GOURMET BEER FALLS IN BRAZILIAN TASTE

The Brazil is the third largest beer market, with a consumption of 140 million hectolitres a year, behind only the United States and China. Surpasses even the Germany. The volume, however, is connected directly to the mass beers, because in terms of gourmet drink, we are still crawling. Today, the special beers represent 7% of consumption in Brazil and, gourmet, calls for no more than 2% of that slice, the equivalent of less than 0.5% of the total beverage market in the country. However, since 2010 the sector has doubled its growth rate and aroused the interest of new entrepreneurs.
The answer to the increasing demand by changing the economic profile of the country, experts say. According to Adalberto Viviani, President of Concept, consulting firm specializing in food and beverages, while the new middle class began to take more space in the consumer market, more people began to seek products of desire, porch where are the mid-priced beers and high of leading brands. At the other end, consumers of beers of classes A/B began to migrate with more intensity to the differentiated and exclusive products. The second movement that strengthens the increased consumption, says Viviani, is caused by the lovers of wine and whisky, that seek to taste the beer with a differentiated perception.
"The gourmet beer market has grown at an average of 15% per year. Is still little. Has a lot of space to be explored, taking into account that the drink is available in no more than 3,000 class A restaurants, in a universe of 1.5 million points of sale of traditional beer ", reinforces Viviani. "The big question is what will happen to this market in the next five years".
According to the consultant, 12 years ago there were several premium cachaça labels. Not many took off due to the lack of loyalty and distribution difficulties. "Based on this history, graduates of the gourmet beer manufacturers that build the brand, gain a sense of loyalty and gain distribution," says Daly. The distribution is the stone in the shoe of microbreweries that have to convince the owners of restaurants that your gourmet drink is a good business opportunity, provided that you have, because your time is short, less than the wine, and need cooling.
Lawyer and Brewer by passion, Marco Falcone experimented for the first time a genuine gourmet beer in 2000, in Germany, which strengthened his interest in producing the drink in Ribeirão das Neves, on the outskirts of the State capital. "In 1988, did a craft brewing course and spent to produce the site for their own family and friends," says Falcone. "The game just by the difficulty of finding quality raw material at a fair price".
Years later, the hobby began to take business ares. Before mounting the microbrewery, Falcone traveled three years in a row for Europe to visit small manufacturers from Belgium, Denmark and Germany; took courses, studied the market and, in April 2004, opened next to the partners and brothers, Falke Bier.
First produced chope, breaking the paradigm that in Belo Horizonte is not drinking draft beer. Pioneered the manufacture of drink with roasted malt in the own factory. But, in order to survive he knew he could not hit from the front with large manufacturers. "The solution was to open the factory to teach to make beer and beer culture develop," says Falcone. "From the beginning, our proposal was not volume but innovation."
With the recognition of the Estrada Real (Royal Road), which takes care of tourism in the State of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region and endorse the products genuinely miners, the microbrewery beers entered the market in bottle, with the Real India Paliali Road. Later came the Falke Monasterium, a rescue of the Carmelite monks ' recipe. XIV, maturated by 75 days in an underground cellar to the sound of Gregorian chant and bottled and sparkling as enrolhada. Today, there are seven labels, seven distinct styles, sold in restaurants across the country, at prices of up to $ 200 a bottle, in the case of limited editions. The production is at the home of 10 thousand liters per month and is expected to double this year with the opening of the new factory.