Craft beers gain head in beer marketGrowth in 2013 beer sales* Overall beer: 1.9 percent* Craft beers: 17.2 percentBeer sales in 2013* Overall beer market: $100 billion* Craft beer market: $14.3 billionSource: Brewers Association
The Casual Pint, a craft beer retailer based in Knoxville is bringing its craft
beer experience to Chattanooga this fall and opening two locations in Hamilton County. Franchise owners Bryan and Kelly Hamilton plan to open the first
location Oct. 1, at 163-B Cherokee Blvd. near downtown, with a second store
opening in 2015.What Starbucks did for coffee, the owners of Casual Pint want to do for craft beer.
The Knoxville-based retailer of craft beers is moving into the Chattanooga market with a new North Shore retail outlet scheduled to open in October and another new store planned near Hamilton Place mall by January. The new outlets are similar to four Casual Pints in Knoxville, which offer more than 500 different packaged craft beers and growlers for retail customers and 22 different beers on tap for those wanting to sample the craft beers on site.
Bryan and Kelly Hamilton, Knoxville restaurateurs who are developing the new Casual Pint locations in Chattanooga, bought the local franchise to tap into the growing craft beer market. Although overall beer sales have been flat in recent years, craft beers have grown from less than 10 percent of all beer sales five years ago to more than 14 percent today, according to the trade group for the industry, Brewers Association.
“The market for craft beers is exploding and Casual Pint has put together a great concept and team to reach the growing interest in these new specialty beers,” Hamilton said Friday. “Beer drinkers are becoming more sophisticated and are looking for a different kind of experience, sort of like what you might have at an upscale coffee bar, only with craft beers.”