Ben Kooyman at the Craft Brewers Conference today

The Independent Brewers Association has targeted a 15 per cent beer market share for the sector by 2025, which chair Ben Kooyman admits is ambitious.

Kooyman said the association’s data suggests beer that is ‘independently brewed’ – according to its definition – currently has a market share of around four per cent.

The eight-year target will require the current total of 420 independent brewers to achieve compound annual growth of 20.8 per cent.

The roadmap to achieve this goal is based on four objectives, starting with regulatory reform in both the taxation and competition arenas, Kooyman told Brews News.

“The next one is awareness, both consumer and trade awareness of what small brewers are,” he said.

“The third one is quality. It’s massively important that we’ve got to make sure the beers we’re producing and people are sampling for the first time is great quality. If we give them a bad experience, we may never get them back.

“The fourth one is all about our members. We need to deliver them value to make sure they are a sustainable group of businesses,” Kooyman said.

The association is currently considering an independence seal, similar to that introduced by the Brewers Association in the US.

CBIA’s 2012 target smashed
When the IBA predecessor Craft Beer Industry Association was formed in 2012, it set itself a target of increasing its craft beer market share to five per cent within five years.

The five per cent target included the contribution of multinational-owned brands that are no longer eligible for membership of the IBA.

“It’s relatively aggressive, but based on the growth we’ve seen in the US, it’s achievable,” CBIA founding member Jamie Cook told TheShout at the time.

The broader ‘craft beer’ sector as determined by analysts is widely believed to have achieved a ten per cent market share this year, double the target the association set itself five years ago.