Major alcohol companies in the Asia Pacific market including Pernod Ricard, Bottega, Heineken brewer APBS and more have weighed in how a mix of modern craft innovation and premiumisation trends are currently driving the alcohol market in the region.
Craft beer firm Lion Brewery has described Singapore as one of the most vibrant and important craft beer markets in the region driven by strong consumer demand, despite facing significant ‘anti-competitive’ challenges to entry and growth.
Delhi-headquartered brewery Bira 91 has detailed how consumer demands for ‘healthier and more experimental’ products are guiding its innovation strategy, while also revealing its plans for a ‘premium’ Indian beer.
Bali-based Stark Craft Beer has revealed how it is differentiating its marketing strategy between regions, while cautioning that the fledgling Indonesia market is not yet ready for excessive flavour innovation.
Vietnam-based East West Brewery is tapping the traditions of craft beer to grow the category in its home nation, while also seeking to innovate with flavours to appeal to more mature export markets.
Singapore’s Lion Brewery Co is aiming to inspire other local breweries to put Singapore-produced craft beer on the world map, as it makes moves to take the brand to other South East Asian countries and the Middle East.
A brewery-backed online platform providing information, ratings and reviews on craft beer in China is on a mission to grow the category, which currently accounts for just 1.5% of brews sold in the country.
Singapore-based Lion Brewery Co has tapped its e-commerce business and new concepts including subscription services to drive craft beer sales amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In just three years, a craft scene has exploded in Vietnam’s beer capital. We talk to some of the craft brewers and entrepreneurs driving the sector forward with Vietnamese ingredients and local twists.
AB InBev’s venture capital division ZX Ventures has opened a new brewery in Wuhan, China to tap into rising demand for craft beer, sales of which are believed to be growing by 40% year-on-year countrywide.
For the majority of Australian craft beer drinkers (64%), knowing who owns the beer they drink is important, according to the 2017 Australian Craft Beer Survey.
Riding on a trend towards premiumisation, craft beer, though still a very small market in China, is likely to continue gaining considerable share and should enjoy remarkable performance.
When large multinational brewers buy small independent craft brewers, it often prompts an outcry among beer fans. But do consumers really care who owns their favourite beer brands?
By Glenn Cary, chief executive of Balmain Brewing Company
It’s hard to stress how important it is for craft brewers to get their product into greater China as we watch the market there unfold amid rising incomes and increasing openness to new tastes in beer.
Faced with increasing gains across Asia-Pacific, not least in Australia where traditional brewers are fast losing market share, craft beer importers are now eyeing Southeast Asia as a new growth market.
The remarkable rise in popularity of craft beer in Australia might be driving mainstream brewery executives to the bottle, but for Glenn Cary, chief executive of the independent Balmain Brewing Company, it is only the beginning.
Australian jobs are at risk, as is the credibility of the segment, if craft breweries continue to licence their beer to mainstream operators, according the previous head of Byron Bay Brewing Company, which has found itself at the centre of a consumer...