3 Floyds Brewing (2020)

HBs traditional IPAs are the best thing they do, IMO. Your Wish is Granted, AleMerica the Beautful, Grid Pale Ale...all absolute knock outs that I’d put in the same class as Half Acre beer.

They just know how to make money and right now it’s selling super fresh hazy beer with new labels

 

Hop Butcher has made a number of good-to-excellent stouts as well.

 

While I'm not completely disagreeing with you, I've found that all of the "traditional" IPAs/pales I've had from HB to be more like the HA hybrid style (softer, creamier mouthfeel as opposed to dry and crisp). Granted, I haven't had AleMerica, so can't vouch for that.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7owY1En6A6/

More a solar space wolf than an arctic panzer wolf...

 

Hmm, cool label but a bit odd for a Norse myth to inspire a Mexican sounding beer.

 

What'd FFF do when hazy IPAs exploded onto the scene? Hell, what'd the Alchemist do when the style they pioneered was dialed up another notch? They kept doing what they were good at, and it still worked for 'em.

I mostly think good IPAs are trend-proof; frankly, a larger question right now (imo) is what breweries will do now that hard seltzer is taking such a huge leap.

*Fast-forward 5 years, FFF opens their hard seltzer-only Chicago taproom*

 

They will do nothing because advertising it honestly shows it is a fad: "Hard seltzer- alcohol brewed for people who don't like drinking, but who also don't want to seem awkward not drinking at parties...."

 

Oooh, you better not post this anywhere that beercruncher will see it!

 

Taking the other side of this statement - The folks at Sam Adams(Boston Beer) may beg to differ - it's their largest product. It could be considered alcohol brewed for people who don't enjoy drinking beer, who are gluten sensitive, etc..

 

Didn't mean to start a seltzer argument here, but this is mostly what I meant. Anecdotally, my office buys a bunch of beer one Friday a month, and in the last few months the amount of White Claw purchased has quickly overtaken almost all the beer, because the seltzer is appealing to A) people who don't like beer (but want alcohol) and B) people for whom a beer or two just makes them feel sluggish and/or generally crappy (I sometimes drink it for this latter reason).

 

I like it when people buy seltzer thinking it's literally just sparkling water, and drink it on the way to work like they always used to with La Croix.

 

They are the wine cooler of the 2020s...when's the last time you know someone who had a wine cooler?

 

Have you ever gone tubing/canoeing on a river with women?

 

The crazy thing is I know someone who's mother did this almost exact same thing. Would bring it to work & drink one with her lunch in the breakroom. Someone finally told her it was alcohol & she should probably stop drinking at work

 

Seltzer has less than half the calories (quick Google search, I could be wrong) and almost no sugar in comparison. White Claw is essentially La Croix for drunks. And I've seen a lot of recent statistics that low-cal/carb beer is also on a huge upswing for a similar reason; people are trying to be more health-conscious while getting lit.

What a fun-killer!

 

I personally think seltzer is a game changer. I have a lot of friends, male and female that don’t like beer, but do like to drink.

In the past, the only real options if you wanted to be mobile was something like Mikes Lemonade. Wine and hard liquor an be cumbersome with large, heavy bottles, and you also need to bring cups or a glass, not to mention how much stronger the drinks are.

It’s a lot easier to show up to a BBQ now with a sixer of claws, the same as bringing a sixer of beer.

 

What game does it change? Particularly since you're talking about people that don't like beer.

There was Zima, too, you know...

...and you could flavor it with any Jolly Rancher feeling that you felt.



Also, there's been a ton of other alternatives besides wine coolers for a long time, like vodka and rum bottled mixer things like Smirnoff Ice and Bacardi Silver. Hard ciders. On and on.

White Claw took off because of a meme. There was Truly and other Italian ones before and if you have ever had them side by side the taste is no different. It's all sparkling water with the slightest hint of gummy bears, and some of the non-White Claw ones are actually better...all things considered.

 

It (as in beer alternatives) were never in cans before.

And I think the rise of seltzer goes hand and hand with the rise of cider.

As someone that didn’t like beer in college, I would have loved for something similar to claws. Wine coolers and the like we’re always the equivalent of a sweet soda or juice, and if you don’t like sweet things you didn’t have many options.