MILTON, DE - Craft brewers
have had their eyes on expansion in recent years, gobbling up shelf space and
capturing a bigger slice of
the beer market share. But now, breweries are turning to a different way to
expand their business: larger container sizes, the New York Times reports.
For example, Dogfish Head
Brewery will soon switch one of its two bottle assembly lines to filling
750-mililiter bottles, a more typical size seen in the wine industry. Some
experts call this the "wine-ification" of beer, with brewers also embracing
22-ounce "bombers" and 3-liter jeroboams.
But for many beer
drinkers, bigger isn??t better, and retailers are finding it difficult to move
the larger sizes. Part of the problem is that, unlike wine, beer can??t be saved
for another occasion and must be drunk soon after opening. "They??ll say, 'I
wish that came in a smaller bottle, because that would just ruin the night for
me,??" said Ben Granger, the owner of Bierkraft in Brooklyn, NY.
In 2012, around 3.5% of
all craft beer sold in 22-ounce bottles, according to SymphonyIRI. With craft
beer sales overall growing at around 12% annually, many breweries are excited
about bottling in bigger containers. "We do believe in the future of this
format," said Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head founder and CEO.
The shift comes down to
brewers wanting to move their products beyond their perceived working-class
roots and into the realm of wine and liquor. "It comes down to the whole
experience we want people to have when drinking our beers," said Ben Weiss,
director of marketing for the Bruery, which bottles its brews in 750-milliliter
bottles. "We want you to share it with a friend, pour it into a glass and
actually experience the beer rather than just grab it and start drinking."