Sooser beer is closing, Blackwell is closing, Bachweg Brewing was in financial trouble. The list could be extended. It is quickly explained that the high energy and raw material prices are causing problems for the small, professional breweries. But is that the whole truth? A search for clues.
Ten years ago, everyone said: “Switzerland is simply 10 years behind the USA”. But today we are nowhere near where the USA was 10 years ago. What has happened in Switzerland in the last 10 years? In a nutshell: too little.
Stocktaking: Somewhere between standstill and mini-progress
The import of craft beer has first increased, then decreased again. Is this due to the increasing consumption of domestic craft beer? Or rather because of the Corona aftershocks? It’s difficult to say.
In the gastronomy sector, we feel that we have regressed, but here and there we have also made progress, and in general we have probably come to a standstill. In the countryside, the big brewing companies continue to dominate. At best, a crafty beer is on offer. In a few cities there are some beer bars. But the majority of restaurants continue to offer the same mainstream beers.
Even Coop is making a bit of a half-hearted push for beer – and there, too, mainly with crafty beers, i.e. beers that have typical craft beer styles but come from the big breweries and are not craft beers.
And the quality of Swiss microbreweries is still mostly below decent. And the worst thing is that many are not even interested in getting better, as a recent letter to the editor in the Zofinger Tagblatt exemplifies. But also our own experience as co-organisers of the Brau- und Rauch Beer Contest shows: many of the microbreweries are not interested in quality, their own further education and thus their own improvement.
Attempt at explanation: Craft beer and Switzerland don’t go together (yet)
And how do we explain this? Our hypotheses would be the following:
- In Switzerland, everything has to be “fancy” and beer is not fancy. Beer still has a “worse than wine” image and while you can impress your environment with an expensive wine, you can’t do that with beer (yet).
- The people who think fancy is stupid also think modern beer is stupid and therefore drink their favourite lager.
- We have a duopoly: two dominant breweries that can dominate the market at will and thus take the air out of everyone: Gastro adhesion contracts for loans and bar furniture. This offer still seems too tempting for gastro companies and the small craft breweries cannot possibly compete.
- Rent is far too expensive here, especially because of the lack of space: in other countries there is enough space that is dirt cheap. There even a small brewery can make a difference by setting up a brewpub where people meet; in Winterthur, for example, there is old industrial space that would be perfect, but it is rather used for parking spaces (no joke).
- Poor quality because:
- customers cannot distinguish between good and bad;
- poor raw materials are available because the Swiss market is too small to claim enough quality goods for itself;
- brewers are poorly trained or not trained at all (see also above).
- Equipment is far too expensive, so we have to use bad Chinese stuff or make it ourselves.
- Rent is far too expensive here, especially because of the lack of space: in other countries there was enough space that is dirt cheap. There, even a small brewery can make a difference by setting up a brewpub where people meet; in Winterthur, for example, there is old industrial space that would be perfect, but it is rather used for parking spaces (no joke).
- Poor quality because:
(a) customers cannot distinguish between good and bad;
b) poor raw materials are available because the Swiss market is too small to claim enough quality goods for itself;
c) brewers are poorly trained or not trained at all (see also above). - Equipment is far too expensive, so we have to use bad Chinese stuff or make it ourselves.
Attempt at a solution: radical but sustainable
So what has to happen for the craft beer market in Switzerland to have a chance? Here are a few, admittedly somewhat extreme, suggestions:
- Beer may only be sold by breweries with an output of , let’s say 10,000 litres per year – except in their own taproom. [this sentence was edited to emphasize that it’s not about the actual number, but more the sentiment, i.e. less competition by breweries that don’t have to survive on the sales earnings]
- Breweries may no longer finance bars/restaurants and thus bind them to themselves.
- The brewers’ association also respects the small members and also does PR for niche varieties, which it currently groups together as speciality beers.
- Swiss breweries accept that they have a quality problem and are working to improve.
- We beer friends regularly buy beers in reasonable quantities from the really professional breweries that also produce really good beers.
- We tell everyone what a great culinary experience beer can be and help change the image of beer.
What is missing? What are your ideas to get us to where the US was 10 years from now? Post your suggestions in the comments.
Luc Delacoste
The situation is different in Romandie. Not perfect but slightly better. Maybe the fact that, according to untapped at least, best swiss beers comes from this part of the country gives an interesting view.
I have encountered many brewers in my job as raw material suppliers that just say their brew are good enough and don’t see the point of brewing better beers. And this is not always the untrained ones. About the fact brewers can’t get their hand on the good stuff, I see not problem on this part. Maybe some brewers should get out of their confort zone, they will find anything they want. Yes it will be more expensive, but like everything here. Brewers from other European countries pay less for real estate for sure, but also have to deal with very competitive market. Swiss brewers are not the only ones to face competition from giants, and the duopoly is not harder to deal with than having ABinbev on top of that.
Homebrewers who sell their beers, the 10 or 20hl per year guys, should not be of any concerns to good craft breweries at all, but harm the market selling some bad beers. The 400 liter rule is utterly ridiculous, and has to be modified.
To my point of view, what we face is inevitable the swiss craft beer scene has been sleepy and lazy.
The time is coming for the swiss brewer to move on and brew better beers. Then clients will follow.
One last point, the journalists in Switzerland are below everything when It comes to craft beer, no chance for quality here, just tell them a nice story, anyway they don’t know anything about craft beer, and don’t give a dam shit about.
Good time are coming, for the good ones, once the market would have been washed out the bad brews.
I firmly believe we have good professional here, and THEY will survive.
Luc Cayon
TristanT
Hello,
I think the article is forgetting a few key aspects of the global context. Many countries are currently in second quarter with negative growth i.e. recession. This on top of the financial difficulties endured (and consequences i.e. payback) of Covid19. The tributaries of the beer industry suffered heavily, most notably events and HORECA sector. In a recession, marked by high inflation and specifically in CH, a change to the interest rates (for so long negative or close to it) means that many people have less buying power. Less buying power means people buy less. Craft beer is a luxury good, not a necessity, and thus it is logical that sales would suffer overall. The Nielsen figures for Q4 2022 and Q1 2023 show an overall drop in sales across the board, bar a few exceptions. The figures on overall consumption have dropped slightly, but nothing that was not expected. So it is not just “small craft brewers” who are suffering, but the industry as a whole.
And it is not just the beer industry. Most industries relying on the wonders of industrialisation are impacted due to shortages, increases in energy costs and overall cost of doing business. Beer, like many other industries, is a high volume, low margin ball game. Maybe the issue is the overall model practiced that is out of touch with the reality.
As to the quality issues; there is a lot of bad beer and decent beer everywhere. But in a world where your margins are being squeezed, by the market rates before and after, why would you risk investing in quality when “good enough” is good enough? The market decides what is good and bad. And the market seems to overwhelming say that good enough for a certain price is ok. To make huge investments to increase in quality only for your beer to cost more than the market is willing to pay for and then to cry home about it seems a little precocious. It also makes no sense.
The purists will complain, but the purists do not consume enough to fiscally make a difference.
On the availability of quality raw materials or hardware; I can only agree with Luc; in 2023 in CH, you can get pretty much anything you could possibly dream of. One just has to be willing to pay. Again, if you want quality, then it comes at a cost.
I’m also all for using local materials and hardware, promoting local business. But to make grandsweeping statements on the quality of equipment from China is just xenophobia at its best. China, like many countries, can produce wonderful and terrible equipment. It all depends on the budget you have. I have seen better equipment coming from China than from Germany, and vice versa. It all depends on budget. If you want a high quality brewery with Italian steel and German mechanics and Swiss programming, then get a bigger budget.
The brewers association should… Maybe if more craft breweries joined (the bar for entry has once again been lowered) then they would have more of a voice. It’s easy to complain on social media or in the bar. It takes a bit more effort (and cash) to actually make a difference.
As to breweries financing HORECA installations; is it really up to us to tell them how to run / finance their businesses? If someone is stupid enough to lock themselves into a bad contract (for average beer) then why stop them? If someone is only looking at profit, then does a real “craft” brewer really want to get involved with that? It smells like a bad recipe to me. The problem seems to be more endemic than just stopping breweries from financing taps. A well organised small craft brewery can afford to co-finance taps ; I’ve seen and been a part of it. I’ve also seen smart business owners do some research and install their own systems for a fraction of the cost quoted by the “big boys”. Brewers who spend their time whining about quality or about market inequality are not wrong. But the energy would be far better spent finding solutions rather than moaning. It would yield better results.
It is hard times for everyone at the moment (unless you sell oil, bullets and gravestones) and for sure we need to stick together and support each other. But we also need to be realistic about assessing the situation. We also need to realize that overly risky business practices are just that; and when businesses are overexposed and suffer its not nice; people lose jobs, have to make sacrifices at home. But we also should not endorse bad business practice. We should take it on the chin, learn and do better next time. And also remember that sometimes it’s good enough to just be good enough.
Tristan