Info about Micro Brewing
The growth of micro Brewing
Beer has always been a popular drink for centuries. There are references to beer even in the Sumerian, Greek and Egyptian cultures. In fact these cultures had a God of Beer too. In Europe, cask ale brewing is very popular and has been for ages.
When it comes to United States, brewing has had a volatile history. In the beginning of the 20th century, there was a ban on brewing across the US. As a result, all the beer companies were hit by a huge loss. Later the prohibition was lifted first in California and it continued across the US. However, by this time due to the commercial and capitalist principles of the American economy, all the new beer companies were national brands.
The national brands standardised the beer products and made popular light beer. These products were great and loved by people across the US. Besides, due to mass production their costs were low too. This made them even more popular. However, this was a generic taste for the nation.
In any place you cannot have just common people; there are some connoisseurs who prefer to pay a premium for a different taste or just a better quality product. This was the reason that as soon as home brewing was legalised in the US, many people started brewing their own beer at home. Some of them increased the scale of production and started selling to the local community. This was the beginning of the micro brewing in the US.
Over the years, several micro brewing businesses cropped up across the US. With growing business, many pubs came up which sold their own beer along with the popular national brands. Many patrons still support the local beer and come to drink regularly at these brewpubs.
Today, while the micro brewing and brewpubs may not hold a huge market share, they do have great influence in the beer markets. So important is micro brewing today that some of the big brands have tried to create their own local variations to compete with the brewpubs. Where ever they have been unsuccessful, some of the brewpubs have also been acquired to capture business.
Europe is one place where brewing was never stopped, so in a sense micro brewing and large scale commercial brewing have always been a part of the European culture. The concept kind of became popular after US adopted it. Today it is slowing growing in many parts of the world.
Canada today has many micro brewing businesses running in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. Similarly, even Australia and New Zealand which have historically relied on top national brands are opening up to the idea of micro brewing.
In short, micro brewing is a great source of alternate choices for beer. They may not be appealing to everyone in the nation, but certain communities love them and the business can sustain with that support. Just the fact that it has caught up in many countries goes to show how effective and important this is to the brewing business.