Category Archives: Craft Breweries

Going Out Of Business

March 25, 2020 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

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.

From Orwell To Oldenburg

February 25, 2020 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

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.

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:

It is highly accessible. In the case of The Moon Under the Water, it was a two-minute walk from the nearest bus stop.
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.
The barmaids know the names of most of their customers, and take a personal interest in everyone.
The architecture and the internal decor of the bar are “uncompromisingly Victorian”, and includes a “good fire”.
It is not too loud and so is always quiet enough to talk. There is no radio or piano.
It sells tobacco, cigarettes, aspirins and stamps. If you need to use the pub’s phone they are good about letting you do so.
It sells Draught Stout.
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.
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”.
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).

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:

Third Places are neutral meeting places,
Third places are inclusive and everyone is welcome; no one is excluded,
Conversation is the main activity,
Third Places have regulars; people who go there on a regular basis,
Third Places are physically plain and have an unpretentious ambience,
In Third Places, the mood is playful and wit is prized,
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

December 31, 2019 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

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)

4KD Crick Brewery, Defiance, OH
Bait House Brewery, Sandusky, OH
Carillon Brewing Co., Dayton, OH
Catawba Island Brewing Company, Port Clinton, OH
Earnest Brew Works, Toledo, OH
Fifty West Brewing Company, Cincinnati, OH
Findlay Brewing Company, Findlay, OH
Grainworks Brewing Company, West Chester Township, OH
Inside The Five Brewing Company, Sylvania, OH
Maumee Bay Brewing Company, Toledo, OH
Neon Groundhog Brewery, Grand Rapids, OH
Patron Saints Brewery, Toledo, OH
Sonder Brewing, Mason, OH
Two Bandits Brewing Co., Hicksville, OH

US Non-Ohio Breweries (46)

Against the Grain Brewery, Louisville, KY
Anchor Brewing Company, San Francisco, CA
Antietam Brewery, Hagerstown, MD
Atwater Brewery, Detroit, MI
Austin Beer Garden Brewing Company, Austin, TX
Beer Church Brewing Co., New Buffalo, MI
Birdsong Brewing Company, Charlotte, NC
Black Narrows Brewing Company, Chincoteague Island, VA
Bluegrass Brewing Company, Louisville. KY
Brewers at 4001 Yancey, Charlotte, NC
Corner Brewery, Ypsilanti, MI
Dented Keg Brewing Company, Mars, PA
Downtown Joe’s Brewery & Restaurant, Napa, CA
Draught House Pub & Brewery, Austin, TX
Ghost Isle Brewery, New Buffalo, MI
Goodwood Brewing Co., Louisville, KY
Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co., Madison, WI
Haymarket Brewing, Bridgman, MI
Heist Brewery, Charlotte, NC
Hillsboro Brewing Company, Hillsboro, WI
Hops & Grain Brewing, Austin, TX
Lazarus Brewing Co., Austin, TX
Legion Brewing, Charlotte, NC
Live Oak Brewing Company, Austin, TX
Napa Palisades Beer Company, Napa, CA
Oddwood Ales, Austin, TX
Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, Charlotte, NC
Pavlov’s Brewing Company, Temperance, MI
Pilot Brewing Company, Charlotte, NC
Pinthouse Pizza, Austin, TX
Protagonist, Charlotte, NC
Railroad City Brewing Company, Altoona, PA
RAR Brewing, Cambridge, MD
Resident Culture Brewing, Charlotte, NC
Round Barn Brewery & Public House, Baroda, MI
South Bend Brew Werks, South Bend, IN
Southern Tier Brewery, Pittsburgh PA
Springfield Manor Brewery, Thurmont, MD
St. Clair Brown Winery & Brewery, Napa, CA
St. Elmo Brewing Company, Austin, TX
Stone Brewing, Napa, CA
Tannery Bend Beerworks, Napa, CA
Tapistry Brewing Company, Bridgman, MI
Trade Brewing, Napa, CA
Wooden Robot Brewery – The Chamber, Charlotte, NC
Working Draft Beer Company, Madison, WI

Non-US Breweries (3)

Bierfabriek, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
De Bekeerde Suster, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Brouwerij de Prael, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Downtown Joe’s Brewery & Restaurant, Napa, CA

Round Barn & Brewery Public House, Baroda, MI

Catawba Island Brewing Company, Port Clinton, OH

Inside the Five Brewing Company, Sylvania, OH

Pavlov’s Brewing Company, Temperance, MI

Black Narrows Brewing Company, Chincoteague Island, VA

Wooden Robot Brewery – The Chamber, Charlotte, NC

Against the Grain Brewery, Louisville, KY

*Fifty West Brewing Company, Cincinnati, OH*

Brouwerij de Prael, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Neon Groundhog Brewery, Grand Rapids, OH

Der Bekeerde Suster, Amsterdam. The Netherlands

Hillsboro Brewing Company, Hillsboro, WI

Austin Beer Garden Brewing Company, Austin, TX

Bluegrass Brewing Company, Louisville, KY

Beer Church Brewing Co., New Buffalo, MI

Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co., Madison, WI

Anchor Brewing Company, San Francisco, CA

Grainworks Brewing Company, West Chester Township, OH

Railroad City. Brewing Company, Altoona, PA

Craft Breweries, Technology

Craft Brewing And Industry 4.0

October 22, 2019 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

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

June 20, 2019 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

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.

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?

April 21, 2019 The Beer Professor 4 Comments

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!

Craft Breweries Are Good

April 7, 2019 The Beer Professor 1 Comment

Craft Breweries are Good

Good for what you ask? I would say multiple reasons and will outline those in just a moment.

First, I thought I’d give some background on my varied perspective on this topic. Assuming I had four feet, one foot is in the academic world as faculty at a major university (go Tritons!), one foot is in the real world as a crime analyst (not like CSI, think social science), one foot is in the craft beer world as the owner of a brewery mapping company (quick plug for PubQuest), and my last foot is in the crime world (not doing it, studying it!). Accordingly, I read a lot about breweries (and crime) in addition to supporting local, independent breweries wherever I travel (which is often!) as well as speak with many “beer people” on a regular basis.

OK, on to why I (and many others) think breweries are good.

Economics. Of all the scholarly literature (and a good amount of mainstream media), the economic benefits – both actual dollars and economic development are the topics most discussed (including several articles by the Beer Professor). These range from academic articles (e.g. Craft Breweries and Economic Development: Local Geographies of Beer and The value of a craft brewery: On the relationship between craft breweries and property values) to statewide studies such as Maryland Craft Beer: A World Without Limits; from mainstream media publications (e.g. Breweries are the mark of a thriving community and Craft beer’s big impact on small towns and forgotten neighborhoods) to tourism (Beer Tourists: Who are they? as well as see graphic below for the economic impact of this year’s Pliny the Younger release in the two cities in which Russian River Brewing has locations). And there are many more of these types of articles and reports from around the country!

The economic impact of the release of Pliny the Younger

When you think of Main Street, what comes to mind? Thriving downtowns or used-to-be-but-now-highly-vacant-or-rundown? Breweries have helped convert the latter types of downtowns in small towns and big cities across the country. There are currently almost 500 brewery locations in the U.S. with a street address of “Main” with another dozen in planning. That doesn’t count all of the breweries that have moved into city and town centers that are on a different street name (someone needs to figure out how to capture this!).

2. Community. I recently presented alongside one of the owners of Border X Brewing, a wonderful San Diego brewery (also just opened in Bell, CA – find that one on a map!), and he related their experience with moving into one of the more historically depressed neighborhoods. When someone asked him about gentrification, he explained how they made extra effort to work with the existing businesses and neighbors, the last thing they wanted was to displace locals. The photo below captures the tasting room at Border X where all the artwork is done by local artists and is of local people and places.

The Tasting Room of Border X Brewing in San Diego, CA

The example above is one of many that reveal craft breweries’ commitment to their communities. Whether it’s in the local newspaper, a beer blog or a social media post, there is a constant stream of discussion around efforts that are being made by breweries to welcome families, neighbors and strangers from afar into the brewery space. Many of the breweries work closely with local non-profits, sponsor runs or yoga and create an atmosphere that says “come hang out here, we are integral to this community.” The graphic below, from the website of Hops & Grain Brewery in Austin, TX, speaks to this very issue.

Community involvement is important for Hops & Grain Brewery in Austin, TX

3. Not Crime Generators. There are numerous studies available on the topic of crime and bars as well as the relationship between alcohol and crime, but there are no peer-reviewed studies about crime and breweries as a unique type of “bar.” A few years ago, I did a small study in Portland (OR), nationally known for their craft beer. While this hasn’t been published, the preliminary analysis reveals that breweries have a much lower level of police calls for service (a more accurate measure than typical crime stats due to calls for noise, litter, disturbances and the like that often are not included in official crime stats). Breweries (without liquor) had on average 1.7 calls within 50 feet of the location for the year, whereas bars (with liquor) had on average of 5.5 calls. A graphic below provides another way to look at these stats.

Craft Breweries, not selling liquor, had the lowest number of police calls than other establishments serving alcohol

Why do breweries generate less crime/police calls? There are a number of hypotheses about this including: clientele demographics; cost of craft beer; closing time (often before midnight); owners caring about the neighborhood (see above); family-friendly (who wants to get drunk with a bunch of babies?!); and no liquor. We definitely need more research on this topic (that means visiting breweries, right?), and I am working on that with several colleagues.

What are breweries doing to keep crime under control? You probably have not heard the concept of Situational Crime Prevention (unless you’re one of my colleagues in the crime world), but breweries are using many of these techniques without even knowing it. Some examples in the graphics below include the technique of “remove excuses – alert conscience” and “remove excuses – assist compliance” (the latter being smaller pours and limits on higher alcohol beers). Other techniques such as “increase the effort – control access to facilities” is done by limiting buses and large groups as well as “increase the risks – extend guardianship” by turning a vacant place into a neighborhood gathering location where people are looking out for the space. Another great example is the City of Vista (CA) government works closely with the Vista Brewers Guild to stay on top of crime and policing issues generated by breweries. This collaborative approach of using data and tackling problems before they get out of control has been beneficial to the City, the breweries and the safety of the community.

Some craft breweries remind patrons to be mindful of their neighbors and to keep noise and litter to a minimum

4. Tasty Libations. Do I need to say more? Different people support craft breweries for different reasons, but one thing in common is that most (although generally not the babies or the dogs) are going there to enjoy a nice beer. Having more options to enjoy local, craft beers at the source (see graphic below from the Brewers Association about the increase in craft breweries, especially over the last decade), allows friends, family and strangers to come together to taste this variety. Also in the U.S., we are now seeing more breweries that offer gluten-free, “session” (lower alcohol), and fruit and pastry-style beers to reach an even wider range of consumers.

Has this made you thirsty and eager to support your local brewery? Don’t forget, you can find them all on an interactive map on PubQuest. Cheers!

This blog entry was written by guest blogger, Julie Wartell, Julie is a Continuing Lecturer in the Urban Studies and Planning Program at the University of California, San Diego and an independent advisor to governmental agencies and communities relating to analyzing crime problems, neighborhood safety, and the geography of breweries. Julie currently teaches “Geographic Information Systems for Urban and Community Planning” and “Craft Breweries and the Urban Economy,” and her research, training and writing has been used in communities around the world. Julie has a master’s degree in public administration with an emphasis in criminal justice administration from San Diego State University as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Criminology and Police Management from University of Cambridge. In her spare time, Julie also runs PubQuest, a brewery mapping company.

Beer Tourism, Craft Breweries, Events

The Napa Beer Mile

February 15, 2019 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

Although producing only 0.4% of the world’s wine, California’s Napa Valley is on almost everyone’s list of the world’s must-visit wine destinations. I enjoy visiting wineries. But truth be told, I’d rather visit breweries. So when I was doing some research for an upcoming trip to Napa, I was pleased to learn that beer has very successfully infiltrated wine country. A May 2018 article entitled Napa Valley’s Blossoming Beer Scene listed ten breweries in the valley, six of which were located in the city of Napa, where I would be staying. As I was researching the Napa beer scene, I discovered that my early-February visit would coincide with the inaugural Napa Beer Mile. I was particularly excited to discover that the Napa Beer Mile was not a traditional beer mile, which requires consuming a twelve ounce beer, followed by a one mile run, which is punctuated every quarter mile to consume another twelve ounces of beer. This has become a serious sport of sorts. The current beer mile world record holder is is Corey Bellemore, a Canadian who has completed four quarter-mile laps and consumed four beers in 4 minutes, 33.6 seconds. I was excited to learn that the Napa Beer Mile would involve no such exertions, requiring nothing more than visiting six breweries over an eight hour period and downing a beer at each. I feel that I could achieve that, even though the distance separating the two outlying breweries (St Clair Brown Winery & Brewery and Tannery Bend Beerworks) was 1.7 miles. The four remaining breweries were geographically clustered in a small section of downtown Napa.

Six breweries partipated in the Napa Beer Mile – St. Clair Brown Winery & Brewery, Trade Brewing, Napa Palisades Beer Company, Downtown Joe’s Brewery and Restaurant, Stone Brewing Napa, and Tannery Bend Beerworks. A ticket to participate in the Beer Mile cost $35, and provided you with discounted beer at each of the six breweries, as well as a commemorative ball cap for those visiting all six breweries. The event ran from noon until 8pm, on February 9. My son-in-law, Marrek, accompanied me on my tour of Napa breweries. Our “mile” started at St Clair Brown Winery & Brewery, where participants were required to check-in and pick up their passport card, which would be stamped at each of the six participating breweries.

Check in for the Napa Beer Mile was at St Clair Brown Winery & Brewery

In line for my first beer at St Clair Brown Winery & Brewery

Beer Milers enjoying a beer at the start of the Beer Mile at St Clair Brown Winery & Brewery

After St Clair Brown we visited the remaining five breweries in the following order – Napa Palisades Beer Company, Trade Brewing, Downtown Joe’s Brewery and Restaurant, Stone Brewing, and Tannery Bend Beerworks. It rained periodically during the afternoon, and an Uber was required to to get to our final stop, Tannery Bend.

Overall, the Beer Mile was a fun experience. As expected, each brewery was quite different, with their unique line up of beers and unique ambience. We met and chatted with other Beer Milers along the way, most of whom were from the local area. This did get me thinking that the city of Napa May consider promotimg the Beer Mile to individuals living outside the city and region. Beer Tourism is a rapidly emerging phenomena, and the opportunity to promote the Beer Mile to potential beer tourists is one that should be acted upon. At our third stop, Trade Brewing, there was a Beer-It-Forward board on the wall. The idea of Beer-It-Forward is simple – you pre-purchase a craft beer for a friend. His or her name is placed on a board in the brewery. Next time they walk into the brewery they see their name on the board and can sit down and enjoy the beer that has already been purchased for them. As I perused the Beer-It-Forward Board at Trade Brewing, I was particularly pleased to see that some customers had pre-paid for beers for any police officer, fire fighter, or member (active or reserve) of the military. What a great gesture.

Upon completion of the Beer Mile at Tannery Bend Beerworks, we collected our Napa Beer Mile ballcaps. My hat will be added to my collection of brewery ballcaps. The hats did prove an attraction to a number of Beer Mile participants. In one brewery we did overhear someone saying that they were only doing the Beer Mile to get the ballcap. In another brewery, we sat next to three Beer Mile participants and watched them order three Coors Light. I am guessing they were there for the hat and not the beer.

Craft Breweries, Neolocalism

My Dogfish Head T-Shirt

January 30, 2019 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

In my last blog entry, I examined my collection of fifteen brewery t-shirts and looked at where they were made. Of the fifteen, three were made in the United States and twelve were made in Latin America. The t-shirts made in the United States were from Earnest Brew Works in Toledo, OH, Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati, OH, and Dogfish Head in Milton, DE. As I did more research into the companies that manufactured these particular t-shirts, it was the one from Dogfish Head that really caught my attention.

Dogfish Head is a brewery that I really admire. Established in Rehoboth Beach, DE in 1995, it was, at that time, America’s smallest commercial brewpub. Under the leadership of its charismatic, Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head has went from strength to strength, and by 2017 was the twelfth largest craft brewery in the United States. Over the last two decades, Calagione and Dogfish Head have been at the forefront of creativity and innovation. It was the first brewery to produce a continuously hopped IPA (their iconic 90 Minute IPA). It’s Ancient Ales Program has seen it work with molecular archeologist Dr. Patrick McGovern to recreate and reproduce beers from ancient Turkey, China, Egypt, and a number of far away places and epochs. And just this week, Dogfish Head realeased Slighty Mighty, a low calorie IPA that rivals Michelob Ultra for calories and carbs (95 calories and 3.5 carbs), and “doesn’t taste like seltzer water”.

I have never visited Dogfish Head’s flagship brewery, which is located in Milton, DE, but my oldest daughter has. And when she did, she bought me the aforementioned t-shirt. The t-shirt is manufactured by TS Designs, who are based in Burlington, NC. According to the company’s website, its t-shirts “are made from conventionally grown North Carolina cotton and you can track them through the entire supply chain back to the farmer. You can even meet the farmer yourself during our annual Cotton Harvest Tour.”

My Dogfish Head t-shirt uses 100% North Carolina grown cotton

Tracking my Dogfish Head t-shirt through the entire supply chain back to the farmer sounded intriguing – it certainly appealed to the economic geographer in me. According to theTS Designs website, tracking my t-shirt’s supply chain required going to the website whereyourclothing.com, where it states:

“not only are all of our t-shirts made entirely in the United States, they have completely transparent supply chains. And when we say completely transparent, we mean it! Not only do we give you the location, but a name, photo, address, and even phone number for each member of the supply chain, from dirt to shirt.”

To learn about the supply chain in my Dogfish Head t-shirt, it was simply a case of entering a tracking code. Tracking codes are either printed on the neck label or derived from the colors of the thread sown into the t-shirts arm hem and tail hem. In the case of my Dogfish Head t-shirt, the hems of the sleeves and tail had colored thread sown into them –

Tracking codes for my Dogfish Head t-shirt were derived from the color of the thread inside the hem of the t-shirt’s sleeves and tail.

As I soon learned, my Dogfish Head t-shirt started its life on the cotton farm of Thurman Burleson & Sons Farm in Wadesboro, NC. From there is passed through the hands of eight other companies. These included a cotton gin, yarn spinners, fabric knitters, fabric finishers, and cutters/sewers, before ending up at the print and dye facility of TS Designs in Burlington. All ten of the plants involved in the making of my t-shirt are located in North Carolina and South Carolina. Information about each participant in my t-shirt’s supply chain is provided on the whereyourclothing.com website, and appears after you enter your t-shirt’s tracking information. You can read these descriptions below (for the Dogfish Head t-shirt I own), as well as view the map showing the location of each manufacturer who contributes to the final product.

All ten of the plants that played a part in making my Dogfish Head t-shirt are located in North Carolina

Learning about the supply chain of my Dogfish Head t-shirt was fun, interesting, and informative. I would not want to replicate this search for information for every piece of clothing that I own (even if it were possible). But it was, as I said, informative to do it for one t-shirt. I was only vaguely aware of the various steps involved in producing a t-shirt, and so this educated me on the t-shirt manufacturing process. As someone who teaches Economic Geography, I fully understand the economics behind sourcing t-shirts from cheap labor countries overseas. So I say kudos to Dogfish Head for purchasing and selling t-shirts whose provenance is one hundred percent American.

Craft Breweries, International, Neolocalism

Made in Honduras

January 21, 2019 The Beer Professor Leave a comment

Craft breweries typically have strong connections with their local communities. These connections are manifest in a number of ways. The owners usually live in town. The brewery provides space for activities such as a local yoga club, and several times a year they brew a special beer, part of the profits of which are donated to local charitable causes. In discussing craft breweries, George Homewood, Norfolk, Virginia’s director of planning and community development, notes:

“there is a different food truck outside nightly. Depending upon the brewery, there may be yoga on Sundays, trivia on Wednesdays, retro video games on Thursdays, and music on Saturdays as well as neighborhood block parties, a monthly pet adoption day or a free community meal.”

Regardless of where we live, all of us know local breweries who support their communities in these types of way. Some breweries are so proud of their local community that they name beers after local landmarks, historical figures, or important events in the community’s past. A growing number of breweries are even trying to source more of their ingredients, particularly hops, from the local region. For some breweries, one of their major contributions to the community is simply to provide a gathering place for locals; a refuge of sorts where neighborhood residents can come, meet up with a few friends, and enjoy a couple of beers.

And craft beer drinkers seem to appreciate this commitment to local communities and are very happy to support the locally-owned brewery, rather than the faceless multinational corporation (e.g., AB InBev or Heineken). There’s even a name or this preference for the local – it’s called “neolocalism”. The geographer, Steven M. Schnell defines neolocalism as a “conscious attempt of individuals and groups to establish, rebuild, and cultivate local ties, local identities, and increasingly, local economies.” Writing specifically about craft breweries, Schnell and his co-author Joseph Reese, stated that craft breweries represent a desire on the part of increasing numbers of people to “reestablish connections with local communities, settings, and economies”.

There is no doubt that buying a locally brewed beer supports a local business. Advocates of purchasing locally produced food are quick to point out the economic, social, and environmental benefits of doing so – keeping more money in the local community, encouraging cultural diversity, preserving genetic diversity etc. On the other hand, economists Jason Winfred and Philip Watson point out buying local conflicts with Ricardo’s two hundred year old principle of comparative advantage. Of course, there is the whole issue of what constitutes “local”, a topic I discussed in a previous blog entry.

Many breweries are rightly proud of the contributions they make to their local communities. And on their websites, they are not hesitant to articulate their community commitment. Crazy Mountain Brewing Company of Denver, CO, for example, state that, “although beer is our passion, one of Crazy Mountain’s core values is our commitment to community involvement”. According to Fairport Brewing Company in Fairport, NY, “our commitment to the local community run deep”, while Roadhouse Brewery of Jackson Hole, WY is “committed to supporting the local community of Jackson Hole”.

I got to thinking about craft breweries and their connections to the local economies the other day, when I was putting away a t-shirt that my oldest daughter had gave me as a Christmas gift. It was a t-shirt from Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City, MO. My daughter had been to Boulevard recently, while visiting a friend in Kansas City. I visited Boulevard myself while attending a conference in Kansas City in June of last year. Anyway, as I picked up the t-shirt I looked at the label just inside the collar. I was curious as to where the t-shirt was made. The label said, “Made in Honduras”. That got me wondering – where were all my other brewery t-shirts made? How many were made in the United States? I took each of them from the closet and examined them. Here is what I found:

Bare Arms Brewing, Waco, TX – Nicaragua
Black Cloister Brewing Company, Toledo, OH – Nicaragua
Boulevard Brewing Company, Kansas City, MO – Honduras
Church Brew Works, Pittsburgh, PA – Nicaragua
Dogfish Head, Milton, DE – USA
Earnest Brew Works, Toledo, OH – USA
Elevator Brewing, Columbus, OH – Mexico
Grapevine Brewery, Grapevine, TX – Nicaragua
Kona Brewing Company, Kona, HI – Mexico
Lansing Brewing Company, Lansing, MI – Mexico
Market Garden Brewery, Cleveland, OH – Nicaragua
Maumee Bay Brewing Company, Toledo, OH – Nicaragua
Pike Brewing Company, Seattle, WA – Honduras
Rhinegeist Brewery, Cincinnati, OH – USA
Round Barn Brewery, Baroda, MI – Honduras

First off, I own fifteen t-shirts from breweries. I never knew that. Of the fifteen t-shirts, seven were made in Nicaragua, three in Mexico, three in the United States, and two in Honduras. Now I fully realize that my fifteen t-shirts do not constitute a scientifically valid sample, so I am not going to make any generalizations regarding the larger population of American breweries. Thinking scientifically, I thought that it might be interesting to have a control group. So, I randomly selected fifteen of my non-brewery t-shirts that I had purchased in the United States, and examined their labels. All of them were manufactured in Latin America – five in Mexico, four in Nicaragua, and three each in Honduras and El Salvador. These, albeit non-scientific, findings do hint at the possibility that American craft breweries may be more prone to purchase American made t-shirts than the average retailer.

My t-shirt from Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh, PA was made in Nicaragua

That most of the brewery t-shirts I own are made in Latin American countries did not surprise me. I teach this stuff in my Industrial Geography course at The University of Toledo. By and large, it comes down to labor costs. Manufacturing labor costs are significantly cheaper in Latin America than in the United States. For example, according to IVEMSA, a company that assists U.S. companies interested in establishing manufacturing facilities in Mexico, American manufacturers who locate in Mexico will pay 20-30% less in labor costs. Add to that a forty-eight hour work week (before requiring overtime pay) and the advantages of manufacturing in Mexico soon become apparent.

Three breweries in my non-scientific sample do sell t-shirts manufactured in the United States. They are Dogfish Head in Milton, DE, Earnest Brew Works in Toledo, OH, and Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati, OH. The t-shirts sold by Earnest Brew Works and Rhinegeist Brewery are made by American Apparel, who are based in Los Angeles, CA. The company makes apparel in countries all over the world, including Bangladesh, Honduras, and the United States. Interestingly, one of American Apparel’s commitments is supporting the economies in which they are located. They do this by “using local suppliers for transportation, food services and raw materials and accessories for our production facilities such as dyes, buttons, zippers, boxes and office supplies.” The two American Apparel t-shirts I have were as I mentioned above, made in the USA. The components used to manufacture these two t-shirts came both from the United States and other countries

My t-shirt from Rhinegeist Brewery was made in the USA, with US and imported components

The t-shirt sold by Dogfish Head Brewery is manufactured by a company called TS Designs, who are based in Burlington, NC. Not only are TS Designs’ t-shirts made in North Carolina, the cotton that they are made from is grown in North Carolina.

It would be nice if more breweries who sold t-shirts, baseball caps, wool hats and other souvenir items sourced those from inside the United States. If these items came from inside or close to the community in which they reside it would be another indication that the breweries are committed to supporting their local and/or regional economy.

TheBeerProfessor