Crafting the contemporary beerscape Greg Richards Published as: Richards, G. (2021) I «PAESAGGI DELLA BIRRA». In Garibaldi, R. (ed.) Rapporto sul Turismo Enogastronomico Italiano 2021 | Trend e tendenze, Bergamo: Associazione Italiana Turismo Enogastronomico, pp. 40-42. In a recent review of gastronomic experiences, Richards (2021a) traces an evolution from the provision of basic food services to tourists, to the emergence of foodie tourists, and finally the development of entire ‘gastroscapes’ linking entire food cultures with the production and co- creation of gastronomic experiences. Some of these gastroscapes have emerged in a grass-roots fashion, linking embedded food producers and discerning foodies, often in rural regions such as Tuscany or the Basque Country. Increasingly, however, new gastroscapes are emerging as a result of changing lifestyles and location patterns. As Savela (2016) notes, for example, Finnish food culture is rural, not urban, and yet Helsinki has managed to position itself as a gastroscape, based on imported food cultures based on growing urban diversity and globalized urban lifestyles. Nowhere is the implantation of gastroscapes more evident than in the craft beer scene. Craft beer, an important signifier of hipster culture, has developed as an important area of cultural and gastronomic tourism. Stone, Garibaldi and Pozzi (2020) estimated that about 20% of US adults could be considered ‘beer tourists’, who had taken a trip or visited a destination for a beer experience (brewery, taproom, or beer trail) in the previous two years. Stone et al. suggest that many of these tourists are also cultural omnivores, who visit festivals, events and cultural attractions during their beer trips. City centres often provide the buzzing hubs that can support an omnivorous range of gastronomic experiences linked to craft beer. Wallace (2019) analyses the global ‘third wave’ of independent craft brewing concentrated in the UK and the USA but also evident in Europe, Australasia, South America, parts of Asia and Africa. In the context of South Africa, Rogerson and Collins (2015, p. 3) report: ‘The expansion of craft beer production has been associated with the launch of a rapidly growing number of local beer festivals and of suggested beer trails which are expanding the footprint of beer tourism in South Africa.’ He goes on to chart the international growth of beer tourism, reflected in the emergence of beer museums, routes, festivals and brewery-based attractions, liked to the craft beer movement and the rising interest in experiential tourism and local gastronomy. Wallace (2019) links this to the revalorization of making and crafting in the global north, which has also become central to cultural and creative tourism. Dunn and Kregor (2014) identify craft brewers who have adopted a strategy of fostering a craft beer culture that connects directly to consumers via brewery visits, beer events and social media. Such efforts are largely ad hoc, as craft brewers have few connections with tourism organisations. However, some smaller breweries may avoid tourism completely to preserve the purity of their craft. In London, Wallace (2019) links the process of authentication through the suggestion of ‘craft’ to patterns of socio-spatial stratification and growing labour precarity. The authentic roots of craft are claimed and used by ‘hipster’ entrepreneurs, who are predominantly educated, white male urbanites. This underlines an ‘enmeshing of craft brewery owners’/brewers’ dispositions with wider political-economic trends restructuring urban space in speculative directions.’ Craft brewing represents the return to the inner city of an industry that left decades ago, but in a very different form. Wallace identifies three groups of brewers: ‘Connected Artisans’ with higher cultural capital