EARLY DAYS
Beer was first brewed in the United States by Native American tribes. The first commercial brewery emerged in 1632, built by the Dutch West India Company in Lower Manhattan. Dutch and English settlers had realized that the climate and terrain of New York at the time was perfect for growing malt and hops, two essential ingredients for brewing beer. The beer market was greatly growing, with the emergence of 26 new breweries all around New Amsterdam, located at the southern tip of Manhattan. Unfortunately there quickly came a lag in market growth, with a minimal increase in production between 1650 and the Civil War. At the time beer was only served from wooden kegs, as bottling was expensive, so the commodity did not travel well. Also, it was not uncommon for households to brew their own beer, which was largely an individual task given to women in the early modern period. Widows brewed beer for a livelihood which greatly increased the accessibility and consumption of beer. |
1800-1900
From 1800-1865 brewing really began to expand in America. By 1810, America had 140 commercial breweries which produced over 180,000 barrels of beer in the year. Another major spike in the growth of the commodity occurred in the late 1800’s during the industrial revolution. Technological improvements and innovations in the brewing process created more effective beer production and a wider variety of beers. For instance, artificial refrigeration was created, which allowed brewers to continue to brew during warm summers. As well, pasteurization, the procedure developed by Louis Pasteur, made storage and transportation of packaged beer more reliable, while also increasing its shelf life. With these technological improvements also came expansion, as American brewers began to fill the void for the demand of a new variety of beers. Widespread immigration was occurring, especially from strong beer drinking countries like Ireland, Germany, and England, which helped contribute to the beer culture. German-style lagers started to become produced, which was quite different to the typical British-style ales brewed in America. This had great popularity due to the high volume of German immigrants in 19th century, and in fact by 1900, the new-style lager had outsold ale’s by a great margin |
1900-2000's
In conjunction, these factors greatly helped transform and grow the beer market in America. Production increased from 3.6 million barrels in 1865 to over 66 million by 1914. The per capita consumption also rose drastically from under 4 gallons in 1855 to 21 gallons by the early 1910’s. American breweries which had started as small scale local operations were beginning to transform by the late 1900’s after the prohibition. Companies like Anheuser-Busch and Pabst Brewing Company increased their scale of production and distribution, becoming 2 of the nation’s first nationally oriented breweries. They became known as what were called “shipping breweries” at the time, utilizing the growing railroad system to ship their product across the country, as seen in the Figure on the right. This started eliminating smaller and locally oriented breweries which couldn’t keep with the production and sales of the bigger companies in the industry. Up until the late 1900’s, the 5 largest breweries saw a share of 76% of the national beer market. By the year 2000, hundreds of new small scale breweries started emerging across the U.S. called microbreweries. They tried to tap into a new aspect of the beer market, emphasizing the freshness of locally brewed beers. They also introduced new flavors with strong malt and hop tastes, while reintroducing old styles of beer which were popular in the past. The microbrewery movement caught wind in America with many people liking the idea of having fresh local beer made through old-fashioned production. With the beer market growing in America, the global beer market was emerging as well. U.S. brewing companies began getting licensing to allow brewers overseas in countries like Japan and Ireland to brew their brand of beer. Eventually U.S firms established their own breweries overseas, tapping into the global market. |
Cultural & Social Growth
The beer drinking culture has greatly changed and grown over the years. As mentioned previously, throughout the early stages of beer’s emergence into American culture, small scale microbreweries were the popular choice of Americans. As time passed, larger breweries took over the market, with very few microbreweries remaining in business. Now currently, the beer drinking culture has reverted back to its roots, with an upwards of 2000 microbreweries in the U.S. Microbreweries and craft beer are once again becoming the choice of drink for many Americans. Large breweries such as Anheuser-Busch and Molson-Coors have tried to create their own lines of craft beer, but have not been successful. Many consumers view it as not being authentic craft beer, but instead rip-offs of their larger lines of beer. Now across North America there are strictly craft beer pubs and bars to cater to the new taste of drinkers. As well, there are a number of marketing campaigns like Craft Beer Festivals to further expand the market, as shown in the Figure on the right. The emergence of the old beer drinking culture is expected to continue to grow, with a greater expansion of microbreweries across North America. With change in the beer drinking culture has also come growth and change in the social aspect of the commodity. From the earliest record of beer consumption, drinking has been associated as a social activity with self-imposed controls. Though, over the years and in different parts of the world, beer drinking has been associated with a variety of things. For instance in societies like the U.S., England, and Scandinavia, drinking is associated with drunkenness and even sometimes violence. In comparison, in Mediterranean and some South American cultures, drinking is peaceful and associated with relaxation. As well, in these different cultures and parts of the world, social norms in terms of when to drink and tolerable drunkenness are widely different. In the North American and English culture, alcohol is related to the transition from work to play. Beer drinking is associated with fun and irresponsibility and is mutually exclusive from anything having to do with work. It is also seen as a ritual for celebration and festivity, where if something commemorative occurs, it is “an excuse to get drunk”. Comparing this to places like France, Spain, and Peru, drinking is actually a part of the normal working day. This is also how it used to be in the past in North America, where workers, especially in manufacturing sectors would drink beer during and after work. As seen the social norms of beer drinking having greatly changed over the years and vary based on the culture and part of the world. Most of the time the social outcomes and behavior during drinking are determined by the social and cultural norms already in place. As proposed in a seminal paper by Mandelbaum, “When a man lifts a cup, it is not only the kind of drink that is in it, the amount he is likely to take and the circumstances under which he will do the drinking that are specified in advance for him, but also whether the contents of the cup will cheer or stupefy; whether they will induce affection or aggression, quiet or unalloyed pleasure. These and many other cultural definitions attach to the drink even before it reaches his lips.” |