Skip to main content
Book cover

Economic Perspectives on Craft Beer pp 345–372Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Recent Advent of Micro Producers in the Spanish Brewing Industry

  • 2436 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter aims at investigating the birth and diffusion of craft brewing in Spain. We discuss the role of consumers: Lead and experimental consumers were influenced by the discovery of a richer culture and variety of beers in foreign countries. They founded consumer associations and fostered the creation of a new demand for beer in the Spanish beer market. This gradual change created new opportunities for new firms, which entered the market on a small scale to produce differentiated products with respect to the mass-market beer. The first entrepreneurs in the craft brewing sector had relations with foreign experiences or with the consumer associations. The role of the first entrepreneurs was decisive for spreading the idea of new business opportunities and for satisfying the demand of a new consumer attitude, more sophisticated, more local, more informed. The Catalonia region played a crucial role in this story.

Christian Garavaglia shared and developed the first ideas and content of this chapter with Steve Huxley who passed away in October 2015. This chapter is dedicated in memory of Steve.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Fig. 13.1

Source Author’s computations on data from Informe Socioeconómico del Sector de la Cerveza en España (various years)

Fig. 13.2

Source Author’s computations on data from Informe Socioeconómico del Sector de la Cerveza en España (2015)

Notes

  1. 1.

    Manuel Edo Benaiges, Pepa Villalba Ibáñez, and Anna Blasco Olivares.

  2. 2.

    Manuel Rojo Guerra.

  3. 3.

    http://aecai.net/sobre-nosotros/.

  4. 4.

    Murrell (2014) explains that Spanish city laws make it extremely difficult for activities such as brewing to take place outside a polígono industrial; i.e., an industrial park (see also the case of Magister).

  5. 5.

    Personal written communications, February 2016.

  6. 6.

    Personal written communication, September 2015.

  7. 7.

    Personal written communication, June 2017.

  8. 8.

    Personal written communication, April, 2015.

  9. 9.

    Guía para descubrir las mejores cervezas artesanas (2013).

  10. 10.

    Available at https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2016/12/17/pdfs/BOE-A-2016-11952.pdf.

  11. 11.

    See Cerveza Artesana (2016), available at https://cervezartesana.es/tienda/blog/los-curiosos-y-recientes-movimientos-de-las-grandes-cerveceras-espanolas.html.

References

  • Adner, R. (2003). When are technologies disruptive: A demand-based view of the emergence of competition. Strategic Management Journal, 23(8), 667–688.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Adner, R., & Levinthal, D. (2001). Demand heterogeneity and technological evolution: Implications for product and process innovation. Management Science, 47(5), 611–628.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Aparicio de Castro, G. (2002). Anexo del caso Bertoko. Cuadernos de Gestion (Vol. 2, issue 1). Leioa: Departamento de Economia Financiera II, Universidad del Pais Vasco.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bajo-Rubio, O., Diaz-Mora, C., & Diaz-Roldan, C. (2010). Foreign direct investment and regional growth: an analysis of the Spanish case. Regional Studies, 44(03), 373–382.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Biraglia, A., & Kadile, V. (2016). The Role of Entrepreneurial Passion and Creativity in Developing Entrepreneurial Intentions: Insights from American Homebrewers. Journal of Small Business Management, 55(1), 170–188.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Blasco, A., Edo, M. & Villalba, M.J. (2008). Evidencias de procesado y consumo de cerveza en la cueva de Can Sadurní (Begues, Barcelona) durante la prehistoria. Actas del IV Congreso del Neolítico Peninsular. Museo Arqueológico de Alicante, Diputación de Alicante, tomo I, (pp. 428–431).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bort, J., and Expósito, J. (2011). Bertoko Gar S. A. Available at http://culturillacervecera.blogspot.it/2011/09/bertoko-gar-sa.html.

  • Carroll, G., & Swaminathan, A. (1992). The organizational ecology of strategic groups in the American brewing industry from 1975 to 1990. Industrial and Corporate Change, 1(1), 65–97.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, G., & Swaminathan, A. (2000). Why the microbrewery movement? Organizational dynamics in the US brewing industry. American Journal of Sociology, 106(3), 715–762.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. and Diaz de Isla, M. I. (2001). Diffusion and uses of internet in Catalonia and in Spain. A commented summary of available evidence, as of 2001. Project Internet Catalonia (PIC) (Working Paper Series, PICWP/1201).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerveceros de España (2003). Informe Economico: Datos del Sector.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerveceros de España (various years) Informe Socioeconomico del sector del la cerveza en España.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerveza Artesana. (2016, June 21). Los curiosos y recientes movimientos de las grandes cerveceras españolas. Available at https://cervezartesana.es/tienda/blog/los-curiosos-y-recientes-movimientos-de-las-grandes-cerveceras-espanolas.html.

  • Colen, L., & Swinnen, J. (2016). Economic growth, globalisation and beer consumption. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 67(1), 186–207.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Consejo Económico Sindical Nacional. (1962). Situación actual de la industria cervecera (p. 29). Madrid: La Hispalense Industrial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuadrado Roura, J. R. (1991). Structural changes in the Spanish economy: Their regional effects. In L. Rodwin & H. Sazanami (Eds.), Industrial change and regional economic transformation. London: Harper Collins Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Droge, C., Stanko, M. A., & Pollitte, W. A. (2010). Lead users and early adopters on the Web: The Role of New Technology Product Blogs. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 27(1), 66–82.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Eurostat Regional Yearbook (2016).

    Google Scholar 

  • Feo Parrondo, F. (1988–1989). La industria agroalimentaria en España. Boletín de la Real Sociedad Geográfica, 124–125, 105–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feo Parrondo, F. (2005). La industria cervecera en España. Anales de Geografía, 25, 163–217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallud, E. (2015). Cerveza artesana ¿Moda o tendencia? Available at http://www.afuegolento.com/articulos/3118/cerveza-artesana-moda-o-tendencia.

  • Garavaglia, C., & Swinnen, J. (2018). Economics of the craft beer revolution: A comparative international perspective. In C. Garavaglia & J. Swinnen (Eds.), Economic perspectives on craft Beer: A revolution in the global beerindustry. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • García Barber, X. (2014). La cerveza en España: Orígenes e implantación de la industria cervecera. LID Editorial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gourvish, T. R. (1998). The dynamics of the modern brewing industry. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gracia Arnaiz, M. (2011). Culture, market and beer consumption. In W. Schiefenhövel & H. Macbeth (Eds.), Liquid bread. Berghahn, NY: Beer and Brewing in Cross-Cultural Perspective.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guía para descubrir las mejores cervezas artesanas (2013). geoPlaneta. Barcelona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horvath, M., Schivardi, F., & Woywode, M. (2001). On industry life-cycles: Delay, entry, and shakeout in beer brewing. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 19(7), 1023–1052.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Huxley, S. (2010). Prológo. In A. Masero (Ed.), Micros. Una ojeada al panorama cervecero catalan, Andrés Masero Terron.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huxley, S. (2012). Spain. In Garrett, O. (ed.) The Oxford Companion to Beer, Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • IFES. (2000). BACO: estudio de la evolución del sistema productivo en el sector de bebidas refrescantes sin alcohol y fabricación de cerveza en Aragón y Castilla-León. IFES: Zaragoza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jordana, J., Fernández, X., Sancho, D., & Welp, Y. (2005). Which internet policy? Assessing Regional Initiatives in Spain The Information Society, 21(5), 341–351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalyanam, K., & McIntyre, S. (2002). The e-marketing mix: A contribution of the e-tailing wars. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 30(4), 487–499.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Malerba, F., Nelson, R., Orsenigo, L., & Winter, S. (2007). Demand, innovation, and the dynamics of market structure: The role of experimental users and diverse preferences. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 17(4), 371–399.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Masero, A. (2010). Micros: Una ojeada al panorama cervecero catalan. Andrés Masero Terron.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, P. D., Roberts, J. H., & Midgley, D. F. (2004). The nature of lead users and measurement of leading-edge status. Research Policy, 33, 351–362.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Murrell, N. (2014). Spain’s First Microbrewery and the Spanish craft beer movement. Available at http://catavino.net.

  • Navarro Asenjo, L. (1997). Eficiencia energética en el sector de fabricación de cerveza y malta. Madrid: Instituto para la Diversificación y Ahorro de la Energía.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ollalla Marañón, J. (2013, September 5). The Spanish beer sector and the on-trade. Presentation in Prague, European Economic and Social Commitee “Growth potential of the European beer industry”.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramirez Hurtado, J. M. (2007). Estudio Analitico de las Empresas Cerveceras que Operan Bajo el Sistema de Franquicia en España. Estudios sobre Consumo, 82, 63–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, G. (2006). An army of davids: How markets and technology empower ordinary people to beat big media, big government, and other goliaths. Nashville, TN: Nelson Current.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rojo Guerra, M. A., García Martínez-de-Lagrán, Í., & Garrido Pena, R. (2003). La elaboración experimental de cerveza prehistórica en el valle de Ambrona. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Boletín de Arqueología Experimetal, 5, 4–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez, F., Tintó, A., Vidal, J. M., & Vijande, P. (2006). La cerveza artesanal, cómo hacer cerveza en casa. Barcelona: Cerveart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schreier, M., Oberhauser, S., & Prügl, R. (2007). Lead users and the adoption and diffusion of new products: Insights from two extreme sports communities. Marketing Letters, 18(1), 15–30.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Tremblay, V. J. (1987). Scale economies, technological change, and firm-cost asymmetries in the US brewing industry. Quarterly Review of Economics and Business, 27(2), 71–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tremblay, V. J., & Tremblay, C. H. (2005). The US brewing industry: Data and economic analysis. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Urban, G., & von Hippel, E. (1988). Lead user analyses for the development of new industrial products. Management Science, 34(5), 569–582.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • von Hippel, E. (1986). Lead users: A source of novel product concepts. Management Science, 32(7), 791–805.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Windrum, P., & Birchenhall, C. (2005). Structural change in the presence of network externalities: a coevolutionary model of technological successions. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 15(2), 123–148.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

Website

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Milano-Bicocca and Bocconi University, Milan, Italy

    Christian Garavaglia

  2. AECAI (Asociación Española de Cerveceros Artesanos Independientes) and La Cibeles Brewery, Madrid, Spain

    David Castro

Authors
  1. Christian Garavaglia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. David Castro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christian Garavaglia .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Milano-Bicocca and Bocconi University, Milan, Italy

    Dr. Christian Garavaglia

  2. Centre for European Policy Studies, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Prof. Johan Swinnen

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Garavaglia, C., Castro, D. (2018). The Recent Advent of Micro Producers in the Spanish Brewing Industry. In: Garavaglia, C., Swinnen, J. (eds) Economic Perspectives on Craft Beer. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58235-1_13

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58235-1_13

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58234-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-58235-1

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)