Malt Preferences of the Craft Brewing Industry - Agricultural ...

price decrease. General findings suggest that price is an important factor in base maltpurchasing decisions.Reported decisions to switch or not switch specialty maltsters closely reflectsthose reported for base malt. Approximately 40% of the craft brewing industry hadswitched specialty maltsters. Microbreweries were slightly more inclined to havechanged specialty maltsters, whereas regional brewers switched specialty maltsters lessfrequently. Brewpubs tended to make similar decisions for both types of maltsters.Individuals who had switched specialty maltsters generally did not experience any pricechange. This indicates that price is a less important factor in the buying decision ofrespondents for specialty malt than base malt.Table 20. Decision to Switch or Not Switch Both Base and Specialty MaltstersType of Brewery CategoryDecision to Switch Maltsters% of SampleBase MaltSpecialty MaltYES NO YES NOFull Sample 38.9% 59.6% 37.4% 58.8%Craft Brewing Industry 38.6% 61.4% 38.9% 61.1%Regional Brewers 52.8% 47.2% 47.1% 52.9%Microbreweries 37.1% 62.9% 40.7% 59.3%Brewpubs 38.8% 61.2% 37.3% 62.7%Individual physical, chemical and service characteristics were compared with therespondents’ decision to switch or not switch maltsters. A crosstabulation and chi-squareanalysis were conducted on the various characteristics identified by respondents. Tables21 and 22 report the statistically significant characteristics influencing the decisions toswitch maltsters per category. Statistically significant characteristics were those withα