[BrewBama]

I found results of the 2024 Brulosophy Survey interesting


One day, you’ll wake up and there won’t be anymore time to do the things you’ve always wanted to do. Don’t wait. Do it now.

[Drewch]

Their poll results are always interesting. They seem to mostly correlate well with the current received wisdom. 

Still overwhelmingly middle class, white, & male working in a technical field.

Their listenership is getting older, judging by the dropping percentage who've been brewing 0-3 years.

Brewfather on the ascendant. Lagers too.

Interesting that electric seems to be reaching market saturation.

[neuse]

I was surprised that books weren't higher on the "Learning Approach" issue. There are lots of other ways to learn, but I think of books as indispensable.

[denny]

I was surprised that books weren't higher on the "Learning Approach" issue. There are lots of other ways to learn, but I think of books as indispensable.

Me, too, but unfortunately we're in the minority.

[Drewch]

I was surprised that books weren't higher on the "Learning Approach" issue. There are lots of other ways to learn, but I think of books as indispensable.

Me, too, but unfortunately we're in the minority.

I love books. I have about 3 shelves worth of brewing books.

But I think books are kind of moving into the same niche that vinyl is filling for music. There's a strong market for them, but they're works of art, collectors items, lifestyle items; not for quick reference of non-fiction information.

[dmtaylor]

Facebook is almost certainly NOT the right place to get the best information!!!

[John M]

Facebook is almost certainly NOT the right place to get the best information!!!

Some of the responses I see on there are painful to read..

[Kevin]

I was surprised that books weren't higher on the "Learning Approach" issue. There are lots of other ways to learn, but I think of books as indispensable.

We live in a world of instant gratification. What is easy has replaced hard won lessons learned.

[denny]

Facebook is almost certainly NOT the right place to get the best information!!!

I know you know how much I agree.

[neuse]

Facebook is almost certainly NOT the right place to get the best information!!!

I know you know how much I agree.

Don't get me started.

[Kevin]

Facebook is almost certainly NOT the right place to get the best information!!!

Social media in general is a cesspool of toxic misinformation.

[fredthecat]

i get a lot of books as e-books, PDFs now. books or documents. i have a bookshelf of books i had collected, but honestly i just dont use the vast majority of them as you can get any book, even much rarer books i would always struggle to find at used bookstores as e-books.

i think we still arent at a really perfect display format for reading them yet, though i havent kept up to date on the dedicated reading devices since the early 2010s.

[BrewBama]

The last survey the AHA conducted was a while ago. I am not sure about the cross section of the brewing population that responded to this survey, but in a data void the AHA could use it to gain insight into at least a portion of its target audience. 

Especially alarming in my mind is the data point of those not planning to renew their AHA membership. I can only imagine it’s a value based decision.  I know I let my membership lapse until encouragement from Julia.  Based on her influence I began competing and joined a club. If my club and competitions didn’t require I maintain AHA membership I probably wouldn’t.  I can say my beer has improved due to the club and competitions. That has created the value for me.

Another issue is the age of the homebrewer. Welcoming younger adults and especially women into the organization may prove to be challenging as these are the same folks raising families, developing career paths, and are less likely to have discretionary income for what can be argued as an expensive hobby when balanced again life’s priorities.  The economy may not support a discretionary surplus in a household budget to spend on a hobby or even a premium commercial beverage.  I imagine sales have dropped at HomeBrew shops as well as bottle shops.

I know in my club all the members are white, we have two women that come: one works at the brewery where we meet and the other comes with her partner. I understand a cpl more women used to attend with their husbands but quit coming because it’s all guys.  Of course, their absence just magnified the point.

I encourage the ladies to enter into the women’s only competitions but I don’t think they want the added expense of entry fees, packaging, and shipping on top of the expense of brewing the beer/mead/cider. 

It might be that women are better judges.  Some of my best feedback has come from women: they have improved by hobby. I even try to get my daughter-in-law to taste every one of my beers to get her perception(s).

Every monthly meeting I hear the stories of 30-40 yr old guys struggling to balance the hobby with life.  Their kids are in sports, they’re traveling for work or with the family, they just don’t have time, etc.  Us older guys can sympathize because we’ve been there, done that. I have the luxury of time. I can shoehorn a brewday nearly any day of the week, especially one of my small 1.5 gal batches. The larger 3 gal batches consume more time due to heating and cooling larger volumes of liquid.

As far as books are concerned: I think most younger folks read electronically.  Few pick up a physical book these days. My granddaughter is in college and I’ve never seen a book. It’s all on her laptop. I am 62 and I even prefer reading on my iPad. I can carry my whole library on it. It’s easier to search for information and I can highlight and bookmark. If my brewing books aren’t available on the Kindle app I rarely refer to them.  Even when traveling we use Audible to read to us. It’s great!  The AHA needs to understand that and offer all their publications electronically as well as hard copy.

There are other suggestions the survey makes that could be used to direct attention.  These are just a cpl. I believe the big takeaway is the AHA has to stay relevant or get left behind.

[Drewch]

I've been thinking about the age & sex stats.

Three fourths of golfers are male, and the median age is 54.  Likewise model builders — ¾ male with an average age of 45.  A quick web search also turns up similar stats about (and similar posts lamenting) the perceived "graying" of the model railroad community.

People take up hobbies like these when they have time and money. As mentioned above, twenty-somethings often have neither.  Almost all of my hobbies (except the ones I could do with my family) took a hiatus from 27 to about 37.

To draw in younger folks, we'd have to show them that brewing is not expensive and not overly time-consuming.

As for drawing in more women, I'll defer to the women members here.

[Kevin]

Especially alarming in my mind is the data point of those not planning to renew their AHA membership. I can only imagine it’s a value based decision.  I know I let my membership lapse until encouragement from Julia.  Based on her influence I began competing and joined a club. If my club and competitions didn’t require I maintain AHA membership I probably wouldn’t.  I can say my beer has improved due to the club and competitions. That has created the value for me.

That may have been the biggest shocker. When you combine never been a member, previous member but no longer, and current member don't plan to renew ...that's 76% of respondents!

I was one of those that answered current but don't plan to renew. For me it is about Zymurgy content. About a year ago I started comparing Zymurgy with my BYO magazines when they arrived and found their are far more articles about beer brewing in BYO than in Zymurgy. There have been issues of Zymurgy that went straight into the trash the same day they were delivered. For me, there is no value in that magazine and the magazine is the reason I paid the membership... aside from some altruistic notion of supporting homebrewing but that is not tangible enough to justify the cost.