Throughout the 2010s the beer industry saw a surge of consumers increasingly preferring craft beer over established alternatives. By 2025 the craft beer industry is predicted to command US$ 186.59bn annually around the world. Consumers are championing breweries that offer a point of difference in their product, and enterprising beer aficionados happy to provide it. As a result, the Caribbean can contemplate a landscape where the existing craft beer industry is not only here to stay, but well-placed to grow in future. So what does this mean for fans of new beer and new businesses alike?
Crafting a Caribbean Beer Identity
As a region most famous for its rum, the Caribbean won’t be outpacing Bavaria any time soon as a beer epicentre. Nonetheless, recent years have seen the craft beer identity of the region grow strongly, and in unique ways.
As well as individual success stories like West Indies Pale Ale in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Puerto Rico has emerged as a craft beer capital of the Americas with businesses like Ocean Lab Brewing Co and Zurc Brauhaus winning acclaim on the island and beyond. Notably, the rapid growth of its craft beer industry has also seen established major breweries – the Puerto Rican equivalents for Saint Lucia’s Piton or Jamaica’s Red Stripe – up their game in providing new brews in response to changing market demand.
For Puerto Ricans this may well be a fantastic turn of events but, in the wider context, the truth is more complicated. In order to understand the significance of Puerto Rico’s story, and what it shows about the future of the Caribbean craft industry, first it’s essential to grasp the state of the craft beer industry globally.
The Market in-Depth
Though the branding of many craft beer breweries places emphasis upon being local, the growth of the industry as a whole is borderless and global. Data also shows the industry’s capacity to deliver surprising trends.
Within the US domestic market, the most famous craft beer breweries, such as Sierra Nevada, are commonly found out west, within California and Oregon. However, the north-east state of Vermont claims the title of the nation’s craft beer capital, with 11.5 breweries per 100,000 people (over the legal drinking age of 21).
The story of Sierra Nevada evidences the scale of success a craft brewery can have, with the humble beginnings of the brand now a distant memory as the company is held to have a value of over US$ 1bn and has also achieved the notable feat of being the first publicly traded craft beer business.
The US is currently the biggest craft beer market but the future of the export industry is considered to be in Asia, given the region’s unmatchable capacity for blockbuster growth. Smaller regional nations, like Australia and New Zealand, have looked to leverage their ‘clean and green’ agricultural image in exporting into Asia craft beer produced with an emphasis on pure and high quality ingredients. In doing so they have blazed a path for other countries in other regions, seeking to capitalise upon the craft beer revolution.
The Business of Breweries
Craft beer breweries can become a major local attraction, given the beer is locally made. Yet, for Caribbean breweries the greatest opportunity comes not by seeking to compete with a brewery in a mega city like New York or LA, but by exporting a local offering into such a huge market.
There is a terrific opportunity here for the Caribbean. The region’s brewers do not need to define a whole new identity when it comes to local beers, but simply build upon the existing one. This is not a region where a heavy stout or hearty wheat beer has a natural home but it’s the perfect place for fresh and vibrant beers – those with light colours and citrus and floral notes that encapsulate the vibrancy of the Caribbean climate and the many cultures that live among it.
This is also a region where the combination of beer and rum could be better built in a bold and distinctive way. Many who have perhaps mixed this combo poorly at Gros Islet’s Friday Night Street Party may wince at them coming together but there already exist brands out there, like Untold, that are combining this alluring mix into one drink, and making it available for sale locally and globally.
Today England is known for its stouts, Germany for its wheat beer; tomorrow the Caribbean could be known for its world-leading craft beer and rum combinations. But achieving this first requires recognition of what beer makers are most likely to cement into such a distinctive identity.
The Future for Craft Beer in the Caribbean
The aforementioned Puerto Rican experience is indicative. While it sounds good in theory for established businesses to respond to the craft’s rise by concocting new brews of their own, the global experience shows this can be a challenge for consumers. In response to growing competition, many major beer brands will look to tap into the craft beer market by putting out a new brew with a ‘local’ name and passing it off as a craft creation when, in fact, it is being made at the same distillery as all their other major brands.
For Caribbean craft beer enthusiasts who seek to develop and promote the region’s best brews, retaining their genuine links to the craft industry remains a key challenge as the established players seek to consolidate their market share. This is especially so for those who would one day like to see local beer desired abroad in the same way as the region’s rum.
Recent years have seen Caribbean rum going through a renaissance, with demand surging globally. Undoubtedly a healthy Caribbean craft beer industry must be one where there are true craft brands and not simply just major producers masquerading as such.
