Skip to main content

Among the Competition, Customers Win!

By: Gustavo Kramer
First-Year Brewmaster Student

In Brazil, behavior towards beer consumption has been changing. Prior to the 2000s, there were almost no options for people to consume different types of beer as the market was dominated by big corporations producing American Lager’s brewed with adjuncts. Those who wanted to drink something different had to seek out the very few establishments selling expensive imported beers. However, the new millennium saw a boom in craft brewery options meaning customers are now able to discover a multitude of styles, including the formerly unknown 100% malt-based beer.

As customers started to seek out this particular beer style, the biggest corporation in the world AmBev, subsidiary of Anheuser-Bush InBev in Brazil, saw an opportunity involving malt-based beers and the potential for a niche market. AmBev invested years of research in developing a 100% malt-based recipe and in 2018 they launched two new brands in Brazil made with 100% malt: Skol and Brahma, both of which are responsible for 67% of total beer sales in Brazil (Flanders, 2015). Besides the traditional Brahma Pilsen, made with adjuncts, they launched three beers using 100% malt: Brahma Extra Lager, Brahma Extra Red Lager, and Brahma Extra Weiss. Skol also launched two 100% malt-based beers: Skol Hops and Skol Puro Malte (Skol Pure Malt). Moreover, the AmBev’s brand Serramalte, a Premium American Lager, traditionally brewed with adjuncts, migrated to the 100% malt-based recipe.

The production of 100% malt-based beer by AmBev was a reaction against Heineken gaining ground in Brazil, as well as other smaller brands such as Eisenbahn, and craft beers. Who is the winner in this war to gain market dominance? The customers! As automakers spend billions of dollars every single year, developing better cars and trying to overcome competitors, it is not so different in the brewing industry. It is an excellent lesson for craft breweries: either please the customers and develop better products, or the brewery shuts down. If a craft brewery wants to thrive, being complacent is never allowed. As the market is very dynamic, competitors will be so. Craft breweries need to take research, development, improvements, optimization, and quality seriously. It means hard work outside of their comfort zone. But moreover, the customers win.


Gustavo Kramer is a first-year brewmaster student in the 6th cohort, and was born in Porto Alegro, Brazil. He worked in a brewery for one year during his academic pursuit as a food engineer and is now looking to continue his brewery experience here in Canada. 





Reference:
Flanders Investment & Trade Market Survey. (2015). The Beer Sector in Brazil. Sao Paulo: Flanders Investment & Trade.




Popular posts from this blog

Beer Review: Okami Kasu Japanese Ale

By: Anthony Page Second-year Brewmaster Student I found myself in the nearest specialty liquor supplier, scavenging for the newest, most hop intense, bittersweet and fruity thing I could possibly find when I saw it sitting there.  This was not the style I usually go for, but something about it drew me in.  As I usually go about on my Saturday afternoons in Calgary, I like to grab some beer prior to my once a week family dinner.  My brother in law will be there, and my father will crack a brew with us.  It’s always been a bit of a mission to broaden their horizons with new and interesting ales and lagers.  Of course, I have embarked on studying the art of brewing beer, so I should at least justify my path in schooling by wowing them with something remarkable.  There on the shelf were two six packs of beer I had heard about but had never strongly considered purchasing.  The brewery was fairly new in town, the previous style I had tried from them...

Hilton Ventures: Pioneering Farming Techniques Growing Alberta Two-Row Barley

By: Taraya Middleton First-Year Brewmaster Student The rolling prairie farmlands of central Alberta are a lovely shade of golden straw brown mixed with plots of green. The land is slowly coming out of the long winter hibernation and farmers are working long days to prep the soil for seeding. It would be best if you cared about the state of Alberta's farmlands because nearly half of the yearly Canadian export of 620,000 tonnes of barley comes from Alberta farms. The impact of all this hard work is showcased by brewers both local and international, at the micro- and macro-levels.  It's early May, and heavy rain, snow, and hail have moved through the Calgary-area around noon, tracking east towards Strathmore. For those in the farming industry, it's another Alberta weather pattern that requires patience as it will eventually blow over. It might push seeding schedules back by a few hours, or days, but hopefully not much longer. For everyone else, well, it’s a minor ...

The History of Healthy Beer

By: David Van De Walle Second-year Brewmaster Student Beer has been produced throughout history, but not for the same reason we produce beer today.  For much of it's early history, beer - or rather a fermented beverage closely resembling beer - has been consumed in large gatherings.  It was not the social aspect that that brought people together for beer, nor was it the large alcohol percentage that enticed them.  It was actually for health reasons that the consumption of beer began.  People found out long ago that when they consumed beer instead of water, they did not get as sick.  They did not understand the reasons why, but they did not question it, and continued the consumption of beer.  Little did they know that the yeast found in the beer out-competed the other harmful bacteria found in the water.  The yeast also increased the ethanol levels, and decreased the pH to levels that are harmful to other organisms.  The act of fermentati...