Geographic Patterns of Craft Breweries at the Intraurban Scale

To cluster or not to cluster? Spatial determinants of closures in the American craft brewing industry

“…The growth of the craft‐brewing sector in the United States has attracted the attention of scholars from a number of disciplines, including geography and regional science. Previous studies analysing the spatial dynamics of the industry overwhelmingly focus on trying to understand spatial patterns of brewery openings and growth (Baginski & Bell, ; Barajas, Boeing, & Wartell, ; McLaughlin, Reid, & Moore, ; Moore, Reid, & McLaughlin, ; Nilsson, Reid, & Lehnert, ). No studies, to our knowledge, have addressed the issue of craft brewery closures from a spatial perspective.…”

“…In this paper, we study geographic patterns of, and locational factors associated with, craft brewery closures in three American metropolitan areas. As Dennet and Page () and Nilsson et al () conclude, craft breweries have a tendency to cluster, as there are a number of demand and supply side benefits of doing so. The relatively scarce literature on the relationship between spatial concentration and firm failure rates have mainly focused on manufacturing firms and supply side benefits of clustering at a regional scale (De Silva & McComb, ).…”

Craft breweries, adaptive reuse, and neighborhood revitalization

“…At the intra-urban scale, I. Nilsson, N. Reid, and M. Lehnert (2018) examined the geographic patterns of craft breweries in ten U.S. cities. Using Ripley's K, they detected evidence of geographic clustering in nine cities (Austin, Texas was the exception).…”

“…Collaboration and cooperation are common in the craft brewing industry and clustering together in space facilitates the exchange and sharing of information (such as recipes), ingredients, and equipment. It also makes it easier for two or more brewers to collaborate on the production of a new beer (Dennet & Page 2017;Nilsson et al 2018). Clustering of breweries also facilitates 'brewery hopping' on the part of craft beer drinkers -i.e.…”

“…The clustering of craft breweries in American cities has resulted in the emergence of recognizable brewery districts. Examples include the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon, the Ballard District in Seattle, Washington, and the River North Art and Lower Downtown Districts in Denver, Colorado (Nilsson et al 2018).…”