There are a number of reasons for this. Large corporations obviously want access to a lucrative and growing market, but craft brewers also need access to capital, better distribution deals and marketing expertise, writes Gary Mortimer in InDaily, an Australian publication.
Two companies – Lions and SAB – control more than 50% of the market. Large corporations own most of Australia’s prominent craft beer brands. Even soft drink manufacturers are buying craft beer brands, and major supermarkets are producing private label craft beers.
As in the U.S., this can be a two-edged sword. Turns out that surveys show the story of “independent ownership” to be a large part of why drinkers buy craft beers. Indeed, a sample of 17,000 people found 99% were happy to buy a beer brewed by an independent Australian brewery, 85% a beer brewed by a “Gypsy Brewer” that doesn’t own a brewery, 32% a beer produced for large supermarket-owned bottle shops, 23% brewed by a large multi-national company and 21% a beer that’s “just a brand” brewed at a production facility.
“When a small brewery sells out to a multinational corporation, consumers can experience something psychologists call “incongruence“. Brand congruency happens when everything is aligned – the message, the story, the production, the ownership.
“So when consumers realise that the artisanal craft beer they are drinking is not owned by a small local independent brewer, they will likely become disillusioned,” Mortimer writes. Read more here.