Are We Killing Beer?

No worries. Enjoy what we have now and let Adam Smith’s hand make any corrections if warranted.

 

I agree they we're in a high car traffic area, but I would argue that "strip mall" type location with no view, no neighborhood like Beacon's HVB, or brewpub, made it a bad business. Just made the place forgettable since there are so many places to drink

 

They had good parking and great location (despite your comment high traffic does equal good location) in an area that already is a shopping and restaurant district, as well as being on a route that folks use to commute home after work.

Their problems IMO were they didn't advertise their location with proper signage, and they had meh beers in styles that aren't popular. I think these two things being different would have made them one of the most successful brewpubs in the area.

 

OMG . . . Noooooo!

 

We aren't killing anything. We are the reason the craft beer scene is alive and well . . . for now. I do think that any brewery opening currently or in the next couple years is taking a huge risk.

 

The bubble is coming im afraid.

 

Good to know. When?

 

I'd agree with the more isn't better, and IMO Asheville is a great example of having a lot of breweries, and I'd say most were at best middle of the road stuff. Buriel and SN would be my exceptions.

I'd also add that it's obvious a lot of breweries are trying hard to stay current with the latest fad offering, and that leads to a ton of stuff clogging up the shelves. Some are good, but it can be spotty at best most are middle of the road and not worth the money.

 

I'll let you know after it bursts!

 

Why would it be coming? Everything evolves, what's hot today might not be be next year, and another fad will come along. The NEIPA fad might peter out a bit after a lot of breweries hustle out their version. Most of those versions are forgettable.

 

TYIA

 

But pelase don't hold your breath until then....

 

I haven’t read this entire thread so this may have been covered already, but I would say the concept or gimmick beers you’re describing are still pretty fringe and are in no way dominating the industry. I think the notion of having difficulty finding traditional style beers is pretty unbelievable. I know there’s a few darling breweries out there that put all their focus on pastry stouts and/or New England haze or whatever, but “killing beer?” C’mon man.....

 

Every week, a Minnesotan beer-related publication called The Growler rounds up a bunch of new releases and re-releases from local breweries. This week, by my count, the majority (53%) of the over 120 beers listed are beers that utilize flavorings, mostly fruit. A good chunk of the remainder are NEIPAs, many of which brewers actively intend to produce fruit-like flavors via careful selection and employment of hops as well as copious residual sugars. Obviously there's a selection bias in what the publication and breweries choose to highlight. Then again, the fact that the industry disproportionately chooses to emphasize flavored beers is remarkable and, to me, concerning in its own right, as if beers are considered noteworthy only if they contain something other than malt, hops, yeast, water, and perhaps malt adjuncts and malt substitutes (or at least are designed to taste as if they do).

I'm sure this phenomenon varies a lot by market, but, in many markets, gimmick (or at least flavored) beers are becoming a very significant chunk of the beers in production, and, within the taprooms of many breweries, they certainly are partially crowding out beers that don't attempt to taste like some other familiar foodstuff.

 

I guess if you're looking at it from a completely puritanical POV. I do think we need to distinguish between simply adding flavor to beer (which I don't think many consider to really be gimmicky or even edgy anymore) and the actual attempt to mimic a NA food or drink.

I will admit, the link you provided was somewhat eye-opening, as in I didn't expect there to be that many gimmicky beers. However, I do still have trouble reconciling your 53% count with what I felt like the OP was actually trying to call out as a perceived problem with the industry.

 

I certainly agree that not every flavored beer is a gimmick beer or intended specifically to mimic some other food or drink. Nonetheless, I do think most uses of flavorings in beer are for the purpose of attracting customers via the promise of familiar flavors as opposed to optimizing the taste of the beverage. I.e., flavoring usually is used first and foremost as a commercial hook. "Ooh! 'Peanut Butter Porter!' Well I have to try that! I love peanut butter!" I definitely don't think flavorings are or ever were "edgy" in the vast majority of cases; quite the opposite, in fact. They've always been employed mostly to maximize accessibility and appeal to the masses.

I think that the closely related pair of trends of flavored beers and sweet, juicy IPAs is the most remarkable recent development in the craft beer industry, and it's substantially morphing both the overall flavor portfolio of and customer base for craft beer, for better or for worse.

 

I personally love all that shit. Give me all the pastry stouts you can, the milkshake IPAs, the cake and popsickle beers.

 

The more I look at it from your perspective I guess I would agree. My problems with that perspective could very well come from the fact that my town (Kansas City) is still coming into its own as far as it’s beer scene is concerned. It was not long ago that to experience any kind of beer scene at all (Boulevard, as great as they are, is not in and of itself a beer scene) one had to travel. I guess it still just feels kinda like looking a gift horse in the mouth for me to complain about the state of beer right now.

 

We probably aren't killing beer, but the scene has been really gripped by the ADD/Instagram culture, and I believe something will give at some point (+2 beer Karma for making a statement that actually didn't say anything).

I mean, I like hazy ipas, fruited sours, sweet stouts, dope can art and a lot of rappers whose names start with lil. That being said, I am not sure that any of those are entirely 'great' for the longevity of their greater, respective scenes.

Whether the blow back is a chunk of the scene moving to natural wine, or older styles making a proper pop culture comeback, I don't know.

I do know (at least believe), beer will remain popular and beer will remain fun. The larger scene has changed, and we are in a place where those changes are at least somewhat permanent-- sexy pics, position-less beers (see the Post Decision Heat and Death Lineup Warriors), and some really gnarly ten minute trends are here to stay. In the end, everyone dorky enough to post about beer here will probably find something to post about and something to love or hate or love/hate about beer and the state of the scene.

 

I figure that, at best, things stay the same and breweries keep opening one after the other and everyone's happy and lives in a beer nirvana where everything's happy and local and tasty. At worst, however, when these scenester people move on from craft beer because it's just another trend to them, that the bottom falls out of the small, local, craft beer market.