For anyone in big beer watching wine and spirits come in a steal market share in gulps, there's the growing feeling that there's one too many games being played simultaneously for an industry that's long lost it's ability to adapt and be nimble. Big beer's been in "protect" mode for quite some time. But suddenly the landscape is full of new animals built more efficiently and with an unprecedented cunning, and the industry is starting to write big beer off as the wooly mammoth that just can't find enough to eat.

Compare the industry's slow decline with the double-digit rise of craft beer and it becomes clear that one industry's losses are another's gain. Were these new brewers to be competing on beer terms, the shift might seem temporal, or a bubble might be rising in our midst. But to see craft beer as part of the larger beer industry alone is to misunderstand its attraction, and ultimately, it's position. As Alan Newman once told me, craft beer isn't an industry alone — "it's part of the expansion of the American palate."

With that in mind, it's more interesting to see craft beer as part of a different, perhaps decentralized industry that's cutting across categories. The term: "industry" in and of itself, implies a centralized state of affairs, with the rules of the game clearly outlined, and the competition head-to-head. But so many of our traditional industries are no longer recognizable as such. Is Square part of the financial sector? Or is it stretching across mobile payments, small business development and reframing the cash economy? Is something as simple as Instagram part of the imaging industry like Kodak was? Kodak thought so. While Instagram certainly creates images, it's also partly a social, brand and e-commerce platform. It reminds me of how my wife complains that everyone in the Big Ten thinks Michigan is their rival, while the truth is "we don't care about any of them, only Ohio State is a rival in our eyes." If the people you're trying to compete against aren't even paying you attention, it's a clear sign that they're playing a different game, and it pays to know what game you're in.

So as big beer fights battles on multiple fronts, including wine and spirits, craft beer spreads itself across many channels, occasions and types of "craft" products, stealing share from multiple categories at once. And in many cases, by working right alongtside them, positioning themselves as part of the broader expansion of the American palate. It's not that Americans want more wine, or more beer, or more spirits for any particular reason. Americans are looking for flavor, and sophistication, and something to care about with their friends and alongside their food, which has already undergone a similar craft renaissance in the last ten years or more.

Wirtz Beverage Group Grows Through Craft Beer

No one seems to understand that perspective better than the people at Wirtz Beverage Group in Illinois. They've been growing their distribution business around the country, and right here in Illinois, by focusing on the brands and products that people really love. Until recently that was exclusively wines and spirits. They built an enormous, highly influential sales and logistics force that could service any account in the state from a single location right here in Chicago, and their sprawling warehouse in Cicero. But they've also started building the brands they serve, creating awareness where there was none, helping accounts (bars, restaurants and other places of leisure) learn about the product, its unique history and qualities, and ultimately position the product for success. They don't just roll trucks — they become ambassadors.