Project

History of Craft Beer

The craft beer industry has provided a significant boost to Southern California’s rising economy. With a diverse and sophisticated selection of craft brews, Southern California has generated billions in revenue directly from the sales of craft beer. In this thesis, we set out to examine how craft breweries developed over the last several decades and how craft beer has impacted the beer industry. We set the focus on the revolution of craft beer while comparing the demise of wine industry and the contrasting development of the coffee industry. We determined a set of criteria for benchmarking purposes across the board for beer, wine, and coffee. The criteria included early history in America, the distribution change that each of these commodities have gone through in the last few decades, and the rise and fall of these beverages during the 1990s. Our analysis has brought to life some of the major inflection points for each of these industries as well as some of the economic and cultural changes that have been affected by beer, wine or coffee. The goal is to shed light on the significance of craft beer, its history, its rise in today's economy, and how this beverage of the common has become every bit as sophisticated as its rivals such as coffee and wine.

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