啤酒巨頭擁抱小眾精釀潮流

????規模龐大的跨國企業大多占有無盡的優勢。但有些時候，大公司也得學習如何從小處著手。面對精釀啤酒的異軍突起，這一點對于啤酒釀造大公司顯得空前真切。

????正如丹尼斯·威爾森上個月在財富網站發表的文章《啤酒釀造巨頭披上精釀啤酒外衣》（Big Beer dresses up in craft brewers' clothing）所述，2011年精釀啤酒銷量增長13%，而同期全美啤酒總銷量縮減了大約1.3%。盡管精釀僅僅只是整個市場中很小的一塊，但大型啤酒釀造公司也不能無視這些增長數據。

????日前，《財富》雜志（Fortune?）采訪了SABMiller執行董事長格雷厄姆·麥凱，探討這家全球第二大啤酒釀造商如何利用大眾對精釀啤酒的興趣發財。精釀啤酒是小型獨立釀造商引領的一項運動——“小型”和“獨立”都是SABMiller所不具備的特性。為了在精釀啤酒市場中獲得一杯羹，MillerCoors（SABMiller和Molson Coors的合資企業）于2010年成立了一塊獨立的業務，名為Tenth and Blake。這塊業務負責藍月亮（Blue Moon）、Leinenkugels等品牌的運作，并在2012年2月收購了Crispin Cider。以下是經編輯的采訪摘要。

????《財富》雜志：您如何看待精釀啤酒的全球前景？美國正在發生的情況是美國特有的，還是更為普遍性的現象？

????格雷厄姆·麥凱：在某種意義上，這是美國特有的。美國市場已經經歷了大規模整合，幾大品牌占據了主導地位。它的發展趨勢是減少調味，提高可重復性，降低飽感，清爽型口味日漸流行。走上這一發展道路的不只是美國，但美國在這條路上走得最遠。

????是什么因素推動了這一趨勢？

????美國對于可重復性的不懈追求。顯然，每個現代社會都有點這樣。另外，消除苦澀和濃烈口味也是啤酒行業數十年、乃至數代人的核心要務。如果回到三、四十年前，看看那些如今依然存在的大品牌，如今這些品牌在美國出售的產品苦味水平為7-9（根據國際苦味單位測量）,三、四十年前的苦味水平在17、18或19的水平。歐洲陳貯啤酒的苦味水平介于20-25。

????然而，消費者回過頭來卻說：“我們來找點樂子吧，品嘗一點不同的東西?！币虼?，出現了精釀啤酒的增長。但這個趨勢只是本地現象，它與市場營銷對立，而且有違國際化和大型化的潮流，但它更關注體驗，也更了解釀造者。

????There are countless advantages that come with being a massive, multinational enterprise. But sometimes, a big company needs to learn how to act small. Amid the rise of craft beer, this has never been more the case for big brewers.

????As?Denis Wilson noted on Fortune.com last month in?"Big Beer dresses up in craft brewers' clothing,"?craft beer saw a 13% increase in volume in 2011, while overall U.S. beer sales were down by about 1.3% by volume during that same period. Despite the fact that craft is a very small segment of the market, large beer companies cannot ignore these growth figures.

????Fortune?recently spoke with?Graham?Mackay, the executive chairman of SABMiller, about how the world's second-largest brewer is trying to capitalize on the interest in craft beer. It's a movement marked by small, independent brewers -- two things that SABMiller is not. To grab a portion of the craft-drinking segment, MillerCoors (a joint venture of SABMiller and Molson Coors (TAP)) launched a separate division in 2010 called Tenth and Blake. This operation oversees brands like Blue Moon, Leinenkugels, and it acquired Crispin cider in February 2012. The following are edited excerpts of our conversation.

????Fortune: What's your global outlook on craft? Is what's happening in the U.S. specific to this country or broader?

????Graham Mackay:It's U.S.-specific in the sense that the U.S. had gone in a particular direction of large-scale consolidation, dominance by a relatively small number of big brands, and trends toward less and less flavor, more repeatability, less satiating, and the rise of light beers. The U.S. was not the only one moving in that direction, but it moved furthest in that direction.

????What drove that?

????The endless quest in the U.S. for repeatability. Obviously, every modern society has a bit of that. Also, the elimination of harsh and intense flavors has been the central sweet spot of the beer industry for decades, if not generations. If you go back 30 or 40 years and look at the formulations for the big brands that still exist, their bitterness levels in the U.S. are 7 to 9 [measured in International Bitterness Units].? Those brands, 30 or 40 year ago, were up at the 17, 18, 19 kind of level. European lagers are somewhere between 20 and 25.

????The consumer has gone back to saying, "Let's get a bit of interest, let's have a bit of difference." So, there's been the growth of craft beer. But it's also local, anti-marketing, anti-global, anti-big, and more focused on experience and knowing the brewer who produces it.