It looks like you were essentially last active on this site in 2018-19. Compared to then, I don't know if there are fewer beer choices out there or more choices, but in my realm, there are fewer beers that I want to buy, and fewer places where I want to buy them. There isn't a single reason for this for me. It's partially due to the increased success of small local brewing companies (compared to over a decade ago). In some ways it's due to shifting aesthetics in the craft beer world. It's financial. It's personal. It's due to bars I liked closing. It's due to stores I liked closing. It's due to tap handles going out of use. Covid certainly had a hand in those closures (and one can assume Covid impacted your relationship to beer based on your post history @Iluvink ). Those closures weren't just from Covid though. I think they were also a result of shifting consumer interest. I don't just see the recent past through rose-tinted glasses though. I was spoiled for choice. There was a madness to grocery stores dedicating two aisles to beer. I always saw it as madness, but I was still able and interested to take advantage of it in years past. These days, if a beer store by me hasn't gone out of business and has a large variety of stock, you'll need to make sure the beer you're looking at isn't from 2018. You get the impression that they don't care if they are walled in by product that won't sell, and that consumers didn't care enough for the variety in 2018. How long will such places continue to hang on?
I think it's a "perfect storm" of brewery oversaturation, alternative products (seltzers and such), COVID cultural changes, and craft beer commoditization. I don't necessarily think any of those items got us where we are by themselves, but when they hit all at once things have cratered. It's less noticeable in places that didn't have super robust scenes to begin with, but the sky is falling in many beer-centric places. Not just in the US, either.
One beer that I actually wanted to buy this year was Kombine - the most recent collaboration between St. Bernardus and Weihenstephan. I can't find a retailer by me with it. A specific store that went out of business would have stocked it for sure. I asked a different store if they had any interest in bringing it in (having no expectation that they'd actually want to) and they said they'd only consider it if those breweries were any good and they'd have to look them up. Not something you hear everyday regarding St. Bernardus and Weihenstephan. Needless to say, I still haven't been able to purchase the one new beer I was interested in. So it goes. I can buy old stock of their 2024 collaboration however. Good times.
Thanks for the tip. I saw the same in another post, so I tried one WF w/o any luck but still plan to try another.
Chris, you might want to speak to the person managing the beer section of your Whole Foods store and see if they would be willing to obtain this beer for you. In the past the beer guy at my local Whole Foods obtained bottles of Schlenkerla Fastenbier for me. Doesn't hurt to ask. Cheers!
Oy. Just... oy. Did you have a response to that? I can't imagine if I'd just laugh out loud or turn slowly and walk away.
Well, since they specifically asked me if those companies were any good, I felt obligated to answer that they are both very highly regarded by people, but that such opinions shouldn't influence their decision to bring the beer in. For context, let me mention that this is a store that even sells (dusty) lambic rather than an exclusively BMC type of spot. I regretted bringing it up because I initially just wanted to simply find out if they had the beer in stock and it turned into a 5-10 minute performance on why they weren't really going to try to order it. When they talked about looking into it, I was clear with them that I didn't intend on buying a full case and didn't want them to order a beer that wouldn't move. They didn't need to bother. I get it though. I had their own interests in mind, but customer service can be a nightmare to deal with for places when customers take the opposite approach.
Especially for a place that claims to be a beer store (yeah, presumption on my part). If so, how can they not have heard of Weihenstephaner? Seriously, how good is the business at this place -- keeping the dusty bottles observation in mind. I know that after such a telling conversation as you had I'd never return.
I mentioned the other store closings in my earlier long post. I'm not a fan of the store being discussed but I no longer have options I like much better. Whenever I go, there's always someone there buying a case of Coors or whatnot. Someone must be buying from the fridge with all the 16oz craft cans, but I have yet to see it. I only grab imports and Sierra Nevada.
No kidding. The PNW is teeming with breweries. Every single time I get to the Portland area there are more and more choices. Truly a first world problem for me. So much beer, so little time.
OK, so I was obviously way off base when I made my previous statements about the number of craft breweries possibly closing up in the next few years. Also, I did not know that there were over 9700 craft breweries in the US as of today. What I do know is that I've seen just as many breweries close in my area as have opened for business in the last year or so. And a lot of the breweries that have closed were good ones that I wouldn't have guessed would have been the ones going down so it's concerning to me that if the good ones can't stay in business, I'm not holding my breath for some of the not-so-good ones still being around as many years as the ones that have recently shuttered were in operation.
There are a plethora of reasons why breweries close, it's a fool's errand to make a blanket statement. Age of ownership? Family issues? Other interests? Hit the Lotto? Lose a lease? Insurance premiums get too high? Health problems? All these and more, without actually getting into the production, retail, distribution, and taproom aspects of running a brewery.
This... I drink beer. I do not give a damn about cider/seltzer/CBD/N-A crap... also, canned cocktails, screw it. I realize other ppl might. Maybe it sells... but man, its stealing shelf space from real beer.
That's funny because there's a brewery/brew-pub in my area that opened because the owners hit the lottery. I'll have to investigate how well they've been doing -- haven't been there or tried their wares for a while.
