When is the bubble gonna burst?

I have no idea if and when the bubble will burst, but right now I am having fun!

 

I wish i was that clever, texas ipa scene has a long way to go

 

Drink local.

Mostly I just tune out the rest of the country and focus on what's local, fresh, and tasty. (Of course, it helps that I live pretty much smack-dab in the geographic center of New England).

 

I'm not in the beer industry, but my intuition tells me that there is some merit to the OP's original question.

Obviously some retailers move product better than others, but at some well known retailers in the area I can walk in and find 30+ varieties of IPAs, the majority of which are 6+ months old when you look at bottling dates, if not significantly older.

I don't understand why retailers don't use their discretion to instead pick approximately 10 IPAs that are well made, popular, and they know will move quickly. I would rather go to a retailer that had a few well chosen examples of many different styles than what I currently see, which is retailers with 70% plus craft space going to a couple styles with myriad selection - that doesn't seem to move anyway.

But more on topic, I have to wonder what happens to all of this out of date craft that I know is not selling well. Does it sit there well past its prime waiting for some sucker to pay for it? Or if it's returned, whose eating the cost?

 

That's exactly how it is in NJ. There are 4 in my town. They all make the best pizza around, depending on who you ask.

 

There isn't a bubble.

 

Hopefully the shift moves from "craft" to "Local". As the term "craft" continues to be debated, confused, specified, and watered down, let's cross our fingers that the local breweries get supported, regardless of what people call the beer. If everyone focuses part of their beer drinking energy on supporting nearby breweries (and that the nearby breweries are producing decent products), the bubble ought not to pop, but sustain itself. The beer world is a beautiful thing as there are lots of breweries opening and giving us more choices, and helping to create greater sense of community within our communities.

 

This, so much this. We have a long way to go to reach the saturation point that breweries were at before prohibition and the great consolidation. We will see a lot more local places open up. Each wave always has the same effect where as many have already stated the cream rises, and the rest fall off.

 

Until theres a brewery in everyone's backyard Craft Beer will not have reached it's goal.

 

yes to this and yes to your profile picture

 

I bought a bottle of the Knob Creek a couple years ago and didn't like it at all. I remember it being way too potent. The alcohol was actually unpleasant. My tastes have changed since then, though, so I might enjoy it more now.

Haven't tried EC yet. Might be next on the list.

 

"Craft" vs "local" is an interesting distinction. Last year, craft beer grew by 18% yet 80% of that increase was actually from the big craft companies (Sam Adams, Lagunitas, NB, Oscar Blues, etc.). All the tiny little breweries popping up around the corner actually contribute very little to the amount of craft beer out there. Most of them produce less than 800 BBLS a year which has little impact overall and definitely won't cause a bubble of too much supply anytime soon. The real question is how much market share can craft (mostly the big craft companies) eat up from the macro side? How long will we continue to see a decline in domestic macros? Hopefully a long time if you ask me.

 

Actually, if you ignore the Brewers Association's definition of a craft brewer, and instead use a market-segment definition, I read stats from a year or so ago (2013 maybe?) that the largest growth by far in the craft segment was by Blue Moon and Goose Island.

 

Hmmm. Well I go by the Brewer's Association definition of craft beer and ignore Blue Moon and Goose Island as part of craft. Don't get me wrong, nothing against "crafty" beers, if nothing else, they expose a large population of our country to more flavorful beers and perhaps spark an initial curiosity of domestic drinkers to what else is out there.

 

I was just pointing out that the claim that "craft is taking market share from BMC" is a bit too broad of a brush to be useful to those concerned with a business strategy. The largest growing "craft" brewers ARE BMC.

 

The KC is barrel proof at 120 proof, so it's big. I get toffee and butterscotch. Try a few drops of water to calm it down a bit

 

Yeah, it was more than I was ready for. I'll try it again sometime with a little water if necessary. I usually forget about that.

 

Even if blue moon and goose island are growing fast (but are there really no other breweries growing faster? ) BMC is still stagnating or declining overall, so it is still true that craft is gaining share from BMC. Where else do you think it's share is coming from?

 

Never