当大型酿酒商遇上小型精酿啤酒

    可以肯定的是，Tenth and Blake公司也没有干涉旗下精酿啤酒品牌的自主发展：一如此前的100多年，雷内恩库格尔啤酒的酿造地依然是威斯康星州奇佩瓦瀑布市。事实上，Tenth and Blake更像是一家控股公司。汇丰银行(HSBC)分析师劳伦•托雷斯警告说：“在我看来，人们不会因为米勒康胜建立了一家专门经营精酿啤酒业务的Tenth and Blake公司，就想当然地认为他们在这一市场空间采取了比其他公司更多的措施。”

    就连喜力啤酒公司(Heineken)也并不是对这个啤酒类别感兴趣，尽管有消息称它目前不想染指精酿啤酒领域。托雷斯说：“他们目前还没有进入，但喜力拥有纽卡斯尔(Newcastle )这种本身不属于精酿范畴、但在某些国家和地区确实拥有不少拥趸的品牌。”

    这或许正是“精酿”这个标签自身存在问题的原因所在。就以喜力啤酒为例：这家公司并没有自主研发、也没有收购任何精酿品牌，喜力美国公司CEO多尔夫•凌科说：“我们专注于打造高端、标杆性和进口品牌，我们可以用更少的商品类别更有效率地做到这一点。”但面对竞争对手品牌的成功，这家公司肯定也在不断创新。作为含有龙舌兰花蜜的Dos Equis陈贮系列的新品，喜力美国公司很快将推出Dos-A-Rita啤酒，以应对百威英博旗下品牌Bud Light Lime-A-Rita 和Straw-Ber-Rita咄咄逼人的攻势。此外，喜力公司还推出了一个名叫“拉德乐”(Radler)、类似于香蒂啤酒的品牌。它既带有柠檬味，又不失啤酒的口感，而且比柠檬味的雷内恩库格尔夏季香蒂啤酒包含更高的酒精含量。这种啤酒目前只在欧洲销售，但预计过不了多久就将进入美国市场。虽然这些产品并不一定是“精酿啤酒”，但它们都是旨在为消费者提供独特新口感的创新成果。所以说，刻意区分“老大哥”和小型独立酿酒商（后者往往被视为真正的酿酒行家）分别推出的独特新品，或许毫无意义。

    身为全球最大啤酒公司的营销负责人，保罗•池比也认为，精酿啤酒热潮或许依托于毫无意义地区分酿造商这一现象：“啤酒的优劣与酿制者的规模没有关系，而是取决于酿造传统和工人。仅仅因为它是一个小品牌，并不意味着它的口感就好。同样，仅仅因为它是一个大品牌，也并不意味着它的口感就差。”

    欧洲同样受到了精酿啤酒的热潮冲击，但在欧洲给啤酒分门别类或许更加没有意义。在拉丁美洲，传统智慧认为，巴西人喝巴西啤酒，比如百威英博拥有的梵天（Brahma）和斯科尔(Skol)；墨西哥人喝墨西哥啤酒，比如现在也被百威英博收入囊中的科罗娜(Corona)。但这种状况已经改变。“两个星期前，我去了一趟巴西，所见所闻让我备受震动，”分析师托雷斯说。“我喜欢问人们喝什么啤酒。几年前，他们会提到梵天和斯科尔，但现在，一些人说他们喝喜力，或者其他我从未听说过的品牌，也就是当地的精酿啤酒。所以说，精酿啤酒也来到了巴西。”换句话说，在啤酒世界，品牌忠诚基本上已成为过去式，除了业内人士所称的“买半打啤酒的乔”(Joe Six Pack)之外——这类消费者依然存在，依然重要，他们依然会购买一大箱“米勒淡啤”(Miller Light)或“百威淡啤”(Bud Light)较量一番酒量。

    即便如此，无论公平与否，越来越多的饮酒者认为，小型独立酿酒商意味着更好的质量。正如经销Tenth and Blake啤酒的商人格雷戈里•温伯格所言：“这一点同样适用于奶酪、巧克力和威士忌市场。一种颇为流行的观念是，小批量、或者不归某家大公司所有的制造商就是好品质的代名词。”而这种思维方式正在产生影响。无论是否建立了一个专营精酿啤酒的分支，所有大型啤酒制造商都在密切关注这一市场；它们无法承受忽视这个市场的后果，原因在于，尽管精酿啤酒在美国啤酒市场的占有率依然不到十分之一，但这种啤酒的售价更高，而且增势迅猛，而大多数主流品牌却缺乏增长动力。就在上个月，以生产督威啤酒著称的比利时督威摩盖特酿酒公司(Duvel Moortgat Brewery)发布公告称，它将收购大道酿酒公司(Boulevard Brewing Company)。后者位于堪萨斯城，是美国第12大精酿啤酒酿造商。

    那么，在今年夏天收获雷内恩库格尔啤酒创造的累累果实之后，米勒康胜麾下的Tenth and Blake公司接下来有什么打算呢？一个选择是自主创新，在公司内部研发一款全新的精酿啤酒。公司CEO汤姆•卡尔代拉承认存在这种可能性。“你知道，我们已经针对精酿啤酒业务进行了非常充分的考量，”他告诉《财富》(Fortune)。但他同时也表示，蓝月亮和雷内恩库格尔依然拥有巨大的市场潜能，所以他们或许不需要这样做。无论他们做或不做，其他的啤酒酿造商肯定将变得更加“精酿化”。(财富中文网)

    译者：叶寒

    To be sure, Tenth and Blake leaves its craft brands alone, too: Leinenkugel still brews in Chippewa Falls, Wis., where it has for over 100 years. If anything, Tenth and Blake is more like a holding company. And Lauren Torres, analyst with HSBC, cautions: "I don't think people look at Tenth and Blake and say that because MillerCoors has an established category to focus on craft, they're doing more than others in the space."

    Even Heineken (HEINY), which sources say does not currently want to get anywhere near the craft scene, is not exactly completely uninterested in the category. "They're not playing in it, but they have brands like Newcastle that are not craft per se, but in certain countries do look nichey to consumers," says Torres.

    That may be why the "craft" label itself is problematic. Take Heineken for example: It hasn't created any craft brand from within, it hasn't acquired any craft brands, and U.S. CEO Dolf van den Brink says, "Heineken USA is focused on building upscale, badge, import brands ... And we can do this more efficiently with fewer SKUs." But it is certainly innovating in response to the successes of rival brands. Heineken USA will soon come out with Dos-A-Rita, a line extension on Dos Equis lager that has agave nectar. The product comes in the wake of AB InBev's massive success with Bud Light Lime-A-Rita and Straw-Ber-Rita. Heineken also sells a shandy-like Radler -- part lemonade, part beer, and higher alcohol content than Leinenkugel Summer Shandy, which is lemon-flavored beer -- that currently only sells in Europe but will likely come to the States soon. While these are not necessarily "crafts," they are innovations that seek to offer consumers something new and different. Thus, the distinction between unique new beers from the big guys and small-brewed, independent beers -- perceived as true crafts -- may be meaningless.

    Chibe, too, speaking from his perch as marketer in chief of the largest beer company in the world, says the craft craze may rest on meaningless distinctions about ownership: "It's not about the size, but the brewing tradition and the workers. Just because it's a small brand doesn't mean it will be any good. But just because it's a big brand doesn't mean it will be bad."

    In Europe, which has also experienced the rise of craft beer, the definition may be even less relevant. In Latin America, the longtime wisdom was that Brazilians drink Brazilian beers (think Brahma and Skol, both owned by AB InBev) and Mexicans drink Mexican beers (like Corona, now also owned by AB InBev). But that has changed. "I was in Brazil two weeks ago and I was shocked," says analyst Torres. "I asked people what they drink, and a couple years ago they would say Skol and Brahma, but now some people said Heineken or brands I'd never seen before, meaning local craft beers. So craft has reached Brazil too." In other words, in the beer world, brand loyalty is mostly a thing of the past, save for the "Joe Six Pack," as the industry calls it, who indeed still exists, still matters, and still buys a big case of Miller Light or Bud Light for the game.

    Even so, the perception among more and more drinkers, either fairly or unfairly, is that small and independent means better quality. As Tenth and Blake beer merchant Gregory Weinberg puts it, "It's the same as with cheese, chocolate, and whiskey -- there's this notion that being small-batch, not owned by a big company, means automatic quality." And that association is having an impact. Whether they start a craft division or not, all the big brewers are taking note of craft beer; they can't afford to ignore it because, while crafts only make up single-digit percentage volume of the U.S. beer market, they have higher pricing and they are growing, while staple brands are mostly flat. Just last month, Duvel Moortgat Brewery of Belgium, which produces Duvel, announced it would buy Boulevard Brewing Company, the Kansas City-based, 12th-largest craft brewer in the U.S.

    So what's next for MillerCoors's Tenth and Blake after the summer success of Leinenkugel? One option would be to innovate from within, creating a new craft beer internally. Tom Cardella, CEO of Tenth and Blake, acknowledges it's a possibility. "You know, we've thought about that a lot," he tells Fortune. But he says there's still so much potential with Blue Moon and Leinenkugel that they may not need to. Whether they do or don't, expect the rest of the industry to keep getting more crafty.