Beers: Recent Technological Innovations in Brewing

Abstract

The brewing industry is a traditional one: many brewers are using a technology that remained basically unchanged over a period of 100 years. New technological breakthroughs are seldom directly applied to the brewing process; most of the brewers are afraid that the change would harm either the quality or the image of their beer. In recent years, the situation has been changing: fusions and takeovers have created big brewing groups, and increasing competition in a shrinking beer market has forced the brewer to be more cost effective than before. Technological innovations are used now to increase productivity, to save energy, or to create new products.