UK: Craft beer market might be coming to terms with itself after initial boom

'Craft beer is dead,' 'RIP IPA,' 'are we witnessing the death of craft beer?' These are just some of the headlines doing the rounds in relation claims that the popularity of hoppy, fruity, experimental beers has waned in recent years. Once the young upstart on the beer block, the UK saw hundreds of ‘craft’ breweries springing up selling unusual drinks with funky names in colourful cans, but now it seems the good times have come to an end, MSN reported on January 19.

According to the Drinks Business, at the start of 2024, there were 1,777 craft breweries in the UK, a 38% drop on the previous year. But despite the closures, industry insiders claim that what we may be seeing is the market coming to terms with itself after an initial boom, and that Brits do still have space in their hearts for this noisy, image-conscious take on beer.

“There was a plateau that people weren’t talking about. I think craft has reached that, it’s going to be a big chunk of the market, but it’s not going to be the whole market,” explained Matthew McAloone, Commercial Director at 40ft Brewery.

In London, popular craft brands have been retreating at an alarming rate. Major local outfits such as Brick Brewery and Fourpure, which had been two of the larger players in the capital’s independent scene, have closed shop on their brewing operations and moved them to the cheaper rent and beer-making heritage of Yorkshire.

On top of this, many young Brits claim to have been abandoning unusual craft drinks in favour of classics like larger or Guinness only adding to the sense that the glory days of this hipster entity, the young and exciting option at the bar, may be behind us. But what are the implications for the craft market, what does that even mean, and is this as big a catastrophe for the space as some make it sound?

“We’re in growth,” McAloone said of 40ft. “We are well aware of some of our peer breweries who have gone into administration and been bought, or folded completely. We know that it’s a tough time. But this is a tough time for all breweries. We are looking it as just craft, but some of the big guys [like national lager brewers] are having a tough time as well.

“I’ve been in brewing for 10 years and I stepped out for a year. I came back and was a bit upset,” he said, after asking where certain breweries were only to be told “they’re gone”.

“It's the more expensive part of the bar and the charges that have been levied on hospitality in terms of duty the government has put in, it has made it impossible for bars and restaurants to do what they want to do, so they’re consolidating range, which is normally into mainstream products and they’re sacrificing craft… it makes commercial sense and you sell a lot of beer, big guys will give you money just to stock their beer, and their stuff’s cheaper… its the safe bet”.

He continued: “I don’t think craft beer will ever get wiped out, and that’s largely because some of the big breweries have bought their own craft brands which is another impact on the industry… They can now roll Beavertown out to 10,000 sites which they could never do as an independent.”

He anticipates a market correction in the number of breweries, "because quite honestly there are too many people jumping in thinking ‘crafts on the rise, we can’t go wrong.’

“We were expecting it to grow and grow and grow and take over everything, but it just wasn’t what the market wanted and now we know were it’s at, we know how much is up for grabs, there just won’t be as many people able to compete for it."

However, in order to discuss the plight of craft beer, you need to be clear about what ‘craft’ actually means. While the word for many people springs an image of cloudy, hoppy, fruity beverages, the real meaning is ‘handcrafted’ – in other words, small scale and independent. This means that while a lot of big breweries are making eccentric IPA, pales or sours, their very nature as a big brewery means they aren’t actually craft, a point laboured by the British Beer and Pub Association’s Greg Mullholland.

“‘Craft beer’ is an unclear marketing term, we tend to focus on the situation for independent brewery beers – the big boys all jumped on the ‘craft’ trend and then brewed or acquired ‘craft’ keg beers,” Greg explained.

“The issue we are well aware of [is] the huge challenges facing smaller breweries – with Magic Rock (which called in administrators earlier this month) being the latest brewery in trouble. This is not due to demand though, but due to increasing costs. This is a big issue and we are seeing a reduction in UK indie brewing as a result with the loss of excellent breweries and beers.

“At the same time, giant brewers such as Heineken and Carlsberg seek to dominate the on-trade and reduce consumer choice. The ongoing abuse of the beer tie also means that small brewers don’t get fair or any access to thousands of pubs.”

Crucially, he added: “Our members that can stock them report ongoing good sales of independent beers.”

This meas that ‘craft’ titans, don’t really exist. In other words, the sale of a 49% share in Beavertown to Heineken for £40 million in 2018 rules the North London firm out, while BrewDog’s £190million in sales in 2024 means this is far from an small-scale operation.

Hearing the experts’ point of view is all well and good, but what does the person on the street think about the trend? “I would agree [that it’s dying out],” one man told us. “I hate craft beer, it’s too bitter and it makes you feel bad the next day. Lager [is my preferred drink].”

Some however, are still staunchly in favour of craft, although ideas about what the term actually means were up in the air for members of the public. “I am a craft beer drinker,” one man said before telling us, “not in my book” when asked whether lager and Guinness were coming home to rule the roost. “[I like] a lot of the BrewDogs, pale ale. Camden. That’s what I like,” we were told.

Another added “I personally don't know if it dying out, i've not heard of that, I like it still”.

As the idea of what craft meant continued to cause problems, one man told us her did at least like it as a commodity that was made in the UK. “I’d [still] go for one, although in moderation with all that super strength,” he explained. “There’s so much choice, I’d probably go back to BrewDog, It’s the one I go for, and it’s British.”

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