Your Biggest Wrong Or Right Beer Predictions From Past

I was wrong in predicting that there was no way people would continue to line up for hours in the hot sun/freezing cold/eves of holiday, etc. to pay $16-$20+ for 4 packs of beer they've never had before.

I was right in predicting that I would be spending a lot more time getting reacquainted with classics that I can easily pick-up while grocery shopping.

 

I don't make short-term predictions, so I haven't seen a lot being proven right or wrong as of yet.

That quality will be the paramount indicator of a brewery's success, especially in reference to small, local breweries.

This could go either way, IMO. I've seen a lot of local breweries both start out well and then improve on that or start out with a thud and improve greatly. I've also seen a lot of mediocre breweries continue to make mediocre beer and still have full taprooms. For the life of me, I don't understand that with the proliferation of choice out there, but such is life with the "new" and "local".

That the quality of beer continues to improve and the availability of great beer continues to increase. Couldn't imagine that "we" would be here even 5 years ago, let alone 20. Craft beer is amazing and I've been happy to see and participate in a lot of its journey.

 

Which two? My mother-in-law lives in Nyack, so I'm there a few times a year

 

Nice, thanks! I've had a few Industrial Arts brews, I'll keep a look out for District 96 when I am in the area.

 

Someone asked what people see going forward. I can at least speak for Bierkeller...and maybe elucidate some larger trends?

We will continue to build on our success. Lagers are catching on and getting lots of attention, so we are well-positioned there. For the coming year we have added tank capacity and expect nearly 100% growth (doubling what we did last year).

We will continue to focus on quality and consistency. I have made extensive notes over the past year and am constantly working to improve processes -- without taking any shortcuts. We have a lab tech who has helped us throughout and will continue to help us improve.

We will increase the frequency of our beer gardens and introduce a number of new aspects, including: gravity kegs served by Bayerischer Anstich; the freshest beer dispensed into those kegs right from the tanks and served within a couple of days; a crowler machine for take-homes from the taproom, with a nice 32 oz can inside, say, a branded Masskrug...all at a very fair price.

We think that by providing an enhanced beer garden experience with even fresher, more authentic beer, we will keep ourselves separate from the pack and keep growing. A lot of these plans (quality, freshness, enhanced drinking experience) are probably national trends as well. We seem to have found our niche within those trends and are pretty happy with where we stand.

Now...talk to me in 12 months and things may sound different, but for now that is what we are looking at.

 

Love all those plans, that is so refreshing to hear and hope my local guys follow your thoughts.....

 

As long as Sierra Nevada continues with the likes of quality (hoppy) beer for the ( in MA) $ 14-15.00 12 packs I think they will be OK. I get mine at 4 weeks old all the time. October fest, celebration, narwhal, bigfoot and hoptimum, all see case buys from me. But yes, to your point, competition in a crowded market will continue.

 

I was actually surprised that it took so long. Although, in a sense, Defiant (and Neill) have been at it for maybe a dozen years now. They just seem to do best with English and Belgian styles, and play to a different crowd. Still, I'd put their Tripel against any other one being made in the states.

 

I'd prefer to take appearance out of the equation, at least in terms of defining factors; and I would wager that I, or any one of us, would easily be able to pick Heady from a NEIPA (even the more bitter ones) while blindfolded. So that's where I'm coming from, there.

As far as your parallels go, I'll gladly take Heady and Sabbath all day every day, myself, no matter where they fall on the spectrum .

 

[QUOTE="herrburgess, post: 5812189, member: 389328]
We will increase the frequency of our beer gardens and introduce a number of new aspects, including: gravity kegs served by Bayerischer Anstich; the freshest beer dispensed into those kegs right from the tanks and served within a couple of days; a crowler machine for take-homes from the taproom, with a nice 32 oz can inside, say, a branded Masskrug...all at a very fair price
[/QUOTE]

All your venues were well-selected in 2017. Looking forward to your events this year. I would definitely buy those crowlers.

 

I was wrong in thinking consumers wouldn’t support craft price creep.

I still am shocked people routinely spend $13 for a 6 pack, or even $12 for 4x16 ounce cans

 

You probably never went out because the Blind Tiger is expensive, or it was when my mother worked there. On Fridays and Saturdays she'd bring home a gallon mason jar filled with $20s.

But you're right about the rest of it.

 

I figured that the BA would shift their emphasis to "independent" above all else, and that ended up being the case (for now).

Nonetheless, I was surprised by how many breweries decided to use the BA indy logo of a bottle that was all out of beer.

I'm predicting that the blurry lines that people use to differentiate between west coast IPAs, east coast IPAs, and NE IPAs will remain incredibly blurry and this thread already seems to be bearing this out.