the growing interest in microbreweries

The super bowl this year was filled with assorted commercials from beer companies with Budweiser being the most prominent. It was interesting to see though that one of the most frequent beer brands seen was the new Bud Light Golden Wheat. The creation of this beer helps to illustrate how the popularity of large beer companies such as Anheuser-Busch InBev and Millercoors has weakened and microbreweries popularity has strengthened. In 2008 the largest breweries annual sales were stagnant while craft breweries sales went up by 10.1 percent according to the Brewers Association. In 2009 the sales of the craft breweries only went up by 1.7 percent, but the large brewing companies sales fell by 2.2 percent.
These large breweries still control the majority of beer drinking in the United States, but microbreweries and brewpubs are increasing steadily. The large amount of customers wanting high crafted beers has been noticed by the larger beer companies with the creation of the above mentioned Bud Light Golden Wheat and Budweiser American Ale. The other large beer company Millercoors has been pushing their own special beer which is Blue Moon and its sales in 2008 increased by 14 percent.
Consumers want for these small microbreweries has been growing for years with The Boston Beer Company who makes Samuel Adams Lager being the lead. (When I traveled abroad in Europe, I always kept my eye out for any American beers besides the Buds and the Millers and the only one I found once was Samuel Adams Lager.) Not only is their an interest in micro-brewed beer, but an even smaller group of consumers even create their own beer. These home brewers are able to create large quantities of quality beer for a moderate price.
The large beer companies have started to respond to consumer wants, but their response seems slow and reluctant. Their problem is going to be trying to change their image of brewing only generic and low quality beers. The beer consumers tastes have changed and it will be curious to see how much affect these small craft breweries will have in future years.