altoona’s 11th Street. Along with the recently opened coffee shop across the street, The Clay Cup, Railroad Brewing Company has become a vibrant local gathering spot (aka Third Place) in the heart of the city.

Community gathering spots, otherwise known as Third Places, were the focus of my presentation the next morning at the annual meeting of ABCDC. I have written about Third Places in a previous blog entry. It is a simple concept really. According to Ray Oldenburg, who coined the term, a Third Place is nothing more than an informal public gathering place. They are places outside of the home (first places) and work (second places) where we gather with friends, work colleagues, family members etc. According to Stuart Butler and Carmen Diaz, they are places where we “exchange ideas, have a good time, and build relationships“. Michael Hickey refers to Third Places as “the Living Room of society“. Despite the simplicity of the concept Third Places play a key role in creating social capital and a sense of community. A wide variety of venues in a community can function as Third Places, including libraries, coffee shops, and churches. Indeed, the subtitle of Oldenburg’s classic work on the topic, The Great Good Place, “cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, hair salons and other great hangouts at the heart of a community”, hint at the diversity of venues that can serve as Third Places. And, while not on the radar when Oldenburg was formulating his ideas, craft breweries are emerging as vital Third Places in communities all across America. Oldenburg was fearful that Third Places were becoming less popular, and that America was experiencing a decline in what is termed its associational life. The same fear was echoed by Harvard’s Robert Putnam in his classic work Bowling Alone.

Ray Oldenburg’s, “The Great Good Place”
Railroad City Brewing is emerging as a gathering spot for locals in downtown Altoona.

ABCDC’s Annual Meeting was held at the Blair County Convention Center. There were approximately 250 people in attendance. A copy of my presentation is available here. During my talk I presented some statistics from the Social Capital Project that highlighted the decline of associational life in America:

  • Between 1974 and 2016, the percent of adults who said they spend a social evening at least several times a week fell from 30% to 19%,
  • Between the mid-1970s and 2012, the average amount of time Americans (25-54) spend with coworkers outside the workplace fell from 2.5 hours to just under one hour per week
  • Between 1972 and 2016, the share of adults who thought most people could be trusted declined from 46% to 31%

Third Places, including craft breweries, can play a critical role in reigniting our bonds with friends, neighbors, co-workers, and even family members. Towards the end of my presentation I presented some challenges to those in the room. With respect to Altoona, I asked:

• Where are your existing Third Places?
• Are you utilizing these to their full potential?
• If not, why not? How can they be better utilized?
• Where are your potential (as yet unused) Third Places?
• Why aren’t these being utilized?
• What needs to happen for the community to utilize them?

While Third Places can emerge organically (e.g. a neighborhood bar), I believe that it behooves a community to think strategically about the concept – hence the questions I posed above. Although I was in Altoona for less than twenty-four hours, I got the sense that the city is thinking strategically about Third Places and the role that they might play in the city’s revitalization. When I visit a city like Altoona, I often wonder what it will be like two, three, or five years down the road. Altoona is close enough to Toledo that I may just make a return visit to take a look.

Bars, Craft Breweries, Neighborhoods

Craft Breweries – A Neighborhood Amenity?

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Along with my colleague, Isabelle Nilsson of the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, I recently published a study that examined the impact of craft breweries on property values in the city of Charlotte, NC. In the study we looked a properties sold between 2002 and 2017 . To summarize our findings, we discovered that the opening of a craft brewery in Charlotte resulted in a 9.8 percent increase in the value of single-family homes and a 3.2 percent increase in the value of condominiums. Interestingly, the opening of a craft brewery had no impact on the value of commercial properties. Charlotte is a fast growing city with a vibrant craft brewing scene – twenty-one craft breweries opened in the city between March 2009 and October 2016.

Our study in the journal Growth and Change analyzed the relationship between craft breweries and property vales in Charlotte, NC

Our explanation for our findings is relatively straightforward. A craft brewery is, for many people, a neighborhood amenity. Imagine it is a warm June evening, and you decide that you would like to pop out for a couple of pints of craft beer. What could be better than being able to walk to the neighborhood craft brewery and doing just that. In a previous blog entry, I suggested that many craft breweries are emerging as a new type of Third Place on the American landscape – community gathering spots where people can go and enjoy a beer and relax, while engaging in conversation with other patrons. Being within walking distance of such places is clearly desirable. Indeed, this is a topic that I am going to talk about next month at the annual meeting of the Altoona Blair County Development Corporation.

I will be talking about craft breweries as Third Places at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Altoona Blair County Development Corporation

But it’s not just proximity to a craft brewery that raises property values. Previous studies have shown that being near a Whole Foods, a Trader Joe’s, or a Starbucks also results in higher home’s values. It seems clear that people appreciate being able to walk to a nearby craft brewery, coffee shop, or grocery store. Indeed, a recent study by the American Planning Association found that fifty-six percent of Millennials prefer to live in walkable communities. And, as market research has clearly demonstrated, Millennials are the demographic cohort primarily responsible for the growth of craft beer. Walkability seems to valued by large swathes of American society. The same study found that forty-six percent of active Baby Boomers also prefer to live in walkable neighborhoods.

Heist Brewery, one of the breweries contributing to increased property values in Charlotte, NC

This semester I am teaching a graduate course in The Geography of Beer and Brewing at the University of Toledo. Students enrolled in the class have to write a term paper. One of the students is writing her paper on the topic of craft breweries and walkability. Walkability is a simple concept really – how friendly is a neighborhood to those who wish to walk to bars, restaurants, grocery stores etc? The walkability score of my neighborhood is 56 (that’s out of a maximum of 100). This makes it “somewhat walkable”, meaning that some of my errands can be accomplished on foot. You can calculate the walkability of your neighborhood by typing in your home address here. The website Walkscore.com identifies a number of factors that determines a neighborhood’s walkability. These include schools and places of employment being within walking distance for most residents, streets being designed with bicyclists, pedestrians, and public transportation in mind, and the provision of plentiful of public spaces where residents can gather and relax. Bekka, my student is focusing on craft breweries in San Diego, CA and is examining the extent to which they are located in walkable neighborhoods. As I write this, she is still in the middle of analyzing the data that she has gathered. I am curious as to what her findings will show.

Just as living near a craft brewery (or a Whole Foods or a Starbucks) may enhance the value of your home, so does living in a walkable neighborhood more generally. The real estate brokerage company Redfin analyzed the impact of walkability on home prices across fourteen major metropolitan areas in the United States. They found that, on average, increasing the Walk Score by just a single point results in a 0.9% increase in home prices.

A potential concern of living near an establishment where alcohol is served is that it could potentially result in more crime in the neighborhood. And there are some studies that have shown higher crime rates in the immediate neighborhoods surrounding bars. This may not be the case when it comes to craft breweries, however. In a previous post guest-blogger Julie Wartell provided data from Portland, OR which suggested that crime rates are lower in the immediate environs (within fifty feet) of a craft brewery than in the immediate environs of a regular bar. The explanation as to why this might be the case are unclear. However, it may have something to do with both the attitude of both the craft beer drinker and the craft breweries that sell their beer in their on-site taprooms. According to Kris Spaulding of Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids, MI, craft beer is “more about enjoying the craft than getting drunk”. As Fritz Hahn, a writer for the Washington Post, stated, “I’d rather drink beer longer, not get drunk faster”. Brewery Vivant also has a four-drink maximum for its patrons. I am not aware of any scientific studies comparing the drinking preferences and habits of craft beer versus non-craft beer drinkers, but my gut feeling is that the observation of Kris Spaulding is not far off the mark.

Later this year, Isabelle and I (in collaboration with another colleague) hope to expand our analysis of craft breweries and property values to include more cities. At the moment we do not know how many cities we will include in our expanded analysis, or what those cities will be. But I expect that we will include cities in different parts of the country, cities of different sizes, and cities on different socio-economic trajectories (e.g., shrinking versus growing cities). By doing so, we will be able to draw conclusions that are more generalizable. Watch this space!

Further Reading:

Nilsson, Isabelle and Neil Reid. 2019. The value of a craft brewery: On the relationship between craft breweries and property values. Growth and Change, https://doi.org/10.1111/grow.12292