Micros Maxed Out?

As any beer drinker knows, “flat” is not a good thing when it comes to suds.

But flat is finally what happened to microbrew sales across America last year, for the first time since the movement took off in the mid-‘80s.

Still, optimists see the beer glass as half-full. While second-rate breweries are suffering, they say, many of those making good beer are stronger than ever.

Microbreweries, brewpubs and other specialty brewers sold a combined 5.6 million barrels of beer in 1998, the same as in 1997, according to new figures from the Institute for Brewing Studies.

That caps a trend that saw sales growth slip over the preceding three years, from 50 percent to 25 percent to a mere 5 percent increase in 1997.

The picture may be a bit brighter locally. Columbia Distributing, which handles the majority of microbrew brands available in Spokane, saw micro sales rise by 6.6 percent for the year ending April 31.

“Spokane being a bit behind the times, we still should have a couple of years of reasonable, if not rapid, growth,” says Columbia’s Dave Metzger.

Industry experts point to several reasons for the slowdown. Part of it is simple mathematics; as sales totals grow larger, it’s harder to post large percentage increases.

As the leading microbreweries got bigger, they became more of a threat to the Budweisers and Millers, who started fighting back.

“You began to see marketing and advertising that made fun of craft brewers,” says David Edgar, director of the Boulder, Colo.,-based Institute for Brewing Studies. (Good old macrobrew, anyone?) Some people who bought microbrews because it was the trendy thing to do moved on to the next fad - for instance, imported beers, up 14 percent last year. And some people bought microbrews and decided they weren’t worth buying again.

“For every entrepreneur who was really serious about producing top-quality beer, there were one or two others who believed people were buying the sizzle more than the steak, that success had more to do with the packaging and the name than the beer itself,” says Edgar.

“Many consumers, having heard such great things about microbrews, likely had their first experience with one of those inferior-quality beers. Once someone does that, feels betrayed, it’s real hard to bring them back.”

One bright spot in the sales slowdown is that lesser breweries are beginning to be weeded out, Edgar says. “The brewpubs and craft-beer brands that are surviving represent better-organized, better-managed companies and better beers,” he says.

Despite the overall trend, 21 of the 50 largest craft brewers grew by 10 percent or more last year. They include Sierra Nevada, up 26 percent (making it the second-biggest craft brewery behind Sam Adams); New Belgium, up 31 percent; and Deschutes and Alaskan, up 18 percent each.

And brewpubs are doing relatively well on the whole. A total of 138 brewpubs opened nationwide last year, compared to 79 that closed; 45 stand-alone microbreweries opened, while 44 closed.

Northern Lights Brewing Co. in Airway Heights, the only area brewery without its own pub, showed a small growth last year, says owner Mark Irvin. He expects a bigger increase this year as the beer continues to make inroads into the Seattle market.

Increased competition has driven down the profit margin on a keg of beer, Irvin says. At a brewpub, which relies largely on restaurant sales, “you can get away with producing 25 or 30 barrels a month,” he says. But at a stand-alone brewery like his, “The market is forcing everybody to get bigger. You can make less money on each keg and still survive if you’re doing the numbers.”

One fear among hard-core craftbrew fans is that fewer, bigger breweries could mean fewer, more boring beers. Mass-market sales pressure could crowd out the hoppiest India pale ales or the biggest barley wines. (It could be a coincidence, but Sierra’s Bigfoot, normally an unbridled beast of a beer, seems somewhat tame this year.) Edgar points out that several brewers, such as Portland’s Hair of the Dog, still are producing daring, adventurous beers.

But Irvin agrees that tighter bottom lines encourage brewers to move toward the mainstream.

“You’ve got your real core consumers out there, the `beer geeks’ who belong to the homebrew club,” he says. “But the rest of the people are the ones who pay the bills.”

Super Modelo?

While microbrew sales may have slumped, that hasn’t discouraged the big boys from masquerading as micros for marketing purposes.

We couldn’t help smiling at a Cinco de Mayo supermarket sales flier that billed Negra Modelo as “the micro from Mexico.” While the dark lager is indeed a fine beer (when fresh, anyway), it’s made by Mexico’s biggest brewery, Modelo, which also produces a little something called Corona.

And Modelo is co-owned by another company you may have heard of: Anheuser-Busch.

Going pub-lic

Speaking of brewpubs, if anyone’s interested in the business end of things, Birkebeiner is officially up for sale.

While the downtown Spokane pub has made money each of its first five years, says outspoken owner James Gimurtu, “I’ve worn out my welcome in this town. There’s a big world out there with a lot of opportunities.”

Coming to fruition

Elsewhere on the brewpub scene, summer must be about to blossom given the number of fruit beers beginning to pop up.

At Casey’s in Post Falls, Buc Nakkid Hefeweizen (check the menu for the unlikely legend behind the name) is an unfiltered Bavarian-style wheat beer with hints of banana and clove. In Coeur d’Alene,T.W. Fisher’s just added a Strawberry Hefeweizen to its lineup. “We might even serve it with a strawberry in it,” says owner Tom Fisher.

In Spokane, the Bayou is replacing its longtime raspberry wheat beer with a blackberry version. Solicitor’s Corner is pouring a reddish ale flavored with fresh blueberries and raspberry, huckleberry and boysenberry extracts, with an IPA on the way for hopheads.

A “very large” India pale ale is scheduled to debut at C.I. Shenanigan’s in June; meanwhile, check out the nicely hopped-up pale from its sister brewery at the Ram.

And on a nostalgic note, the tangy rye beer that was once a summer fixture at Fort Spokane has returned following a few years’ absence.

Hopping around

In bottles, larger regional microbreweries also are joining in the warm-weather trend.

Pyramid is bringing back its Sun Fest, a crisp German-style pilsner. Thomas Kemper has added a seasonal Viking Fest Summer Ale, a clear wheat beer in the Bavarian style, as well as a year-round Mason Jar Marzen, a relatively light amber lager that might best be described as an Oktoberfest’s little brother.

Widmer again offers its Sommerbrau, an American interpretation of Germany’s golden Kolsch ales that starts sweet and finishes dry. Hale’s new seasonal Drawbridge Blonde is fairly dry with a pleasantly perfumey hop finish.

And distilled hop oil adds a floral aroma to Portland Brewing’s summer seasonal Pale Ale, dubbed an “oast ale” after the barns used for drying hops. So does that make the brewer an oastmaster?