Beer in 2018, As It Was Foretold

Wow. As an oft-pessimist, I have to say, way too much negativity in this thread. Way too many old guys terrified of change. Everyone is distracted at how terrifying NE IPAs and flavored stouts are for "ruining beer" and "nobody wants beer that tastes like beer". Meanwhile I'm seeing more and more fresh goses, pilsners, Helles lagers, doppelbocks, altbier, on the shelves every day; and more and more people appreciating them. The fact of the matter is that, despite some realistic intimidating prospects, (such as the rising cost of ingredients, and the ever-encroaching threat of monopolies and competition) beer is literally the best it has ever been, and only continues to get better. If you all are nostalgic about the days when you had to travel across the state in the hopes of finding some eight month old Sierra Nevada, be my guest.

 

Call it what you like, but breweries large (Firestone Walker) and small (River North) have made the change from large format bombers to small format singles. Every time I step into a "bomber room" it seems I notice another brewery has followed suit. I would love to see Bruery beers in that format, 750ml is so much beer.

 

Well played

 

I'm hoping more breweries develop a beerfinder as good as Stone's. The added feature of showing the last delivery date is huge and I utilize it often. If more breweries had this feature, I'd search out and buy their beer more.

 

I, personally, like hazy juice bombs and stouts that taste like Mexican cocoa with bourbon in it, but when that is someone's only perspective on beer, that is problematic for the future of beer.

I would agree. And not only is it better, but better beer is more readily available. Are more people appreciating it? I would think so, as sales numbers continue to go up for the craft segment.

I remember those days.

 

Breweries follow trends and when the trends move away from traditional beer, you're going to attract people who aren't drinking beer because they like beer. They're drinking beer because it's being made to taste like something else.

It is, indeed, and I certainly do not exclude any of the beers mentioned because they aren't more traditional. What I do, on the other hand, is look at why they are being made in such large quantities.

 

That is indeed a nice feature but...

I just went to see when my local beer retailers received deliveries and while that indicates to me when they received a shipment it does not indicate to me how old those beers are. For example one of my local retailers received a shipment of Stone A beer 35 days ago but those bottles/cans could be many months old when they were received so what does the 35 days really tell me?

Cheers!

P.S. Another retailer has Stone Ripper beer that was delivered 104 days ago. Is Stone using this tool so that their Sales rep will go to that store to remove that old product? @StoneBrewingCo

 

Relating to another thread being discussed, why do people knock IPA's so much? What is so wrong with them? Sorry if this was covered already.....

 

Fair enough. I would somewhat agree with that assessment. But, I must admit I like IPA's.

 

Truthfully, I have no idea why people knock them so much. Even if you take all the IPAs/hop-forward beers out of the equation, the selection that we have today is light years improved from what was on offer even 5 years ago.

 

So very true. We have it good as beer drinkers in this day and age.

 

They don't have to be on a farm. They "just" have to use a certain % of NY-produced ingredients. That required % is gradually increasing. If I remember correctly, it tops off at 90% in 2021.

 

#TakeFarmBack

 

I definitely want to see more lagers, but I hope they don't overtake the current position of hazy ipas. If I have to go to the brewery and wait in line with a bunch of neck-bearded noobs to pay $15 for a 4-pack of a quality pils, I'm going to be pissed.

 

I've seen the hundreds of posts on the subject in more threads than I can remember, so I'm not sure what part of the dynamic I'm supposedly not familiar with. Nobody has to like ABI, and people are free to question the way they run their business. If you want to talk about immoral/unethical behavior, then character assassination of someone you've never met would be up there on my list. That's just the way I was brought up.

 

Of course you have, and your post had sort of a surprised naivete' to it that belies the fact you have been aware that beer drinkers are obsessed with demons in the beer industry since Beer Wars propaganda flick came out. My reply was tongue in cheek. I don't expect a change in behavior among fine beer lovers any time soon.

 

I would have to agree that prices have hit the ceiling. I find my self passing on 6-packs and 16oz 4-packs these days. The prices of some 12-packs and of course founders 15 packs make it hard to justify buying in a lesser format. 3 years ago I would have never thought this would be the case. For example in Chicagoland I can get a 16oz 4-pack of Half Acre Gone Away which I absolutely love for $9.99. On the flip side I can get a 12-pack of Bell’s Two Hearted which I love just as much for $14.99. It’s just not a debate for me anymore with the amount of fantastic readily available beer out there.

 

Fair enough. My post was specifically referring to the author of the article (not people posting) who in my opinion did not uphold what I assumed (maybe naively) to be the standards of the site. Respecting beer is nice, respecting people is even better. I've got no ivory tower, so I'll shut up about it.

 

Hmmm . . . almost the end of 2018. How you guys feeling about these predictions now?