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Oregon’s craft breweries face continued challenges

22 January 2024 By Jessica Mason

Oregon’s craft brewing sector has seen its draught beer sales decline as a result of the pandemic changing consumer habits.

Oregon has approximately 400 breweries, brewpubs and taprooms which provide 50,000 jobs and almost US$9 billion in economic output, according to the state’s brewer’s guild. But, according to local reports, around 30 of those businesses closed last year, and many more are facing challenges.

In a report via OPB. Sonia Marie Leikam, the co-owner of Leikam Brewing and the vice president of the Oregon Brewers Guild explained how consumer preferences were changing and how this was having a knock-on effect on the margins that the breweries could make.

Leikam revealed: “We are seeing national trends towards canned cocktails, seltzers and more nonalcoholic beer options. Those make up now about a third of our sales. They are lower profit margins for us, and that impacts our bottom line.”

According to Leikam, the need to continually market extra events is also taking its toll. She explained: “We also are spending just a ton more time and energy creating events. So we now have crafting classes and a book club and comedy nights. Really anything that the community wants, we offer our space for those activities to drive folks into the tap room.”

The local newservice also highlighted how, when Laurelwood Brewing Company was at its peak before the pandemic, it had three restaurants and three retail outlets at the Moda Center and two others at the Portland airport, but the business was forced to close its last retail location at the end of 2023.

Laurelwood Brewing Company owner Mike De Kalb admitted that there is a big difference between how things were before the pandemic and now. De Kalb insisted: “The economy was different back then. People’s habits were different. People wanted to go out, they wanted to get out of the house and go frequent tap rooms.”

The issues mounted, according to De Kalb, after people got used to “streaming services, DoorDash, Uber Eats” and ordering things in duering the pandemic. Essentially, consumer habits changed.

De Kalb observed how “people’s habits have been ingrained over two years of ordering, online services, grocery stores, those sort of things. And, when we opened up again, we had an initial rush, but then they went back to their old habits”.

Leikam said that, add all of this to the pressures many businesses face during January, the results had created a perfect storm for drinks and hospitality businesses trying to stay afloat. She suggested that, even while people were taking part in alcohol abstinence campaigns at the start of the year, they needed to remember that “beer, wine, cider, spirits” were “huge parts of the Oregon economic machine. The third largest source of revenue for the state is this sector”.

With this in mind, she warned that, for people to see the industry survive they needed to play a part too and go out of their way to “make that extra stop”.

Leikam advised: “If you’re going to buy beer, buy it directly from a brewery tap room or a bottle shop” or find ways to support the local business. For instance, “schedule a get together with friends, hold a parent teacher night at your local brewery. We offer nonalcoholic beverages too. We have community gathering spaces. We have philanthropy nights. Reach out to us. Talk to your local brewery” and added that Oregon’s communities needed to remember that the breweries are “here for you”.

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