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

There are plenty of brewers putting out new, quality beers. Gimmickry is good for getting attention, but it's transparent. Ignore the Rogues of the world and embrace the Sierra Nevadas.

 

Not in our lifetime. But I'm ok with it, because:

a) there are plenty of breweries putting out solid beers
b) there are plenty of fails in the gimmick space, but also some real wins - and I think these are healthy for the beer world, and allows not innovation perhaps, but at least new and interesting direction changes

 

Most of them don't do that, I think... I've yet to see a "gimmick" beer from Night Shift, or Sixpoint, or Trillium, or Alchemist, or Lawson's, or Founders, or Bell's, or Russian River, or Harpoon... etc.

Every brewery is going to experiment to see what can create a great new beer, but generally those breweries that reach that stage already have something great and consistent that they keep putting out there.

 

Hate to say it, but good marketing does wonders for a brewery, more so than quality (at least once the brewery has been established). Case and point: several of my extended family members know that I'm into beer, but the first thing they ask me is if I've tried "that sriracha beer". Call them gimmicks, but as long as people are willing to buy them, they'll keep making them.

 

I think it's part of Craft's Beer expansion into the many different ways to produce beer. Different methods, different yeast, hell, we still have new Hop Varieties popping up now a days. It's all part of the progression. Will you have breweries that'll make a solid beer year after year? Yeah and that's what they're meant to do....along side the ones who are also p;ushing the boundaries of Craft beer to see how far it can really go.

 

Meh. Brewing is an art just as it is a science. From an American perspective as a brewery employee. We're just having fun with beer, and kind of doing what brewers with a creative urge have done all along. Trying out new ways, and putting new things to work to enjoy our favorite beverage. Lord knows, I would not want to be a production brewer stuck making the core line up week in week out. And we're also recovering from the bland corporate led yawn that was beer for much of the 20th c. More-over. There's acres of solid beer that doesn't insist on being creative for the sake of discovery by poking holes in your perceived notion of what solid beer is, and there are that many more breweries capable of doing it.

 

I agree that the gimmick beers have become a joke, but I don't see what the problem is. As others have stated their are plenty of breweries that make great, straightforward beer. And for the ones put out gimmick beers, some of them actually work, which imo just expands the possibilities of what beer can be.

 

I think there will be a little of both, gimmicky and root based. I think when a lot of these guys start out they have a vision of what/where they see themselves being and what they will do to get there. I look at a local Texas brewery Live Oak and they are pretty much old school/old country all the way and they make some truly amazing beer. Every one of their beers that I have had is pretty much spot on. I think a lot of brewers feel the pressure to keep innovating to keep people coming into their brewery and trying what they have to offer. I personally don't have issues with some of the stuff going on, I think we all like to mix it up every now and then. But if you are focusing on mixing it up with a base recipe that sucks well then I think you need to get back to the basics before you do that. If I go back and look at what is hanging out in my beer fridge(s) I will find nothing but basic beers, i.e. IPA, Baltic Porters and a few barrel aged stouts. Most the gimmicky beers I will try at a tasting and very seldom invest anything in them

 

Quite possibly that kind of quirky innovation (or on the flip-side gimmicky) is the roots of craft brewing...innovation always leads to great things, but less of them than gimmicks and throwaways...but it's worth it...

 

Gimmicks are a huge part of American craft beer today. I don't see it changing.

I wish breweries would focus on making better examples of the traditional styles.

 

Whats the problem with innovation? It happens with everything, especially products that have tons of competition. Evolve or die. It's the same thing with food and drinks. Go to any grocery store and you'll see 10-20 different types of potato chips but which ones can you count on to be in every store and outsell the rest? Regular potato chips. Soda brands like Coke put out tons of different flavors and low carb/calorie alternatives but which one always sells the best? Regular coke. All these different variations of food and drinks are great to try a couple times and can be amazing but at the end of the day, the all mighty IPA will still be on the shelves of every beer store and probably outsell everything else combined. I love Salt and Vinegar chips every now and then but when I just want a good chip, I grab some Ruffles. I love a spicy imperial stout but when I want a good beer, I grab a reliable IPA.

At the end of the day, nobody runs out to their favorite beer store when they see a Facebook post by the store saying they just restocked the shelves with more Stone IRS or Sierra Nevada Pale Ale but they will cut out of work early if they see Mexican Cake just arrived and while they're there, they'll probably walk out of the store with a 4/6 pack of fresh IPAs which is exactly what the breweries and beer stores are hoping for. Just remember, at some point, people thought making an DIPA or RIS was a gimmick.

 

Roots craft beer was solid but nothing special. I wouldn't turn one down if someone offered one to me, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. Gimmick craft beer was mind-blowing and worthy of the hype (and mules). I have some available for trade if anyone's interested. My tongue is so far in my cheek that it's hard to think.

 

There's a thing about brewers that get bored very fast with usual recipes. I don't like brewing the same thing over and over again, even though it's well received, I like the challenge and risk of experiment. But I have to do it while I homebrew, because I can't risk a big batch untill I get perfect flavour, but then I don't brew enough times new beer to perfecton it. I just brew something else and then it starts again. So experiment are for my friends and me, and solid traditional recipes are for the brewery.

 

No...

Some brewers are in it for the craft, (not all) but (all) the bankers are in it for the money. Some will say its not about the money, but it (craft brewing) is, keeps the doors open.

So, if bells and whistles make money...

Someone is always trying to build a better mousetrap (craft beer).

 

Sometimes what people call "gimmick" tells us more about their perspecitive and/or what they don't understand than it does about the brewery.

For example, there are lots of folks on here who snipe at the Ancient Ales made by Dogfish Head, saying "Oh, another gimmick." But in actuality the Ancient Ales series by DFH are mostly done as a collaboration between the brewery and a Molecular Archaeologist to try and re-create what folks may have been drinking back when. For example the Midas Touch beer is based on a recipe developed from the chemical residues found in clay drinking vessel unearthed in an a archaelogical dig near the tomb of King Midas. Similarly Chateau Jiahu is based on an analysis if the composition of an approximately 9000 year old liquid found inside a sealed pottery jar discovered in a small village in China. From the perspective of the Molecular Archaeolgist these are applied research as well as being fun. DFH regains their expenses from the sales of the beverages. But without their collaboration with the man interested in the ancient history of alcoholic beverages they probably wouldn't exist.

 

At one time people could have considered barrel aging, putting a randall at the end of a tap, and cultivating hop varieties as gimmicks. As consumers we need to put our money where we like the innovation and stay away from pure advertising hype. I'm just happy that the craft industry is not staying stagnant and being creative.

 

You trolling? They add something odd to most beers they make, (Chrisanthemem or Yam beer anyone?) use any barrel they can get hands on, if something hits that they havent done they immediately do it. They are the epitome of gimmick beer in MA. They hit with me on occasion, but let's not delude ourselves.

 

I guess we can just agree to disagree on what is gimmicky. Just because they aren't for everyone doesn't mean it's a gimmick or that it's not here to stay. I personally think BA Stouts and adding things like Coffee are some of the best things that have happened to craft beer. To me a gimmick is something like the OP mentioned where a beer is sent to outer space, brewed to 30+ abv just because, or aged on some animals balls. You can't taste outer space, and the novelty of that being "cool" will wear off. You can taste things like coffee and millions and millions of people love coffee so that taste is not a gimmick to me.

 

Well, actually, innovation in general is not just restricted to technological advances or process changes, it can involve ingredients as well. Or would you want to claim that replacing herbs and spices with hops, which substantially changes the end product liquid from gruit into a very different beer and enhances its "shelf life" was not an innovation??