An Overview on the Production and Quality of Craft Beer in Brazil: Strategic Planning, Perspectives and Market Trends

Abstract

The main goal of the present study is to present an overview of the brewing sector in Brazil, focusing on the production of the craft beer segment and to identify its main characteristics in relation to market orientations. Regarding the purposes, this research had an exploratory and descriptive character, with Bibliographic Research and Documentation Survey procedures. We used secondary data (represented by information collected along with documents, publications, historical studies and statistics) from the Brazilian Beer Industry Association (CervBrasil), the Brazilian Association of Breweries (Abracerva) and from the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce (MDIC). We also used scientific articles available in Google Scholar (Google Inc.) database. The results indicate that the consumption of craft beers (including here "homemade", "specialty", "premium" or "gourmet") has had a significant increase in demand since the beginning of this decade, whether it be the bars, restaurants and brewpubs, or by the retail sector (supermarkets and liquor stores). Therefore, it was verified that strategies for manufacturing and marketing in this segment require more interdisciplinary studies in the areas of Production Engineering and Quality that help in the understanding of this scenario, applied to the Brazilian context.