Recently, DSM, a health and wellness company, conducted a study of more than 3,300 beer consumers from 7 different countries in North America and Europe and asked them questions about craft beer. While statistics and studies need to be taken with a grain of salt, they can help identify broader trends in a market, including craft beer consumption. One factor of this study to take into account is that it’s a world-wide study vs. one with only U.S. participants. While the craft beer scene here in the States has been booming for some time (and many publications have lamented that the craft beer bubble is bursting) in other places where people were surveyed, the craft beer movement is in its younger stages. That’s not to discount the findings at all, it’s just something to keep in mind as we look for trends or insights from the study.

It’s All About The Taste

Not only do 66% of the responders drink craft beer because of the taste, it also seemed to be the biggest reason why people in this study choose a specific craft beer. In fact, 75% chose taste as the biggest factor when deciding which beer to buy. What’s interesting about this is that taste won out over price, which shows that craft beer consumers are not afraid to pay a premium for good beer. This is also good news for smaller craft breweries that have to compete with larger breweries when it comes to marketing and branding. Yes, people like a catchy graphic, but it’s not a driving force into which beers people buy. Make a quality product that tastes great and you have the best chance that someone will choose that beer again. Furthermore, 66% said that the word “premium” helped draw them to a specific beer and that drinking craft beer felt more special than drinking non-craft beer. We love making people feel special, one beer at a time.

You Are Only As Good As Your Last Beer

It’s no secret that craft beer drinkers are adventurous. So adventurous, in fact, that one of the more interesting findings from this study was there isn’t a whole lot of brand loyalty with this group of craft beer consumers. 80% said that they would continue to experiment with new brands vs. stay loyal to one brand. This is a concerning statistic when thinking about building a brand, but also one that makes sense. People won’t blindly buy beer from a brand that isn’t stellar just because they are their local brewery or because they had a good beer in the past. What this tells us, is that as brewers we need to keep quality, tasty beer our number one priority and we need to keep things fresh for consumers. We can’t be afraid to experiment with new styles and flavors and pushing the proverbial envelope. We need to keep evolving and not rest on a set of core beers, because although we will always have our super-fans, to continue growing, we need to stay relevant with the adventurous consumer.

The Definition of Craft Beer Is Fluid

While the buzzwords “local” and “craft” are still market drivers, it wasn’t for the exact reasons you would expect. 87% of responders said that they define craft beer as beer brewed in small batches by a microbrewery. No mention of if the local beer was brewed in close proximity to them and no mention of independent vs. non-independent, which is not surprising. Sometimes we in the industry can get caught up in our own echo-chambers of what’s important and what people care about. I personally, care about whether my beer is independent and know a lot of others that feel the same way, but we have to remember that by-and-large, people make up their own definitions for things. So while the study found that people prized “local” beers, it was not because they were necessarily brewed close to home, but because to them, the word signified that the beer is made in small batches, using local, fresh ingredients. Furthermore, a majority of responders expressed interest in trying local craft beers from around the world further driving the point that people are more interested in what characteristics they felt a local beer would have vs. being loyal to a local brand because it was brewed in their backyard. This is good news for breweries breaking into new distribution areas. That while many craft beer consumers will still drink what local first because it has a good chance of being the freshest, other characteristics of craft beer area driving factor in which beers people choose to drink.

In the end, while these studies can be helpful in understanding trends and consumers in a broad way, there are many factors that go into why people buy the beer that they buy. However, it does give us things to think about and we can all revel in the finding that people are continuing to drink craft beer with 80% of the responders saying that craft beer is not just a delicious fad, craft beer is here to stay.