Craft brewing – is it really about the sensory revolution?

Abstract

The sudden craft breweries expansion currently occurring in Europe, and by that also in Croatia, has been a true conundrum. The question is why craft breweries currently undergo such intense propagation. The answers to this is not simple and has to be monitored from a few different angles: what are today’s consumer’s preferences? Why this sudden need to drink posh beer? Health wise – is it healthier to drink craft beer than industrial? The fact is that craft breweries offer beer with a story. The popularity of health benefits of moderate beer consumption, different reports in popular papers and magazines on polyphenolic and other anti-oxidative compounds that aid catching free radicals and reduce the damage they cause, contribute to the shift from industrial plane lager beer craft beer. In the eye of the scientific storm-genetic manipulation with yeast strains, and barley cultivars, water treatments, automatization, people choose simple procedures and raw materials that give them a feeling of uniqueness. This paper contributes to the knowledge of why craft breweries are taking on more and more popularity and why are consumers attracted to such products.