Exploring the potential of craft brewing for rural revitalization in China: The Brewers' perspectives

Localness Localness affords craft beer a unique character that prompts many to travel to remote locations Location to enjoy a pour of their favorite brew. Craft beer tourists are notorious for being big spenders, with microbreweries Micro-breweries becoming coveted foci of endogenous economic development, particularly important in depressed peri-urban and rural Rural areas. While craft beer consumption Beer consumption is on the rise in China, the phenomenon is still limited to big urban centers. To understand whether craft beer can play any role in the country's current rural development Rural development effort, we interviewed eight brewers focusing on consumer motivation, business models, policy Policies, and challenges and opportunities ahead. Results show that, on the one hand, seemingly unsurmountable structural barriers and cultural differences may preclude craft beer expansion to rural Rural areas in the foreseeable future; on the other, these could be mere growing pains of a revolution that, despite being in its infancy, has shown great resiliency and continues to gain momentum.