There is nothing better than kicking your feet up and cracking open a cold one after a long day. In the past two years, many craft breweries were affected by the pandemic.
Despite all this, brewers have created a way to keep consumers coming back for more and more. Whether you fancy a bitter and hoppy IPA or light and hazy brew, these are the trends you will want to know.
We spoke to brewmistress Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela on beer trends to expect in 2022. Nxusani-Mawela said the last two years have not been the greatest for the South African beer industry. She said Covid-19 and the numerous alcohol bans have been tough and many breweries had to close down, but with the new year come new promises and new opportunities.
Growth of non-alcoholic beers
Non-alcoholic beers have been around for a while, just that no one really cared much about them until we had alcohol bans and that was the closest thing to beer many could find.
This pushed many breweries to launch their own range of non-alcoholic offerings, a trend that continued even outside the alcohol bans. We now have breweries exploring non-alcoholic variants for a wide range of beer styles and ciders.
This for me is one of the positive things to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic, a trend that continues to grow, not only locally but also globally. It’s going to be interesting to see the level of innovation we will start to see from the industry within this category and how consumers will continue to react.
Opening up of new breweries, new brands, especially black-owned brands
The last two years have forced us to be more aware and appreciative of locally produced products and the existence of small businesses within the alcohol industry. People got to taste beers and other alcohol products they had never tasted before.
This I believe has opened up the industry not only to new consumers but also entrepreneurs. As the country continues to go back to our new norm, I think we will also start seeing new breweries opening up and new brands starting out, especially black-owned brands.
Move towards canning
The move from using glass bottles to aluminium cans started in the Western Cape before Covid-19 and was starting to gain traction across the country. I think this is one trend that will definitely pick up from where it left off pre-Covid.
The current shortage and issues with glass bottles are not going to make matters any better and will actually push more manufacturers towards canning. The canning trend is interestingly currently being observed across all beverages, not only in South Africa but also globally.
Online sales
Another trend that owes its popularity to the Covid-19 pandemic is the online sale of alcohol. Pre-Covid, consumers preferred to go out to bottle stores and pubs to enjoy their beers.
The restrictions in sales of alcohol introduced in the last two years have pushed consumers towards online buying. I think some of these consumers have now become convinced into online buying and will continue to do so even when things go back to normal.
Beer travels
For the last two years, we have all been stuck at home with very limited movement – no festivals, no gatherings, and many restrictions on alcohol sales. Once the country opens up and returns to some sort of normality, we will definitely see a boom in both local and international tourism.
We will have more people wanting to visit breweries, taprooms and attend festivals. Beer tourism and beer travel is going to be another interesting trend to look out for this year.