SIBA: Local beer continues to buck the trend

To kick start a regular slot for general beer market information and research we look at the continued growth of ‘local’ beer in the UK. In the Society of Independent Brewers’ (SIBA) Local Brewing Industry Report 2010, the authors claim that optimism across the local brewing industry remains very much in evidence despite the general economic gloom. The chart below demonstrates that, although the rate of growth has slowed, the market for local beer is continuing to buck the trend of the general beer market. And it is not just the off-trade that is growing. Unlike the ‘big beer brands’ which have seen a dramatic swing towards off-trade and particularly multiple grocers, local beer has continued to grow in the bed rock of the beer business, the on-trade.