when exactly did craft beer have such an explosion?

Craft beer has exploded in the past 12-18 months, but before that it was still growing very rapidly. I think part of it is that the economy is improving and a lot of people are finding themselves with a bit more disposable income. Also, as more people get into it more people are exposed in a positive feedback loop of conversions. And with a ton of people on this site talking about how they are proselytizing like catholics in 16th century central america are you really that surprised?

 

Seriously. But we do live in a Christian dominated society where we have been trying to convert people for thousands of years. I guess some of that mentality has found its way into "beer advocacy."

 

I'm as nonreligious as they come, but trying to get others to adopt your views to do is a trait much older than religion.

To the OP, I don't know if I'd call it an explosion. Growth, certainly, but keep in mind that the top 10 highest volume craft breweries in the country produce approximately half as many barrels combined as Bud Light alone is produced in a year. The mega beer corporations are also gobbling up more and more craft breweries every year.

As to why there is the growth, I imagine social networking also plays a large part. Sites like this make it much easier to get into beer, learn about beer, meet people who share similar interests, and try beers from all over the world that you might not otherwise have access to. Plus the growing anti-corporation and emphasis on local/family-owned business movement likely contributes.

 

"It really took off about a year after I got into it." -- Everybody

 

Simple answer: It will only get worse every year to come. Dont be so surprised.

 

I don't think it really "exploded." I feel like I got into it only a few years after this recent trend of big IPAs and barrel aging began (about 2008) but it seems like since Anchor and Sierra Nevada plus the startups farther east began, there's been kind of an exponential growth rise in the last 15 years or so.

Such is nature. The better an industry is, the more people will talk about it. The more they talk about it, the more it prospers. I think we're in a pretty golden age of craft beer, where world class craft beer is available at relatively low prices and the craft population is low enough that most of us will be able to try what we want through trading or traveling.

The snifter is definitely more than half-full

 

The popularity of rare and special beers has seriously outpaced the actual overall growth of craft in terms of market share. A huge part of that is social networking (BA, RB, FB, tweeters). People join BA to find more beers like their favorite beer Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier and within a few months it's brewery-only beers or GTFO because that's all we talk about on here.

DLD tix have been crazy for the last 2-3 years. I'm always amused by the threads that follow the ticket sale.

 

Evolution.

 

Hahaha! While I totally get the sarcasm here, I can see a small bit of truth to making that statement. I think on a much smaller level, a person may notice that the people in his circle of friends may have gotten into craft soon after they did. That is what happened to me, I had been talking up these "fancy" beers to my friends and it now seems like a lot of them are finally catching on, whether they will admit it was my influence or not is not really important. But I can count at least 6 people that are close to me that have starting drinking craft beer in the last few years, my dad included. It's one of those "everyone wins" situations, because each year our parties get tastier and tastier.

 

Social networking has played a huge roll in the growth of interest without a doubt, but so has the traditional word of mouth. I've been drinking craft beer since 2004 and I can say from personal experience that interest in craft beer is much greater now than it was.

 

June 14th 2006 at 1630.

 

This is part of it, but the craft beer industry began booming while the economy was tanking. I think beer is an affordable luxery. A cheap wine is $10, while a very high end bottle of beer is $10. So people can spend $10 and feel like they are spurlging.

Another theory is that dining in the US is booming as well. There are more and more high end good restaurants. People clearly want products that taste better and craft beer is filling that need.

 

Craft beer exploded in the 1990's. Then there was a bust in the mid-late 90's as the growth plateaued. The quality brewers stayed open and grew. The ones that had poor quallity, were run by quick buck artists, or were overextended folded.

There are many that think another contraction is coming. Those with quality beers will continue to grow as others fold.

 

Beat me to it!... But I had it beginning at 0915.

 

I've been into craft beer for about 15 years now. When I started in the mid-90s, there were a lot of smal and midsize breweries out the. Sam Adams of course and Pete's Wicked were huge in the scene, Magic Hat was doing some really interesting things out of a tiny place in VT. There was then the bubble popping then, when a lot of those smallest ones went out of business. Since then, there has been a parabolic growth, then, over about the past 2 - 3 years, there's been the astronimic growth in thw limited releases, Dark Lord, Kate the Great, KBS, PtE and PtY, etc. not to mention more limited stuff like Canillon, a couple years ago that stuff would sit for ages on the shelf, now it flies out as soon as it comes into stores.

 

I came here to say the same, & count me as one of those that think there's a contraction coming.

There are more & more excellent breweries opening every day, but there are also an increasing number of breweries that are opening to cash in on the "explosion". You can tell which is which about 83.6% of the time by just sampling the beer they're making.

 

Isn't there going to be 2,000 breweries in the US soon? I mean growing or not there has to be a ceiling.

 

Hello. Actually without being too facetious, I will pinpoint this current explosion of craft beer to late October, early November 2010 when the Discovery channel aired the first episode of BrewMasters. That show was responsible for quite a sizeable growth of awareness from the general public. And of course you still see Sam C with Martha Stewart on daytime TV and craft beer in regional/national news stories. This current explosion is definitely an unprecented crest of a wave; craft beer consumption keeps growing even as the US economy in general tanks, and beer sales (i.e BMC beers) keep dropping. Let's see how long this wave lasts, I give it at least another year or so before the wave falls. Check out this article.

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2011/08/08/craft-beer-sales-jump-15-in-1st-half.html

 

Off topic

I am still bummed BrewMasters flopped. Now the only time I get to watch stuff about Breweries is on Drinking Made Easy on HDNet.