Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Economics

First Advisor

Qi Ge

Abstract

This paper examines factors associated with the recent rise in demand for craft beer, referred to by many as the “Craft Brew Revolution”. Using data for the number of brewery permits issued in each state by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), I look at demographic characteristics associated with areas that have seen an increase in demand for craft beer. The paper also focuses on the influence the Internet has had on changes in demand within the beer industry, by analyzing the correlation between the number of breweries and online search behavior collected through Google Trends. Results from the study suggest that the exponential increase in the number of breweries in the United States since 2009 is the result of craft beer’s ability to appeal to both millennials and consumers with higher levels of income. The implications of these findings are not exclusive to the beer industry, and shed light on a change in demand toward more local and specialized products taking place across many markets, especially within the food industry.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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