Craft Beer Revolucja

Brewing revolution is well underway.

Small local craft breweries raising from the ground on a daily basis. Customer awareness is on an increase, with more and more people willing to spend more of their hard earned money to enjoy a locally brewed, high quality, fresh beer.

BUT… it this really what is happening on Polish brewing scene? Well, I have some serious concerns and I would like to share them with you.

Let’s go to Poland for a second. You walk into the grocery store (this is where the most of us normally get their beer from) and you will see the wall of beer bottles. Vast majority will constitute beer produced by large concerns, well known, popular and liked by customers. The true is however, it does not really matter which one you go for, it will all taste pretty much the same. We all know this phenomenon and it is not limited to Poland. Oh no, it is a worldwide issue and the primary reason why the beer revolution began throughout the world. So, you look at the shelves, and you notice something else. Beers you wouldn’t find even in a good store few years ago. Pinta? AleBrowar? Dr.Brew? Not only it looks different but the more you look into it, the more interesting it gets. IPA, Hefewizen, Oatmeal Stout and many many more. Well, one may think, the craft beers found it’s way into the mass market. We can now enjoy them all… But is it really all that well and good?

The above are some of the main brands acting as a craft beer representatives on Polish beer market. Obviously, there are tens if not hundreds more craft breweries that you rarely hear of, which remain small, and cater for their own local markets. Some of these big brands, especially the Pinta, were the first people who decided to introduce niche beer styles to the Polish market. To my knowledge they produced the first India Pale Ale made in Poland. And for this itself, they deserve a huge round of applaud. This is how revolutions start, and I am not claiming it is solely down to Pinta, but people like them made it happen. Since then they broaden their offer to several beer styles and regularly come up with something new. For all this, a big thank you guys… but again. Did they, in some regards, rest on their laurels?

What do you think when you hear ‘craft beer’. If we were talking about craft furniture I would expect a product where a carpenter devoted long hours to make it special, different and beautiful. Something where you can see the heart and effort that went into it. In beer, I associate it with the best quality ingredients possible, natural brewing processes, but the first and foremost the passion, sweat (not literally), and love.

A massive advantage of the craft beers is that the customers can identify with the brewer, often knows where the beer was brewed and by whom. Can go to the brew-pub and talk to the owner. Can visit the local brewery and see the entire process, talk to the brewer.

The craft beer is not about consumption of an alcoholic drink, it is an experience, and appreciation of all the efforts that went into making it. And the more you know about the beer, the person who brewed it, the place it was brewed at, the more you will appreciate. And to be honest, it is likely to taste better.

So here comes my problem. The big boys of the Polish craft beer scene are not real breweries! Surprised? Most of you probably knew this, others did not care, but let’s have a look at what this actually means, and whether it will change your point of view.

‘Contract brewing’, or more politely ‘Partner brewing’ is a business model used by these companies. It is a model where a businessman outsources the brewing process, from brewing to packaging (and often distribution), to an existing brewery. In simple words, you go to a brewery X and ask them to brew a beer to your recipe. You pay them for this service and for the finished product, provide them with your labels, and here you are. Selling your ‘own’ beer.

What is wrong with this approach one could ask? Well, let’s have a look. You may well go as far as creating your own original recipe and maybe even source the ingredients yourself. Possible but unlikely since the brewery operates on much greater volumes and ingredients supplied by them will be simply cheaper. But let’s assume you did supply both the recipe and ingredients. This is where your involvement finishes. The equipment belongs to someone else. This means it is cleaned and looked after by a third party and you have no influence over it. The brewer is some other person with it’s own habits and ways of brewing. As such the brewing process WILL be different than what you would do if you were brewing. The fermentation and conditioning will be looked after by someone else, who will make a key decisions affecting the beer flavour for you. The same goes with the packaging, filtration, carbonation / priming and every single aspect of the brewing process.

Let’s put it that way. If you were a home brewer, you would buy grains, hops and yeast, formulate the recipe, and pass it on to your friend to brew it at home. How much confidence would you have that it will turn out exactly as you want? Would you be happy to say it is your beer?

Let exclude the real craft breweries, which focus on quality over quantity, cater for local market and more often than not struggle financially. The big boys again. They do sell beer more interesting than the mass market lagers, and they do force even the large corporations to do something new and something more quality focused (see Tyskie 14 dniowe or Zywiec APA). Good. On the other hand they don’t make their own beer. They are detached from their own product, and by adopting this philosophy they lose the so important advantage – the direct contact with the customer.

From that point of view, their beer is as commercialised as any other mass produced beer. It seems to be produced with quantity in mind rather than quality. This is understandable considering that profit margins in Contract Brewing are incredibly narrow, and often pretty much non-existent. As such the only way you could make a living is by selling much more than you would need to if you brewed the beer yourself. The fact that it is understandable however does not make it right. This business model is great to get your foot through the door, to introduce your brand to the market, and then, with that backing to set up a brewery. A brewery which by that time already has some customers. This is how this model, in my view, should be used.

Can you imagine a news that Pinta, Dr.Brew or any other big contract brewer decides to open their own brewery? I would be happy as Larry and would be the first to congratulate.

So far however, I am disappointed in the direction towards which these brands progress. They are not local to anyone and never were, but what is worst they seem to aspire to be as global as possible. How quickly will they reach the size, in the eyes of the customers, where they will be considered just another Kompania Piwowarska (one of the biggest if not the biggest brewing companies in Poland)? Excuse me, I think I went wrong here – the KP at least brew their own beer. It may all be similar to one another, but rest assured, if the market develops they WILL come up with something different.

And where will this put our big boys? How will they differ?