[Column] Conditions for the Revival of Craft Beer

"I am a craft beer seller, but I cheer for highball to sell well."

Recently, craft beer has been on a downward trend while highball has become the trend among young people, leading to the ironic story of craft beer sellers cheering for highball. In a situation where so-called ‘pseudo craft beer’ is sold under the name of craft beer, accelerating the industry's decline, it is a self-deprecating cheer hoping that highball grows significantly to give the industry a wake-up call.

Craft beer, which had established itself as a mainstream alcoholic beverage riding the home drinking trend during the pandemic, is recently losing its presence rapidly, being pushed aside by highball and Japanese beer. The crisis of craft beer stems from producing products in a way that weakens the identity, which is the basis of competitiveness, and focusing only on expanding scale through large distribution channels like convenience stores. The identity of craft beer lies in freely using various ingredients to create unique styles by each brewery.

However, some companies that experienced quantitative growth through large sales channels repeatedly produced mediocre products tailored to the supply price ceiling of about 4 cans for 10,000 won, rather than making products with their own unique identity. As craft beer lost its appeal, consumers began to turn away, and naturally, even convenience stores turned their backs, leading to the current crisis. In this process, the expanded facilities and workforce, which are difficult to maintain without continuing sales through large channels, make independence from convenience stores even harder.

The way for craft beer to survive is clear. It must create ‘reasons to drink’ by making beers with rich flavors and aromas that differentiate from mass-produced beers, offering various styles. Instead of making bland beers tailored to convenience store supply, it should focus on building products and brands with a clear unique identity. If it solidifies demand in its main channel, the entertainment sector, based on distinctive products, the path to the home channel can reopen. Clinging to collaborations as it does now only benefits trademark holders and accelerates financial deterioration and identity confusion by simply following the rules of large liquor companies. Raising product quality and brand value must come before channel expansion. Only when channel expansion occurs with the support of brand competitiveness can an equal relationship with large channels be established and sustainable growth be achieved.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.