The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) today publishes the British Craft Beer Report 2019, providing insight into the industry as a whole.
The report brings together the views and opinions of Britain’s independent craft brewers, industry insight, and consumer polling, to provide an authoritative report on the state of British craft beer in 2019.
SIBA chief executive, Mike Benner, said: “The SIBA British Craft Beer Report 2019 paints a fascinating picture of the British beer market — on the one hand you have got an increasing growth in popularity of craft beer and consumers who are better educated in what that means than ever before, but on the other you have got increased saturation and competition, which has led to a slowing rate of growth in brewery numbers.”
The report shows that British independent brewers are brewing more beer than they were a year ago, a moderate 0.8% increase, continuing the growth experienced in previous years. There is little doubt that the growth in British craft beer has helped boost the overall beer market, which saw growth of 2.6% in 2018, the biggest increase for 45 years.
Benner added: “The independent craft beer brewers in the UK produce the beers that consumers want to drink, and whilst there is increasing pressure and competition, the biggest barrier for brewers is securing access to market — getting their beers into the hands of the people who want to drink them. Beer drinkers increasingly want genuine craft beer, and to them that means beer from relatively small independent producers.
“This growth in demand is particularly important for retail and hospitality businesses looking to expand their independent craft beer offering, as a quarter of consumers would be more likely visit a restaurant which has a good craft beer selection, and 16% would switch where they do their grocery shopping based on how good the selection of craft beers are. These are very significant indicators which should not be ignored by retailers.”
