Upcoming Craft Beer Trends

I think people will start to really seek out barrel aged brewery only released beers. Just my guess.

 

I predict more "reserve societies" for the US. It is an easy, no interest "loan" for the brewery who's only obligation is to make and provide the beer that they were already planning to make.

 

Fruited Berliner Weisses

 

I see mass produced breweries jumping on the game and making "special, limited, etc..." versions if nothing more than to just help push the notion quality means lack of taste and help take what market share than can from smaller breweries, or just buying them out...

 

I think it will take a good deal of time, but eventually you will see more breweries veering away labeling their brews under a specific style i.e. Pretty Things from MA. There has already been a lot of experimentation and cross pollination in beer styles, which will eliminate a lot of distinguishable styles.

 

I think we may start to see more "session" beers. With the success of Founders All Day IPA & Lagunitas Day Time, I think more of these will start popping up

 

More "sour beers" ie. wilds, lambics, Beliners, etc.

 

No way. Tastes are going to magically take a 180 degree turn and true British milds will be all the rage.

 

In the UK the trend will be for craft keg, which was virtually unheard less than a couple of years ago, to make significant gains in popularity.

 

Hopefully this. Brau Bros hopsession was damn close to being great as well.

 

Agreed. I feel as if some of the better-established breweries will hop on this train

 

As the market share of BMC declines, and the craft beer market share continues to grow, BMC [and their distributors] tactics will intensify trying to influence retailers to stop selling craft beer or BMC [and their distributors] will bite the bullet, accept the fact that more people are seeking more flavor in their beer and you will see more buyouts and takeovers of craft brewers. If that occurs and quality of the bought out breweries wanes [why don't you think it will - corporations cut corners all the time to make more money], there will be more small breweries opening with extremely limited distribution who may fly under the BMC radar and be treated as craft brewers used to be - an annoyance but not a threat. And the remaining independent craft brewers will continue to grow because of the people who refuse to buy even a good beer from a BMC affiliated company, regardless of quality.

 

And something I plan to avoid for that very reason.

 

I think the milder trend will likely continue. It's pretty tough to drink more than 1-2 big beers outside your house without either a D.D. or some good public transportation.
Plus, it seems like a decent economic move. Big beers often take a fair amount of time, money, and resources to do well, while you can turn (many) milder beers around pretty quickly and sell 3-4 pints per person instead of 1-2.
The key is - you HAVE to be doing something different. There are a million APA's, Amber's, Blonde's, etc. out there. You'd better have a spin of some kind.

 

Well since cans are all the rage now....and of course barrel aging is also....perhaps a barrel aged brew in a can?

(unless that has been done before)

 

The trend of breweries closing.

 

Or 12 oz bourbon barrel "cans."

 

More lager centric breweries. Wolverine in Michigan, Prost in Denver are 2 that I have been to and like.

Breweries making older styles of beer. Like Burtons, or even the extinct beers from Northern Germany.

Start up breweries specializing in old school hops in their beers. Mainly because they don't have contracts to supply the new hops like Simcoe and Citra.

 

Same here, I see more and more sours and wild ales (whatever the hell that means) everytime I hit the store. I'd think breweries are positioning these brews to compete for a wine buyers dollar.