Will craft beer ever get back to it's roots?

I see where you are coming from but tank 7 is definitely an invocation on the style. It is very hoppy for the style and I do think the dry hopping of a usually mild style to be innovative.

 

The whole concept of a Saison has been lost.It was no more of a style than "home made bread" is a specific sort of bread.Just a 3 to 4% ABV beer made in a farmhouse.

Actually, it's the mild beers which were innovative. By and large beers of old were heavily hopped because that's how they could keep in the days before refrigeration.

 

Beer has gotten away from itself a bit - and I know some appreciate that, but I'd like to see it come down from its cloud just a little bit. I'd like to see more brands coming to market selling shelf sixpack beer as opposed to 15 dollar "artisanal" bombers.

 

You guys need to stop saying innovation before bells sues you all....

 

Well, since the whole concept of Saison has been changed and re-defined by modern Belgian brewers, it seems both reasonable and appropriate for others to follow their lead.

 

I feel that many breweries are making solid base styles, but we are experiencing a wonderful time period in which people are interested in better food, beer, coffee, etc., and many breweries (especially new ones) are embracing the creative freedom to make some attention-grabbing, experimental beers. It's good for them, and it's fun to try; even for the seasoned (jaded) beer advocate that appreciates simpler styles.

 

I hope never. What’s the difference between a gimmick and something truly new and innovative?

 

20 years.

 

Beer has arrived in itself because it is entirely possible for breweries to not have to compete with each other with the expected range of six pack of drinkers to be successful nor to find their share of the market. Culinary beers, bent beers, extreme beers, radical beers, or whatever you want to call them are better for good beer than everyone tripping over themselves trying to make insert trendy (hard to secure contracts for) hop here IPA / DIPA, etc. If there's a market which wants the 15 dollar "artisinal" bombers that poke holes in your expectations of what beer is. That's a great thing because it shows how far American beer has come, and that in itself is truly innovative and it also shows how many brewers are following the lead of the Sam Calagiones and Randy Moshers who pine for making good beer different and outside of the expected and embracing the American-ness of doing it in a way the traditionalists find wrong, but doing it well. As far as competitiveness goes, it's better for good beer to go after those angles and ways to invite drinkers in than to copy-cat cannibalize each other.

 

Every thing you mentioned above, except for the send to outer space gimmick, IS beer's roots. We are rediscovering, not re-inventing.

Our brewers make what we enjoy to drink, and there is nothing on planet more "roots" than that.

 

Michael Jackson has credited Anchor with coming up with "a completely new American style" (Liberty), but he's also referred to them as a revivalist brewery. With Anchor widely considered the start of American craft beer, it makes sense that this dichotomy exists within them. Despite whatever innovations Anchor brought to the table, I do think that the revivalist tag fits them very well... and ultimately, revivalism is at the heart of what's happening in this segment of the industry... not innovation.

 

They are making damn solid beer where the quality speaks for itself. They never stopped. They just also started doing gimmicks.

 

Dry hopping and saisons go way way back. These beers were traditionally highly hopped for keeping. Saisons can be very bitter. I'm quite surprised to see you refer to them as mild. @marquis 's comments are on the mark.

 

Do you have any ‘good’ references here to substantiate that claim? If so, I would be very interested in reading that information.

At the recent National Homebrewers Conference Randy Mosher gave a presentation on various beer history ‘myths”. One of the topics he discussed was that the Saison beer style was a beer that was brewed by farmers during the winter time to provide nourishment for the migrant farm workers during the summer/fall. He stated he could find no contemporary (i.e., 1800’s) documentation to confirm the ‘story’ about the Saison beer style being a farmhouse ale made for seasonal farm workers.

Cheers!

 

I am curious which aspects he considered myth. The keeping part, the workers part, the hopping part, or the entire Wallonian walnut?

My post references the work of Yvan De Baets. You'd be familiar with him because Stan Hieronymus is one of his fans and he contributed to "For the Love of Hops." He also wrote 'A History of Saison' that can be found in Phil Markowski's "Farmhouse Ales." In it, he claims all of the above. I'd certainly recommend the book to you. Randy Mosher helped with this book as well. Phil considers Yvan De Baets to be one of the world experts on Belgian brewing and a diligent researcher. I am not sure, but I think Yvan De Baets' claims could be referencing Georges La Cambre's nineteenth century published work. Anchor makes a reference to it here:
http://www.anchorbrewing.com/blog/a-saison-for-the-season/

Naturally, I couldn't tell you how much of these claims are grounded in known fact vs conjecture. Nor could I tell you if the "known facts" are in fact incorrect facts. As you know, myths are part of the tangled tapestry that is beer history.

Regarding things much more current... things we can taste. Saison Dupont, the beer that current saisons are measured against, has a striking hop quality to it (at least to me). Supposedly, the beer being produced today is the recipe they've used since the 20s. Tank 7's hop character comes from Amarillo. Belgian brewers have been using this hop before Tank 7 (as far as I can tell.) Belgian saison brewers don't just use Belgian hops. Tank 7 is a delicious beer that I love to drink. There's no need to guild the lily.

 

Totally agree, good example. And what the heck, the Syrian guy beat me to the Stoudt's answer when that brewery is practically in my back yard!

 

Hill Farmstead, not gimmicky, Shaun Hill seems to stick to his guns when it comes to brewing solid beer without crazy ingredients, he doesn't need gimmicks. (Just one example of many craft brewers.)

 

I thought that the honey maibock was a bit gimmicky at the time; it was a nice beer, but really didn't need the 'honey' (which fermented out, anyway).

 

I think you're vastly overstating the problem. The majority of my go-to breweries have extremely good beers that appear time and time again. On occasion they will try something new, but the regulars are always available.

You also have a craft beer drinking culture that has morphed into trying as many different beers as possible. Getting repeat business is all the more difficult these days and a "gimmick" beer is a way to get people back in the door.

 

I guess I call it 'trends' but I see the OP's point. I'd like brewers to have a solid core offering before going nuts with sours or barrels or . . .

But I guess I like the brewers/breweries having creative license to do other things. I mean, everything other than the Reinheitsgebot would be gimmicks. Heck, in the early 90's, IPA's were considered ridiculous.