Is Craft Beer Dying?
Closures, burnout and a roulette that walks us away from the ledge
Trends come and go. The public shifts to the shiny new toy next door. But is Craft Beer really just a fad? Is it sputtering out? It seems like every other day we are reading about another craft brewery shuttering it’s doors. Maybe the market is correcting for oversaturation. Or maybe the masses have moved onto the next big thing. Or maybe it’s nothing and we’re overreacting. In any event, things feel different. Is it just us?
Closures. Not sure about you, but in our neck of the woods there have been more than a handful of craft breweries close in the last year alone. One of the more notable closures was Ingenious Brewing Company, which closed only days after announcing it was over. For the record, we started writing this article before that closure - so this only added to our musings. If you’re unfamiliar with Ingenious, they were once one of Houston’s most hyped breweries. You’d even see a can of one their heavily fruited smoothie sour or wild pastry stouts show up as a coveted for trade item on the trade forums. That was certainly what they were most known for - super fruited and out there concoctions. Maybe that is what did them in? Adjuncts? The industry does seem to be shifting to “beer that tastes like beer” rather than “make this taste like a dessert so I don’t know it is beer,” but there is certainly still a market for that pastry brew style. And, we must repeat as we always say - drink what you like. No hate on these fruity or sweet adjunct heavy brews (even if we do poke fun occasionally) or to those who brewed it. But that said, trends are trending and they don’t favor the pastry.
In Ingenious’ case you also have to consider location. We live pretty much in the center of Houston and for us it would take nearly half an hour to get up to Ingenious, which was located near Intercontinental Airport. When you’re not super excited about the beer that isn’t a trek you’ll make often, especially without any other nearby breweries to make a day of it.
But, the other area closures were not hyped pastry mongers. Besides Ingenious, other Houston area breweries closing in the last year include CounterCommon, Black Page, 4J, and (controversially) Buffalo Bayou. That last one could be an entire article it’s so complicated but at the time of this writing they’re closed. CounterCommon was a particularly painful shock. We’d just released our Pride collaboration beer with them the month before and the beer and food was always excellent. Of course, we’re certain there is a lot to go into a decision to close. Factors behind the scenes play probably the most important role in an anguishing type of decision. But we have to believe that trends are an unfortunate factor and one must wonder if these closures are a canary for the rest of the industry. It’s only going to get more difficult for the small ones out there. All we can do is keep showing our support!
One possible trend we’ve noticed in other parts of the country is brewery consolidations. This doesn’t seem to be a bad idea. We certainly like it better than the big beer corporations coming in an taking over. Perhaps this is a tactic to fight the apparent sputtering we’ve been on about.
Social Media Burnout. Having said all that, we think that maybe the consumer is evolving. We’re attributing this evolution to burnout: both in terms of social media usage (at least the traditional sources) and in terms of changing tastes and preferences. Basically, it has felt more difficult to keep up in the way that we used to. And we don’t think we’re alone.
Possibly it’s the options. Craft cocktails are having a renaissance. And good wine bars are popping up all over. Not to mention that dive bars are very much having a moment. So the booze competition is fierce - it’s harder to distinguish yourself. We’ve already seen what seems to be the demise of the Beer Bar - so many great Houston spots from the past 10 years are gone. Hopefully the Brewery isn’t next to go.
Possibly it’s the health consciousness of consumers. Beer isn’t exactly calorie friendly. Not that other booze options are exactly that healthy either, but it’s called a Beer Belly not a Chardonnay Belly. We don’t know - we keep saying we need to be heathy and that doesn’t happen so maybe just excuses.
What we do know is that it’s been increasingly difficult to keep up with social media, especially Instagram. The algorithm sucks, engagement is down and it’s just disheartening. Maybe we need to find a new outlet (or do better with keeping up with this newsletter?). Having successful social media can make or break a small business in todays marketplace, so battling algorithms and docile users can be demoralizing.
Conclusions. This has felt like the ramblings of a disillusioned pretend social media influencer but we think there is some truth to it. We want all the craft breweries to make it, but we have to acknowledge that the industry may have peaked and changes will need to be made. We’re curious what you think - leave a comment and let us know!
Brewery Roulette: #229 Seek Beer Co
After what we are realizing is quite a depressing and dark post, we are glad to have this particular brewery pop up on the randomizer. Seek Beer Co is located in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego, but their story begins right here in Houston!
Dave, the owner and brewer at Seek, had several brewing roles in H-town and H-town adjacent. No matter where he was you could always count on stellar beer. Then, in late 2021, Dave announced he was leaving to start his own brewery in San Diego. Which is no easy task! San Diego is home to some of craft beer’s finest. But we knew Seek would be fine and in October 2023 we finally got a chance to visit and can confirm: Seek is more than fine. The beer is, as expected, phenomenal, and the location is perfect. Literally next door is another brewery and there are a bunch more right in the neighborhood, which makes for perfect pub crawling. The space itself is relatively small but is very inviting. There is a ton of great outdoor space as well (shared with the neighbors). We were lucky enough to run into Dave while we were there and say hello too. We recommend anything fresh and hop forward (although it is all good).
Closures have been plaguing Houston and Austin for some time now. Rising material costs, labor, supply shortages, the ghost of Covid. All of these can and are blamed as causes for breweries shutting down. Higher costs of rent are doing a lot of places in, as well. Add in oversaturation and consumer fatigue and you have a bad recipe for a failing market.
As far as social media, I'd offer this. Many of the social media accounts for breweries aren't the best at interacting with patrons. Seeing a brewery constantly advertise a run club or a food truck but not highlight their beer seems counter productive. Are these breweries in business to advertise a trivia night or to sell beer? I get that it is done to attract patrons into the brewery that might not otherwise show up, but I know A LOT of people that get seriously annoyed and turned off by the constant promotion on brewery social media pages of everything else but their beer. Having food onsite and enticements are nice, but I'm not showing up at your tap room because of a food truck.
Finally, the craft beer scene here and in many other places has become kind of stale and inbred, if you will. The breweries and older long term social media personalities suffer from a lack of outreach to those that want to become regulars, those getting into craft beer, and that want to become familiar faces. It's a small, tight knit group that doesn't look outside of itself enough to acknowledge people that want to be involved and included. These are people that have energy and want to help promote, but because they don't go way back with all the owners/ brewers/ employees, they often get ignored. The industry is doing itself a HUGE disservice by ignoring those who are just getting into craft beer.
So instead of yet another run club, seek out those that are curious about craft beer and find other ways to draw in new patrons. These are the people you need to be seeking out, and they will help keep breweries open and surviving.
Just my worthless opinion. Great article, guys!
Great article. You are not overreacting. Beer is down period. Glad to see the consolidation of breweries. Keep it out of the big beer guys. Cheers yall