Which brewery is the next Sam Adams?

My brewery. Guess I'd better get started.

 

Most "World Class IPA or DIPA" are produced in much smaller batches than what Sierra Nevada would need to produce to hit the whole country with. And likely are more expensive to produce, and therefore must be sold at higher prices. And in my opinion, the way to market share is not through high-priced beer. Remember, the BA beer geek crowd is only a small percentage of the craft market.

Also - they may not individually be year round - but between all of their seasonal "special" hoppy beers like Bigfoot, Hoptimum, Southern Hemisphere, Northern Hemispher, the other Harvest beers, Estate, there always something good on the shelf year round from them:
http://www.sierranevada.com/release-dates

 

Just to clarify- the smaller batch size has more to do with time on the shelf and overall appeal, rather than the kind of beer that can be made in a larger batch size.

 

Founders. Hear me out. I was shocked to find them recently on the shelves in OK. They're getting ubiquitous. There is sumpin' up wit dem Michigan boyz. They about to take over. I like it.

 

It's Goose Island in my opinion. With their every increasing availability more and more people are being exposed to good Belgian style beers in Matilda and Sofie AND more people than ever have heard of and experienced Bourbon County.

 

Not necessarily for an IPA, but for other styles you can be restricted by a limited amount of a particular ingredient available, or space for aging, number of barrels, etc.

 

The brewery expansion they have started will get them to 900k bbl per year. At that point the brewery will occupy the city block they are on.

Edit some articles on the expansion.
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2014/09/founders_brewing_expansion.html

 

Keep it comin'. I never thought I'd see the day when Dirty Bastard or Breakfast Stout was just around the corner.

 

Ya know, @hopfenunmaltz, I feel like some guys just have a knack for brewing great beer. Them fellers in Kansas City at Boulevard do, as does Founders. I'd like to see a great Pils or Helles from Founders.

 

Some good points on the Hemispheres, but I still think they need a better IPA than Torpedo though.

 

First of all, what do you mean by "the next Sam Adams" ... is it just national awareness, or is it also the massive number of styles on the shelf? Do they need to make silly commercials with hipsters? I honestly don't want this country to have another Sam Adams model. I would agree with the idea of NB and SN leading toward that direction. I don't understand how Stone could be, do they brew anything other than IPAs or Dirty Bastards? I don't see Stone catching on nationally.

 

Boulevard could possibly be the next. Great everydays and enough "wows" to keep the BA geeks at bay.

 

My guess would be New Belgium. They have strong distribution that they are expanding, a portfolio of beers that have mass appeal to casual craft drinkers, and they have price points that work for retailers nationally.

I don't see anyone being the next BBC, because the industry has changed. But the next brewery currently capable of growing market share to scale nationally is NB.

 

Sorry... Should have been more clear, "Northern Midwest = Wisconsin". Love the Boulevard offerings, just wish I could get it local.

 

I love Founders but I wonder how much if their lineup could be considered approachable enough to be on the level of Sam Adams. Would be awesome if it happened though.

 

I'd say probably Goose Island or New Belgium.
In all 3 cases (SA, GI, NB) the entire brand basically hinges on one widely palatable beer (Boston Lager, 312, Fat Tire). I think that a lot the difference between SA and GI/NB is that New Belgium and even more so Goose Island have much more successful premium lines than Sam Adams.
That being said, Goose Island will probably never be evaluated on the same plane as Sam Adams or New Belgium due to its ownership.

 

Dogfish

 

Right on. It's no secret that we're going to continue expanding distribution in the coming years, so maybe we'll head back your way soon. Personally, I would love that so I could come out for some launch events.