Biggest/Most Surprising Change/Development in Craft Beer since you started?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by cavedave, Sep 16, 2017.

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Biggest/Most surprising Change/Development in Craft Beer since you started?

  1. Increasingly hazy/turbid IPA gain favor

    32 vote(s)
    22.5%
  2. So many people have been converted to craft beer lovers

    31 vote(s)
    21.8%
  3. Hipsters discovering craft beer

    3 vote(s)
    2.1%
  4. Beer sold for over a thousand dollars per bottle

    24 vote(s)
    16.9%
  5. American beer desired in Europe

    41 vote(s)
    28.9%
  6. Taking pictures of the beer you're drinking became a thing

    31 vote(s)
    21.8%
  7. Lines at breweries for IPA

    52 vote(s)
    36.6%
  8. RateBeer sold to AnheuserBuschInBev

    13 vote(s)
    9.2%
  9. Other- let us know about it

    31 vote(s)
    21.8%
Multiple votes are allowed.
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  1. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,145) Mar 12, 2009 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Lotta changes along the way for this old hippy fine beer lover, hard to pick the most surprising, but here are some that surprised me. What do you think? Inquiring minds want to know. Up to 3 choices allowed. Let us know why and how you were surprised. Cheers!
     
  2. Shanex

    Shanex Grand Pooh-Bah (4,466) Dec 10, 2015 France
    Regional Mod Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    As a Euro, of course American beers becoming a big thing in the old world.. although taking pics of my beer becoming a thing has also become something. Something eerie.
     
  3. EnronCFO

    EnronCFO Pooh-Bah (1,969) Mar 29, 2007 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society

    To me the biggest changes were 1)Rise of and acceptance of cans and 2)The huge increase in the number of breweries, brought on by the relative ease with which inexperienced people are able to raise $ and open a brewery.
     
  4. DIM

    DIM Grand Pooh-Bah (4,134) Sep 28, 2006 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I voted for IPA lines, American craft demand in Europe (I found an Other Half tap takeover in Iceland!), and other.

    My other vote was for the popularity of cans. 10+ years ago cans were a low rent beer vessel and campers missed out. I have had a wide variety of great beers in cans by the fire this week.
     
  5. JimKal

    JimKal Savant (1,149) Jul 31, 2011 North Carolina

    I think the rapid growth of small and local breweries. Every place that sells beer seems to have a local section. Fresh, local beer often in cans. Great development.
     
  6. DoctorZombies

    DoctorZombies Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,433) Feb 1, 2015 Florida
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Definitely taking pictures of beers (guilty) and great beer in cans - cans are the future!
     
  7. foundersasap

    foundersasap Maven (1,393) Feb 2, 2015 Michigan
    Trader

    I work for an international company and when colleagues visit, they seek out our IPAs and often pack their suitcases with them for the return home. One colleague / friend in Sweden drinks Boston Lager exclusively and a bit of Jack Daniels too.
     
  8. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,145) Mar 12, 2009 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Well, glad to see so many folks mention the can thing. As some/many of you know I am pretty much in the anti-aluminum beverage container camp, but there is no denying the trend. It gets my vote as a change that is regrettable, as it "forces" me to buy beer I love in a container I don't. Definitely a major development though!
     
  9. rgordon

    rgordon Pooh-Bah (2,677) Apr 26, 2012 North Carolina
    Pooh-Bah Society

    The most surprising thing to me is that so many take this latest beer phenomenon for granted. There have been sputtering fits and starts of this craze for decades, with many great beers dying out along the way. Survivors such as Sierra Nevada and Boston Beer Co. are seen by many as just so so brands. These brands are like alligators, able to survive through troubled waters. So for me it's not so much change, but rather a recognition of the entire evolution of beer awareness that has gotten us to this point. Nothing is ever guaranteed to survive! Cheers Dave!
     
    JrGtr, Shanex and cavedave like this.
  10. Bryan12345

    Bryan12345 Initiate (0) Mar 17, 2016 Texas

    I love the variety available. Always something new! Not everything NEW is always GOOD, but at least it's never boring. :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
     
  11. dennis3951

    dennis3951 Initiate (0) Mar 6, 2008 New Jersey

    Imo the move to small local breweries is the biggest change. The widespread use of cans in #2. I agree with what @cavedave typed in post # 8.
     
  12. Lone_Freighter

    Lone_Freighter Initiate (0) Jun 4, 2017 Vermont

    I chose "other" because of the ingredient thing:

    Marshall Wharf's Sea Belt (scotch ale with sea kelp)? whoah, weird
    Practically anything by Wunderkammer and Casista Cerveceria (HF subsidiaries)

    I'm sure there's a bunch of others that I can't think of off the top of my head, but brewers, I have to say are getting quite "creative" these days. Nice thread @cavedave !


    I'm left scratching my beard and wondering just what are they going to do next.
     
    VABA, jkane101 and cavedave like this.
  13. jkane101

    jkane101 Savant (1,137) Sep 22, 2007 New Jersey

    It was unthinkable, a decade ago, that the USA would become a beer destination.
     
  14. jkane101

    jkane101 Savant (1,137) Sep 22, 2007 New Jersey

    Agreed, great thread cavedave!
     
  15. drtth

    drtth Initiate (0) Nov 25, 2007 Pennsylvania
    In Memoriam

    My list of "others" in no particular order:

    1) The rapid increase in how many really flavorful beers I'll never have the time to try/drink.

    2) The growth of small, local and not having to drive (or drive more than a mile or so) to find a flavorful beer or comfortable place to have one.

    3) How long it took ABInBev to wake up to what has been happening inside the beer segment of the alcoholic beverage market place.
     
    #15 drtth, Sep 16, 2017
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2017
  16. eppCOS

    eppCOS Grand Pooh-Bah (4,236) Jun 27, 2015 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Turbids, cans, and the lines... and the last one just kills me. It's a personal thing, and I just don't get it. If I see a line, I simply turn around. My salve and balm when doing so makes me look like a crazy person as I mutter "It's just freakin' beer"...and then move on. Good feed here...
     
    jakecattleco, rronin, BruChef and 3 others like this.
  17. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,291) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I voted 'other' because I've been enjoying craft so long that I predate the Bourbon barrel aging thing. To me that was a major event and I thought it was something that would not have worked at all, so I'm glad it happened.
     
  18. MostlyNorwegian

    MostlyNorwegian Pooh-Bah (1,912) Feb 5, 2013 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Lot of things are a reality that I would never have imagined when I started writing about microbreweries for Massive Magazines vice columns twenty some years ago.
    Good beer went from underground to being mainstream in that time. I have mixed emotions about some of the directions it is heading towards with the mainstreaming. The repeating some of the mistakes in the pursuit of sales, and some of the growth for the sake of growth strategies, but it's out in the open and there's no turning back.
     
    cavedave likes this.
  19. Jag237

    Jag237 Initiate (0) Aug 23, 2014 Virginia
    Trader

    I voted for the lines at breweries. It still blows my mind to see pics of people lining up at the Veil hours before they open. Especially when you can just stop by later and pick up cans no problem. I thought about voting other for Wicked Weed selling to ABInbev but I realize that's probably more of my own ignorance towards how that company was started and structured than anything.
     
  20. Chipotle

    Chipotle Initiate (0) Apr 23, 2017 New York

    Growlers and their popularity.

    Cans. Though I'm not a can fan. I avoid cans when I can (sorry). Though some of the artwork is suitable for framing.
     
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