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.
I was in Charlotte, NC recently. I was there to attend the 42nd annual Applied Geography Conference. As is customary in my conference travels, I used any spare time I had to explore the local craft beer scene. This was my third visit to Charlotte, since 2012, so I actually was quite familiar with the growth of the city’s craft beer sector. During my last visit in 2016, I had visited three Charlotte breweries (Birdsong Brewing Company, The Unknown Brewing Company, and Heist Brewery) as part of a Charlotte Brews Cruise tour. Charlotte has also been one of my case study cities for my academic work on America’s burgeoning craft brewing industry. With my colleague Isabelle Nilsson of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, we examined the impact of craft breweries on property values. Our research showed that being within one-half mile of a craft brewery increased the value of single-family homes by 9.3%. In another piece we examined the role that craft breweries have played in the revitalization of Charlotte’s historic NoDa neighborhood.
NoDa is a fascinating neighborhood, with historical ties to North Carolina’s textile industry. Production of textiles began in North Charlotte (as NoDa was known then) in 1903 with the opening of Highland Park Mill No. 3. Two other mills were subsequently opened in the neighborhood- Mecklenburg Mill In 1905 and Johnson Mill In 1916. At that time, North Charlotte was geographically separated from the city of Charlotte, being located three miles north of the city.
In close proximity to the Highland Park and Mecklenburg mills were mill villages. These villages, constructed by mill owners, provided homes for the mill workers and their families. Mill villages had basic services such as a school and a church. At the nexus of the two mill villages was a commercial district, where services such as grocery stores, a barber’s shop, a drug store, etc. could be found.
By the mid-1960s, low-cost labor in developing economies in Asia and Latin America posed a serious threat to the American textile industry. Mills closed and employment dwindled. The impact of this overseas competition was felt in and around the Charlotte region, The Highland Park Mill No. 3 and the Mecklenburg Mill closed in 1969, while the Johnson Mill closed in 1975. The closing of the mills signaled tough times for North Charlotte. People left the neighborhood, seeking employment elsewhere and abandoned homes fell into a state of disrepair. Poverty, crime, low-income housing, drug houses and prostitution came to characterize the neighborhood.
The revitalization of the neighborhood began in the 1980s, when two artists, Paul Sires and Ruth Ava Lyons, opened the Center of the Earth Gallery on North Davidson Street. Other artists quickly followed, and North Charlotte became a small, but thriving, arts community. The neighborhood still faced challenges, however, and remained rough around the edges. The Great Recession of 2007-2009 was not good to the neighborhood , which was now known as NoDa. The neighborhood survived, however, and today is home to a diversified range of businesses, including cafes, restaurants, bakeries, yoga studios, and breweries.
The first brewery to call NoDa home was NoDa Brewing Company, which opened its doors in October 2011. Today, the neighborhood is home to ten breweries. While in Charlotte, I had the opportunity to visit four of them Birdsong Brewing Co., Heist Brewery, Protagonist, and Wooden Robot Brewery. Of the four, Heist has the strongest connection to the neighborhood’s historic textile industry. It is, in fact, located in the old Highland Park Mill. Inside the brewery, their is a framed description of the mill’s history.
Heist Brewery is located in the historic Highland Park MillThe history of Highland Park Mill is displayed in Heist Brewery
Visible from Heist Brewery are a number of the single-Storey homes once occupied by mill families. Some of these have been restored by local residents. The mill homes are protected by protective easements, a legal document signed by both the homeowner and Preservation North Carolina, which prevent homeowners from making changes that compromise the home’s historical integrity. As recently as 2015, NoDa’s refurbished mill homes were selling for anywhere between the high $200,000 and the mid $400,000.
An old mill worker’s home in Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood. This home is visible from Heist Brewery.
Charlotte has a vibrant craft beer scene. As is the case in many cities I have visited, craft beer has a habit of connecting the beer drinker with a community’s history. To a large extent, this is due to the fact that many craft breweries, in search of inexpensive real estate, occupy older abandoned buildings in historically interesting neighborhoods. Thanks to my wonderful hosts, Isabelle Nilsson and her husband Jeff, I had the opportunity to experience the NoDa neighborhood, complete with its wonderful craft breweries and fascinating history.
Further Reading:
Glass, Brent D. 1992. The Textile Industry in North Carolina: A History. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.
Reid, Neil and Isabelle Nilsson. From mill district to brewery district: Craft beer and the revitalization of Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood. Invited chapter for inclusion in Beer Places: The Micro-Geographies of Craft Beer, by Daina Cheyenne Harvey, Ellis Jones, and Nate Chapman (Eds).
It has been pretty well established that it is the Millenial cohort who are driving consumer demand for craft beer. According to Michael Dimock of the Pew Research Center, Millennials are those individuals born 1981 and 1996; making them between the ages of twenty-two and thirty-seven. We know quite a lot about Millennials. Thanks to market research firms, public opinion researchers, and fact tanks such as Nielsen, Gallup, and the Pew Research Center, we have a lot of data and information about Millennials as citizens, voters, and consumers. Research on Millennials often compares them to preceding generations – Generation X (born 1965-80), Baby Boomers (1946-64), and the Silent Generation (1928-1945). And what we have learnt is that each generation has unique values and perspectives.
Different generations defined. Source: Dimock 2018
One study that I read recently, was published by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). It was titled, How Millennials Are Changing the Face of Marketing Forever. The study report included a number of interesting graphics, including the one below (Exhibit 1). The graphic shows the relative importance that Millennials and non-Millennials attach to a number of different factors. These include patriotism, professional success, spirituality, and working out.
Source: Barton et al. 2014.
As I perused the findings of BCG’s research, I tried to identify connections between craft beer and Millennial values. Here is what I think I identified.
Status
BCG identify status as a value that is important to Millennials. A number of scholars have suggested that craft beer is a high status product. These include my good friend Tom Bell and his colleague James Baginski who, in a 2011 paper published in the Southeastern Geographer, refer to craft beer as a “high order prestige good”. Similarly, in a book chapter published in the same year, Victor and Carol Tremblay talk about the “prestige factor” of drinking craft beer. In a 2012 paper published in British Food Journal, Douglas Murray and Martin A. O’Neill, published in the British Food Journal, suggest that the craft beer drinker is “sophisticated” and “discerning”. The same observations have been made with regard to real ale drinkers in England, where Karl Spracklen, Jon Laurencic and Alex Kenyon, in a 2013 paper in Tourist Studies, note that drinking “real ale is seen as a marker of good taste and distinction”.
Millennials enjoying a beer at Basecamp Brewing Company in Portland, OR
Luxury
According to BCG, luxury is another characteristic valued by Millennials. Craft beer, I would argue, is a luxury product. More specifically, it is an affordable luxury. To the French-American author, Mireille Giuliano, luxury means ”premium quality and that doesn’t always equate to known brands or mascs marketing”. Speaking specifically about the Millenial cohort, Max Montgomery defines affordable luxury as “achieving quality, tailored to our taste, at a price we can afford.” Craft beer, it would seem, qualifies as an affordable luxury. Compared to mass produced beer, craft beer is relatively expensive. Of course, the price you pay for beer depends upon where you live. In 2017, the cost of a case of Bud Light or Miller Lite varied from $14.62 in Michigan to $21.98 in Pennsylvania. In comparison, the average cost of a case of craft beer, nationwide, in 2017 was $32 – that’s $1.33 a bottle – definitely what I’d call an affordable luxury.
Craft beer is an affordable luxury (Backcountry Brewing, Squamish, BC, Canada)
Excitement/Adventure/Travel/Fun
MiIlennials like excitement, adventure, travel, and fun. All four can be experienced in the consumption of craft beer. In 2013, A. J. Carpenter and his fellow students completed a term paper for their Marketing 6069 class (Buyer/Consumer Behavior) at University of Colorado, Denver. In it, they identified four types of craft beer drinker – novice, loyalist, enthusiast, and explorer. According to Carpenter et al’s study, Most craft beer drinkers are either enthusiasts or explorers. While there are some key differences between enthusiasts and explorers, one trait they have in common is their desire to try lots of different craft beers and to visit lots of different craft breweries. In other words, drinking craft beer is an exciting adventure; an adventure that takes the craft beer from tap room to tap room to taste the beer at its point of production. This idea that craft beer drinkers are excitement seeking adventurers is supported by the growing popularity of craft beer tourism. Annually, more than ten million Americans go on a brewery tour. Ale trails are increasingly common and help beer tourists strategically navigate a city or region’s craft breweries. The term ‘beercation’ has entered the lexicon of the craft beer drinker. Craft beer festivals (literally dozens of them occur every year across the United States) attract the craft beer aficionado and allows her to sample a wide variety of beers within the time frame of an afternoon, evening, or weekend. At the same time, the highly popular app Untappd enables the craft beer drinker to log the beers he consumes, while enjoying the fun of earning badges along the way.
Millennial beer tourists at Heist Brewery in Charlotte, NC
Charity
Brew Good Do Good is the motto of Black Cloister Brewing Company in Toledo, OH
With one of two exceptions, craft breweries are owned by people living in the community in which they are located. As a result, craft brewery owners tend to very committed to the well-being of their communities. To this end, they tend to be very supportive of local charities. The media is replete with specific examples of craft breweries giving to and/or supporting good causes. Brian Yaeger refers to craft brewers as “liquid philanthropists”. And craft breweries tend to be more generous in their charitable giving than the macro-Brewers. In 2014, craft breweries gave $3.25 for every barrel of beer brewed. In contrast, AB InBev, through its charitable organization, gave only $0.35 per barrel. As the motto of one of my local craft breweries in Toledo, OH (Black Cloister Brewing Company) proudly states – “Brew Good, Do Good”.
Change and Optimism
Change and optimism are Millennial values. Both are abundant in the craft brewing movement. Craft breweries are agents and representatives of change. From a handful of craft breweries in the mid-1980s, the number of craft breweries in the United States now exceeds six thousand. Craft breweries account for 12.7% of the American beer market by volume and 23.3% by dollar sales. These numbers represent change; dramatic change. But the change is not just found in the numbers. The change can be experienced with our eyes, our ears, our noses, and our taste buds. I experience it ever time I walk into the taproom of a craft brewery and see it filled with young people; men and women, enjoying a beer that has been carefully and lovingly crafted by the brewmaster. I hear it every time I listen to two or more people discussing the finer points of an IPA or debating which craft brewery is producing the most innovative brews. I smell and taste it when I lift that an IPA to my lips and I smell and then taste the aroma and bitterness of the hops. More than anything, I would submit that craft beer’s success happened because its early pioneers had optimism – an optimism that hinged on the belief that there were enough Americans out there who wanted better beer. It is an optimism that resurfaces every time a new craft brewery opens it doors.
Enjoying the taste of optimism at Mad Anthony Brewing Company in Fort Wayne, IN
There are a couple of values that appear in the upper left hand (non-Millennial) quadrant of Exhibit 1 that surprised me. Surprised me in the sense that I would have perhaps expect them to be values that resonated with a Millennials. Two in particular are authenticity and craftsmanship. Authenticity is a particularly slippery concept. And I really don’t want to get into any of the authenticity debates here. Suffice to say, that at the 2017 Craft Brewers Conference, Brewers Association Bob Pease identified the four pillars of the craft brewing movement – independence, spirit, community-mindedness, and yes, you’ve guessed it, authenticity. As for craftsmanship, one might have also expected that to be more important to Millennials, than indicated by the BCG study.
Every now and then, I come across a headline that raises the question as to whether we are reaching saturation point with respect to the number of craft breweries that we have in the United States. Very often, the question is asked with regard to a particular Continue reading How Many Breweries?→
My wife and I spent a few days in Charlotte, NC last week. I was there for the annual conference of the Mid-Continent Regional Science Association. And yes, I gave another talk about the American craft beer industry. This time the topic was the intra-urban clustering of craft breweries. This is work that I am doing with Isabelle Nilsson, a faculty member at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte and Matt Lehnert a doctoral student in the Spatially Integrated Social Science Program at The University of Toledo. Isabelle and I shared the presentation. I provided the background and context for our study while Isabelle presented our methodology, analysis, and findings.
Queen Charlotte
Charlotte was founded in 1768 and is named after Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III of Great Britain and Ireland. As a result it is known as The Queen City. Charlotte, like many cities in the United States, has a burgeoning craft brewing industry. According to the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce there are 28 craft breweries in the Charlotte region, with 16 of those being in the city of Charlotte proper. In addition to these establishments there are 11 new breweries slated for opening, 5 of which will be in the city.
During our first evening in town my wife and I went to our hotel bar for a drink. I asked the bartender what beers he had on draft. “It’s all local beers on draft” was his reply. I must admit I was surprised. The hotel – the Charlotte Sheraton – is part of a multinational chain. I had expected the draft selection to include at least a couple of macro-beers. So kudos to the hotel for supporting the local beer scene in this way. And when I say local I mean local. All of the half dozen draft beers were from breweries in Charlotte.
NoDa Brewing Company on North Tryon Street
Dinner came from The Improper Pig food truck
The next evening a group of us met up at the NoDa Brewing Company on North Tryon Street. The brewery is named after the NoDa, Charlotte’s historic arts and entertainment district. NoDa is short for North Davidson, the Main Street that traverses the district. The brewery on North Tryon is actually NoDa’s second brewery in Charlotte. The original (opened in 2011) is just over a mile away on North Davidson. The Tryon Street location opened in October 2015 and was built as demand for NoDa beer exceeded the capacity of the North Davidson Brewery. I was keen to try NoDa’s Hop, Drop, ‘n Roll, an American-style IPA, that had earned the brewery a gold medal at the 2014 World Beer Cup. Our hotel bar had it on draft but there is nothing like tasting a beer at the source. I was not disappointed. The NoDa brewery does not have a kitchen but a different food truck is there most evenings. When we visited The Improper Pig was on site with a variety
of BBQ offerings.
Zuri, our Charlotte Brews Cruise guide
My conference ended at lunchtime on the Saturday, leaving us with the afternoon free before heading back to Toledo the next day. We decided to fill the afternoon by going in the Charlotte Brews Cruise. The Brews Cruise is the brainchild of Mark and Trish Lyons and originated in Asheville, NC in 2006. Since then it has expanded to other cities – Charleston, NC, Denver, CO, Atlanta, GA, Nashville, TN, Chicago, IL, and of course Charlotte. The Charlotte Brews Cruise was established in 2013.
Our Brews Cruise tour guide, Zuri, pouring samples at Birdsong Brewery
For $49 per head you visit three Charlotte breweries. There are seven breweries that the Brews Cruise have a working relationship with so you could theoretically take a second cruise and visit three entirely different breweries. The three that we visited on our cruise were Birdsong Brewing Company, The Unknown Brewing Company, and Heist Brewery. The departure point for our cruise was the Heist Brewery. There we met the other six people who were going on the cruise with us as well as our cruise tour guide, Zuri. We all then jumped into a twelve-seater van and headed off to Birdsong. When we go there our tour guide, Zuri, took us to the production area of the brewery and provided us with a description of the brewing process. As he did so he weaved in information about the brewery and its founders, Chris and Tara Goulet. As Zuri was talking he had a pitcher on hand that contained one of Birdsong’s brews. Sample glasses were 4oz but the pitcher contained enough beer for second servings. At Birdsong we sampled four different brews.
Birdsong Brewing Co.
The Unknown Brewing Co.
Heist Brewery
Left to Right (above) – Birdsong, Unknown, and Heist Breweries
Our tour group at Heist Brewery
After Birdsong we went to The Unknown Brewing Company and, after that, Heist Brewery where we were again provided with generous samples while Zuri regaled us with stories of the breweries and their owners. The Brews Cruise was highly enjoyable. It was well-organized and informative – overall a great way to spend three to four hours on a Saturday afternoon.
