CRAFT BREWING IN AUSTRALIA, 1979-2015 André Sammartino, Department of Management & Marketing, University of Melbourne, Parkville, AUSTRALIA
[email protected] Forthcoming chapter in C. Garavaglia & J. Swinnen (eds), Economic Perspectives on Craft Beer: A Revolution in the Global Beer Industry, Palgrave Macmillan Do not quote without permission of the author. Introduction Craft brewing is booming in Australia. The number of independent beer producers has leapt from just less than 100 in 2005 to over 350 by 2015.1 The path to this boom was slow and punctuated however. The mid-to-late 1980s saw an initial rush of craft beer start-ups, with 34 firms operating by 1990. Yet this was followed by a lull, such that the firm count had only crept up to 43 by 2000. As I will argue, partially this delay reflects a correction to the over-exuberance of the first wave of entrants. Only a small number of firms developed a viable business model, and even fewer a model for sustainable growth. What is particularly distinctive about Australia in the early days of craft, is that macro brewers often acquired the rare successful market entrants. In doing so, they also laid a key foundation for the eventual boom by easing mainstream access to gateway pseudo craft beers. The lull in craft beer start-ups from 1991 served an important purpose, as the smaller number of new players carved out more sustainable niches and set about building a community of co-evolving firms and consumers. The scene was set for the subsequent boom in a number of ways.