"My death has been greatly exaggerated" -Mark Twain.
Likewise, the death of craft breweries has been highly exaggerated. If you’re any type of follower of independent craft beer, the headlines are less than positive for the industry. Combined with social media disinformation and personalities whoring themselves for clicks and likes, you’d think the end is near. But let’s look at some real data. While it’s true that the industry has experienced for the first time in decades a closure rate that outpaces new openings, it’s hardly catastrophic. In our nation in 2024, we saw 399 craft brewery closures compared to 335 new openings. Yes, the market has matured and we will see a slowdown and some contraction as market economics take shape. And yes, Georgia, specifically, must modernize its regulatory environment to catch up with the rest of the country to make our state the best state to operate an independent small brewery business. But let’s not kid ourselves with tropes or trends. Independent well made and well-managed craft beer isn’t dying and is established in the Americana culture from which we’ve come. We’re all a little different and bring personalities and values from which our stories originate and unfold. And that’s a good thing that would be tragic to lose.
I believe we now share a lot in common with American folk music. Folk music is music that originates in a specific culture through the generations. Amercian folk music is as diverse as America and captures the values and stories of various cultures throughout our nation. Occasionally folk music even comes into popular “fashion” throughout American history and then falls out of fashion, but it never dies because it's rooted in something more than a trend. We intentionally differentiate it from pop(ular) music. I’d argue that when it’s “out of fashion”, less popular, or when it speaks in contrast to the prevailing winds of culture; the greatest folk songs get created. Likewise, the American craft brewing industry originates out of the soil of America, representing its values, art, culture, and stories. There have been times when our industry falls into more popular trends with the prevailing culture, but the best of us didn't rise or build to merely stay relevant. Rather, we built to be authentic and offer something a little more real and representative from whence we came.
I can only speak for Reformation, the independent craft brewery and distillery I’m privileged to operate, but we’re not holding back these days. We see a prevailing culture begging for something more freeing than the chains of these damn phones and self-help influencers ad nauseam. We see your brokenness, your fears, your hopes, and your dreams for freedom in something far more authentic. So we’re reinvesting in product quality and innovation, new markets, more experiences, and leveling up venues. We see even more opportunities to be part of the backbone of communities where we still meet face to face to listen and love our neighbors over a well-crafted beverage. We see the press, we see our overly exaggerated pending doom, but we're built different. We didn't build it with straw or sticks. We built it with blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice. Things that don't blow away in the wind.
So let the storms rage on. In a day when artificial intelligence captures the headlines and vapid dystopian narratives unfold on so-called “social media”, your local craft brewery will remain a city on the hill, a beacon of light, calling us to come home, to be human again. In every sense of the word, we offer a public house, to gather (together), to turn off the artificial noise, to look your neighbor in the eyes, and laugh, cry, and be full again. That’s not trendy, that’s not always sexy, it’s not even always cool, but it’s real, and we will be here welcoming you to a refuge of rest and a taste of freedom from the storms of life.