Gacioch gives the goods

Data points, trends, and analysis—we can’t get enough of it when the subject is craft beer.

At the 2025 Craft Brewers Conference, the presentation by Brewers Association Staff Economist Matt Gacioch was chock full of good info and analysis of keen interest to the craft beer community. His presentation primarily summarized the findings of several recent market studies for different types of craft breweries. 

Here are some of the points he reported which resonated with me. (My comments are in parentheses)

• Craft breweries that are growing significantly today are those achieving more of their growth with customers coming from the “food and drinks” sector rather than from the “beer geeks” sector. 
  (I’ve certainly seen that at the breweries on Charleston WV’s Brewers Row. While you will normally find me on a seat at the main bar, often with a couple of other mature beer geeks, the rest of the place will be filled with younger folks who are not there to discuss the latest lager, ESB or IPA.) 
• Younger craft customers today are looking at brands more as badges than as mirrors. They’re not seeking cheap beer; they’re seeking image beer. 
• These days, it’s not just enough for a brewery to have great beer, you also need excellent, memorable service in order to be considered a great place. Service has grown in importance. 
• Younger drinkers and influencers want to drink beer in a place that has status—one that is social-media postable. (And local beer—one not available everywhere else—can still be an important driver in that.) 
• Younger adult beer consumers are looking for a place where they can feel like they belong. And that usually means a place that attracts lots of others in their age group. These days that tends to favor a bit fancier places over the basic mom & pop brewpubs. (In the old days of craft, we customers were just happy to have a local taproom. If it was just a simple hole-in-the-wall, we would still hang out there and enjoy it. But today, there is growing evidence that the prettier, cooler, bigger-investment taprooms are growing in importance. Drinking craft beer there is more social-media postable.) 
• If you want your taproom business to grow with the younger demographic you must design a place that makes socializing there attractive.
• Younger customers are drinking more and more diverse products and are less likely to be beer-only customers. Successful brewery bars/taprooms are offering customers a wider range of beverages. Of growing importance is offering drink diversity, including NAs, seltzer, wine, cider & cocktails. The beer-only taproom is growing archaic and they need to adapt. (Especially in a small population base location like West Virginia, there are rarely enough people in a community to allow a craft-beer-only taproom to maximize its sales. To keep the place full, keep locally made beer the marquise product but also offer a range of other beverages.) 
• Belonging is an identity. Give consumers something that connects with their value system.  In breweries, that may be the other things (charities, social movements) the brewery adamantly supports. 
• Make sure your brewery is known for being a part of your community more than just paying taxes there. Be a part of social causes, stand for something more than just selling beer. 
• Younger customers are much more into the look of packaging than are older customers. As a brewery, you surely want to appeal to the younger demographic to increase your chance of gaining a lifetime customer. A canning brewery should make sure its label designs strongly appeal to the younger demographic. (Keep up with design trends. Spend some money with commercial graphic arts professionals who understand who to deliver that. Pre-test design options to assess their appeal before committing them to cans or labels.) 

LINKS FOR MORE RELATED INFO

Bart Watson’s keynote address at CBC 2025
Data from Craft Brewing Business
Article from Secret Hopper
Article from Beer CPA