It sounds like the perfect party guest list: Carefree and laidback yet daring and intelligent. People who live, breathe and think beer, and might even make it themselves. These are the Hopsters, and the world is their brewery. It’s also a growing consumer niche with plenty of opportunities for marketers, retailers, and manufacturers.

Hopsters are young, suburbanites who love bonding over craft beer, but don’t mistake them for your average bar flies. They dissect every aspect of beer and view drinking as a ritual to expand their palates and explore the wide variety of hops and flavors available to them. And, increasingly, they’re putting their money behind their taste buds. According to the Brewers Association, the craft beer industry grew from $8.7 billion in 2011 to $10.2 billion today. It’s a figure predicted to grow 7% a year for the next five years.

Who are the Hopsters?

They’re middle class, suburban professionals who have created a culture around beer out of a need for community and support. The group includes craft brewers, home brewers, and craft beer enthusiasts. These three segments interconnect: Craft brewers typically begin as craft beer enthusiasts, craft beer enthusiasts typically homebrew, and so o­n. Right now it’s overwhelmingly men, but more women are forecasted to join this movement in the future.

Hopsters by the numbers:

Age: 25 to 39 years old

Education: 72% have a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the American Homebrewers Association

Earning power: $60,000 to $75,000 per year, according to the American Homebrewers Association

Where they work: Most hold jobs in creative fields, such as art, design, music, and technology

Where they live: Most heavily concentrated in the suburban areas of San Francisco, Seattle and Denver. Also growing at a fast rate around East Coast and Southern cities.

Community minded: They’re 100% more likely to buy organic and fair-trade products. Focused on doing good and drawn to established charities, according to an Advertising Age article on beer tastes

Audio lovers: Hopsters dig the radio. They listen to indie/folk music and news on satellite radio, as well as brewing podcasts online.

Impulse shoppers: They make purchases without having a special occasion in mind.

Selling to the Hopsters
Three main product categories complement the Hopster lifestyle: housewares, case goods and textiles.Manufacturers such as Libbey and Spiegelau have already developed lines of craft beer barware with designs to accentuate the flavors and aromas of different craft beers. These collections are distributed to such mass-market retailers as Target, Amazon and Home Depot. Independent retailers and specialty stores sell home brewing equipment and kits, barware, and related gift products.

Still, there’s plenty of room to develop products for Hopsters that reference beer and/or encompass craftsmanship, organic materials, and fair trade practices. As Hopsters experiment with beer as a cooking ingredient, they’ll likely need specialized kitchen gadgets, serve ware and cookware. These suburbanites might be interested in case goods featuring reclaimed wood for the living room, bedroom or home bar. We also expect them to apply their love for organics to textiles ranging from linens to curtains.

So are you ready for the Hopsters? Or do you need to do a little more field research and taste some of the latest craft beers?

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