Williamsburg’s Craft Beer Consumers

Site of our future brewery. Not really.

In yesterday’s post I gave an overview of how we ended up in Williamsburg, Virginia. Today I want to spend some time discussing the demographic profile of a typical craft beer consumer and how that profile matches up with the consumers in our local market. According to Nielsen research, the typical craft beer consumer lives in a cosmopolitan center, affluent suburbs, or a comfortable country setting. That consumer will likely fall between the ages of 21 and 67, where 90% of craft beer is consumed. The age groups that consume the most craft beer are Generation X (18.7% of population, 23.9% of craft beer volume), Millenials (26.1% of population, 32.9% of craft beer volume), and Baby Boomers (37% of population, 36.4% of craft beer volume).

Disregarding age and location, the consumer will likely be highly educated and earn an above-average salary; research has shown that craft beer consumption has a distinctly elevated income skew, with almost 78% o

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