What we have seen in the beer industry in recent decades is a revolution by way of innovation. American craft brewers have disrupted a monolithic beer industry that was once indifferent to flavor and obsessed with branding, price, and market share.
Craft brewers like to say that we changed the world of beer, and we did. We recognize that, worldwide, beer is still mostly light lager, but in America, the landscape has been forever changed.
Craft brewers achieved this through real innovation, not by trying to mimic the incumbent players. Innovations included leaning into hop-forward beers; ignoring traditional levels of flavor and aroma; and fermenting and conditioning beers in oak barrels as Old World brewers did. Some innovated their route to market by creating their own distribution systems, bypassing the legacy wholesale channels weighed down with big-brewer priorities. Still others innovated with a dynamic brand, sharing an authentic personality that was legitimate and current, driving a real emotional connection with the consumer.