The rise and current landscape of the American Craft beer movement

Abstract

The craft beer industry today is more popular and successful than it has ever been and it's difficult to say where the admiration and obsession has been streaming from. Some may think that this industry just recently came into popularity; however, the craft beer industry has been thriving in the United States for quite some time. Some people associate craft beer with flannel shirt wearing hipsters with big beards and tattoos. In many cases, this is accurate, but those bearded brewers are now big business owners. It seems like there is a new brewery popping up in every town, and it has been a trend now for quite some time. Breweries have become a destination for beer obsessed people to the average person looking for a friendly meeting place. At any given time when visiting a brewery, you can see a baby in a stroller, a dog on a leash, or people riding their bikes. Breweries seem to bring communities together, as it is a local spot where everyone is welcome, a place they can be proud of, a place to bring their friends from out of town so they can get a sense of their community. Beer has alway been used as a buffer to lighten up the mood amongst friends and family but it's really best known for bonding strangers. Today beer has more of a local dynamic than ever before. The craft industry is small and in order to succeed, utilizing every connection and networking opportunity is crucial. Family becomes your taste testers, your friends become your advertisements, the local bars become your first sales, and the community you live in becomes your market. The U.S. craft beer industry has revolutionized the way Americans consume beer through neolocalism, by stimulating the social and economic benefits of a community in which they started and the larger market when they succeed.