During the 1490s, over 1,500 microbreweries sprouted and flourished across the country. This expansion of microbreweries derives, in part, from the desire of people to break away from the smothering homogeneity of popular, national culture. Such breweries are often proudly and sellconsciously local, sporting local historical photos, maps, and other artifacts of a place's personality as part of the decor. Geographer Wes Flack has hypothesized that the growth of such establishments is a prime illustration of a movement termed “neolocalism,” in which people are attempting to reconnect with the local, the personal, and the unique. The microbrewery industry has undergone rapid expansion and major upheaval in the decade since F7lack first carried out his research. This study examines recent trends in the industry and determines that his original thesis is as valid as it was when he first offered it. The core of this paper is an analysis of how ale names and visual marketing imagery are used by microbreweries to...

Microbreweries as Tools of Local Identity

Craft or “boutique” breweries are increasing in numbers in the USA, and in other parts of the developed world. Many are located in rural areas, and have become new rural tourism visitor experiences, related to wine tourism and linked to the growth in culinary tourism. This study offers a clearer understanding of what factors most influence brand loyalty to craft beer, and craft breweries, and sheds light on methodologies for assessing loyalty to other rural tourism, and culinary tourism, experiences. It is based on a survey of patrons visiting and purchasing from two micro-breweries in rural North Carolina, USA, examining concepts used in brand loyalty research including access, environmental consumption, connections with the community, satisfaction, and desire for unique consumer products. Results show that connection with the community, desire for unique consumer products, and satisfaction are the three factors that most align themselves with brand loyalty to rural brewery visits. Connection with the co...

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Rural tourism and the craft beer experience: factors influencing brand loyalty in rural North Carolina, USA

Branding spaces: Place, region, sustainability and the American craft beer industry

Symbolic and sociocultural interpretation of tea tourism in India

In order for consumers to connect emotionally with brands, brands must be transformed from inanimate entities into the realm of acquiring human characteristics. Following a review of more than 1000 breweries from online sources and beer companion books, we explore how a sense of place, derived from myths, folklores, and heroes, enables marketers and consumers to co-create narratives that humanise brands. We add to the theory on brand humanisation as we conclude that a sense of place offers a novel, and different, approach to humanisation strategies based on anthropomorphisation, personification, and user imagery, but can also operate in tandem with them. Further research is recommended to understand how and why consumers respond to branding strategies that use a sense of place to humanise brands.

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Leveraging the human side of the brand using a sense of place: Case studies of craft breweries

Local brewing operations, a part of the cultural landscape since the beginning of civilization, held fast in the United States until the arrival of mass production techniques. After a 100-year decline in the number of United States microbreweries, there has been a remarkable resurgence in the last 15 years. Following on the coattails of Britain's microbrewery revolution, the cultural innovation spread outward from California and has recently affected the Great Plains and the South. One may explain the microbrewery proliferation as a response to changing tastes and a growing beer connoisseur subculture. These are significant elements, but just as important is the neolocal craving that is being satisfied. Cultural geography has much to learn from a careful look at the recent changes in the United States brewing industry.

Wes Flack

Papers

American Microbreweries and Neolocalism: "Ale-ing" for a Sense of Place