“With inflation, people are turning less towards our products”: craft breweries are resisting in the Gers despite the upheaval

For around ten years, the beer market, more precisely that of craft beer, has been booming. Over the last decade we have seen small artisanal breweries flourish here and there, offering blonde, brown, white, amber, each with its own method and know-how, flavors and touch of originality.

In the Gers too, the market has progressed. Today, there are 16 craft breweries in the department, a significant number for a population area of ​​less than 200,000 inhabitants. Ten years ago, there were “only” four.

A progression which is almost reaching saturation, and which requires organization, as demonstrated by Alexis Champoiseau, at the head of the Gimont brewery Jean Brasse. In the new building that the largest craft brewery in Gers has just acquired and integrated, around forty brewers, members of the Brio association, independent brewers of Occitanie, met on Thursday November 21.

“It's been 6 years since the association was created. We meet once a quarter, to discuss, to take stock. We help each other, we pool. The idea is to progress together. If we improve quality together of our products, the entire sector benefits. On the contrary, if we each work in our own corner, and for some the quality is not there, that is the image of craft beer. as a whole which even suffers. if we are all competing in a competitive market, we have much more to gain by working hand in hand,” assures the brewer.

A growing market

But recent years have not been good for the profession. The war in Ukraine and the surge in prices that followed also did a lot of harm to brewers, as well as many craftsmen. “We are large consumers of gas and electricity. The glassmakers, on whom we depend for our bottles, have doubled their prices in a few years. We have also had to increase ours while lowering our margins,” adds Alexis Champoiseau.

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Energy prices are increasing, that of glass bottles and raw materials too, with a concomitant drop in the consumption of craft beer, nothing to rejoice about… “With inflation, people are turning less towards our products, more expensive than industrial beer In 2021, we were at Jean Brasse at 900 hectoliters, it was the best year. There, we are at 600 hectoliters for 2024, i.e. a fall of a third.

Difficulties therefore, but the sector is resisting as best it can, says Eric Bille, head of the La Braxéenne craft brewery in Pujaudran, and president of the Brio association.

“After covid, it was hard and 10% of breweries unfortunately closed in Occitanie. But the figures speak for themselves. When I started 11 years ago, there were around sixty of us in Occitanie, and today we are around 280 And the craft beer market which at the time corresponded to 4 or 5% of the national market, today represents 7 to 8%. customers, and microbreweries continue to be created”, puts Eric Bille into perspective.