Not your father's beer

Over the last decade one of the major booming industries in the United States has been microbreweries and the production of craft beer. During this time, microbreweries have slowly found a home in Indiana, most notably with Upland Brewery in Bloomington, but other cities have also followed suit. Cities such as Evansville and Indianapolis, even the small town of Culver now host one, if not more, breweries.

On the website Drink Indiana Beer (drinkin.beer) the organization displays 78 different breweries in the state, and for the present time, this number will only to continue to rise.

It was not many years ago when the beer market was dominated by only a few competitors: Anheuser-Busch, Miller Brewing Company, and Coors. Even today, the major brew houses still retain a majority share of the overall beer market, but slowly craft brew companies are starting to chip away at Big Beer's holdings.

According to the Brewers Association, in 2014, craft brewers produced 22.2 million barrels, and saw an 18 percent rise in volume and a 22 percent increase in retail dollar value. Retail dollar value was estimated at $19.6 billion representing 19.3 percent market share.

These numbers might seem insignificant, but is impressive considering it was not so many years ago, in the late 1990s, Big Beer held over 90 percent of the market.

What's changed? Have some Americans collectively lost their taste for Budweiser, Miller and Coors? In my opinion, part of the answer can be found with the nation's new drinking demographic: The Millennials.

As a note, the Millennial generation is defined as anyone who reached young adulthood around the turn of the 21st century. Some people have labeled Millennials as being born between the late 1970s to the early 2000s (though the cutoff and beginning still varies depending on the study).

Recently there has been a lot of studies conducted about the different habits of Millennials, considering many of the generation have entered the workforce.

Before I continue, one point I would like to raise is the studies I will cite reflect a certain pool of the overall generation, and not particular individuals, whose tastes often vary.

After reviewing many articles, I noticed there is a discrepancy on what type of alcohol the millennials drink. If you do a Google search and type "millennials and beer," the top two results have diametrically opposed headlines. One says millennials love craft beer, and the other says millenials hate beer. But, for the most part, the articles did note that millennials, when they drink beer, have a greater disposition towards craft beer than domestic.

According to CNBC, "In 2014, those numbers inched up slightly -- 48 percent of 18 to 34 year-olds chose beer as their favorite alcoholic beverage, compared to 41 percent of all adults."

The article also notes Budweiser has seen a 28 percent reduction in domestic sale per volume.

"Bud Light--still the most popular beer in America--has seen its sales go down 10 percent, according to Beer Marketer's Insights."

One of the most interesting facts the article cites is today the light beer market, as a whole, has sold 8.3 million fewer barrels since its height in 2008.

There are multiple reasons and speculations why the millennial generation has decided to forgo domestic beer. The article suggested part of the reason was due to taste, and noted 40 percent of those surveyed chose taste as the foremost reason.

Being of the generation, in my opinion another part of the reason for millennials choosing craft brews, might be rooted in identity.

Unfortunately, the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the movies we watch, the books we read, and the beer we drink are falsely noted as being of a person's identity -- though these items are merely things we like, and not a part of what make us, us (but that is a topic for another time).

Psychologically, one thing a generation does is to strike out and express what makes the new generation different from the ones that preceded it. Beer is one of those markers.

Many people might remember growing up and seeing their parents keep a particular brand of beer in their fridge. By choosing a different type of beer, it helps to distinguish a difference between the generations, even though it is only a consumer-based one.

But, there are multiple reasons why craft beer and microbreweries have started to take a strong hold in the alcohol market. Regardless of the cause and being a fan of good beer, I for one am excited to see new microbreweries and craft beer springing up all across the country.

Grant is a staff writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 19. He can also be reached via email at gkarazsia@gmail.com