Spend a little time at the liquor store and the news is clear: craft beer is quickly becoming a big deal, and it’s not hard to see why. Why would you buy a flat of one of the major American brands when you could have a mixer from Wild Rose or Granville Island?
Decades ago, most men had a brand and stuck to it. However, craft beer has been growing since the 80s. We credit Ed McNally, founder of Big Rock Brewery, for proving that a Canadian craft beer can be commercially successful and sold on tap right along side the latest from Coors and Budweiser.
Market share for craft beer in the States and in Canada is around 6%, but it’s seeing double-digit growth every year, whereas big brewer’s share is declining. Canadians even like American craft beer, importing a huge amount of the stuff.
Of course, big breweries must fight back, and given that their mass market beer doesn’t appeal to more refined palates, they typically fight back by either buying up craft breweries or creating their own (for example, Molson Coors purchased aforementioned Granville Island). So, next time you see a Shock Top or a Rolling Rock on the menu, perhaps google who owns them.
