THE WHO, WHAT, WHEN AND WHERE OF A WISCONSIN CRAFT 1
The Who, What, When and Where of a Wisconsin Craft Beer
Jerame Streichert
Nathan Enerson
McKenzie Johnson
Mark Kanyanta
Lakeland College
Business Research Methods
BA 700.G1
Dr. Ralph J. Rich
October , 2015
THE WHO, WHAT, WHEN AND WHERE OF A WISCONSIN CRAFT 2
The Who, What, When and Where of a Wisconsin Craft Beer
Have you ever drank a beer at home or at your favorite brew pub and wondered” why did
I selected this beer and this place?” Not my people are that introspective when it comes to beer
drinking. As the industry has moved from large mass produced beers the Baby Boomer
generations consumed to small locally produced craft beers Millennials enjoy. People are
becoming more connected than ever to what is in their glass. As a startup craft brewery in the
state of Wisconsin we need to produce beer people enjoy and create an atmosphere at our
brewery that will draw people in and keep them coming back. Through the research process we
intend to answer several questions that will help grow our product selection and increase overall
sales.
We need to know our demographic, who is drinking craft beer? What appeals to a person
that is willing to pay a higher price for their beer? What styles of beer does this group of people
enjoy? Knowing what styles our customers prefer can tailor our selection to satisfy their palette.
Also where do our customers like to drink their beer? Is it in our brew pub? Is it at home or on
the go? Do we need to move into bottling production? We also want to maximize our location
and advertising to keep existing customers but also bring in new business. By knowing the
answer to these questions we can give the customer what they really want and continue to grow
and sustain our business.
According to the Brewery Association an American craft brewer is small, independent
and traditional. Small, annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less (approximately 3
percent of U.S. annual sales). Independent, less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or
controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by a beverage alcohol industry member that is not
THE WHO, WHAT, WHEN AND WHERE OF A WISCONSIN CRAFT 3
itself a craft brewer. Traditional, a brewer that has a majority of its total beverage alcohol volume
in beers whose flavor derives from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients and their
fermentation ( ). A craft brewer is very passionate about the beer they produce. Not only
creating beers they enjoy but more importantly brewing beer there customers and fans enjoy.
One way to brew a better beer is by understanding who your brewing it for.
Who is drinking craft beer? This research is centered toward craft beer preferences; other
research that has been conducted has focused around beer in general. There have been many
ways to analyze who consumes beer; by comparing it to other alcoholic beverages, age, which
races consume different types of alcohol more, intelligence based preferences of types of
alcohol, and type’s alcohol consumed based on family income. Nearly 87% of Americans have
