new trends in 2013

I concur with these. I think the brewers will keep making things the big boys cant easily replicate, i.e. Sours. I would love to see more session ales this year...

 

1. Session beers (like Lagunitas "Daytime" rumored to be going year round)
2. Sours (Like Firestone Walkers new sour house that opened last month)
3. Whales becoming more accessible (Hello Abyss)
4. New, exciting variations on IPA offerings/series featuring all the new varietals of hops hitting the market
5. Gluten Free beers
6. Brewery expansions from both East Coast and West Coast to accommodate demands. (looking at you Dogfish)
7. Fresh IPA "drink by" style
8 Style blendings (Cream IPA??)

 

Agreeing with a few people above on the barrel aging and imperial (anything with lots of hops). I would love to see more collaborations coming out though

 

Short's has two coming out in their 2013 line up. MMM Kay and Beard of Zeus

 

Record number of breweries opening, a record number breweries producing ok beer.

 

This goes to show how tastes differ. I've yet to find a Black IPA that I liked or would buy again. I've tried a few and will give up on the style. But I do love Rye Pale Ales and Rye IPAs.

 

There was a medium large brewery in Michigan that went under. The majority of what they had went at auction to Miller Coors. What are they going to do with this stuff?

 

Smoke. Heat. Double imperial everything.

 

2013 shall be the year of the Berliner Weiss. So sayeth the watcher of the ales.


Also, hopped up session beers <4% abv will make a strong claim for the throne.

 

Weird yeast experiments.

 

Pumpkin beers will come out in June

 

More Doughnut flavored beers

 

More wives b*tching about money spent on beer purchases.

 

More small breweries getting a name for themselves then sending to more out of state markets where everybody flocks to their beers like bee's to honey so they can try the latest and greatest thing they have read reviews about on all the various sources for beer information we all read, thus creating more demand for the beers...

It's a cycle i've seen this year and figure it to continue and hope it does with more quality beer being brewed all over the USofA! Merica!

 

Brewery exclusive release parties.

For good or bad I see this becoming more of a trend. Higher prices/profit & more hype. I'm not saying its new, there are certainly breweries that have been doing this for years but expect to see this happen more than ever in 2013.

2014 will be the year of the beer restaurants. The trend will be for restaurants to have beer lists rather than wine lists. Wine will start to take the back seat...only in trendy urban restaurants though, it certainly won't be a market wide norm.

 

After leveling off near the end of 2012, my beer spending will trend sharply upwards to accommodate an increase in barrel-aged stout and barleywine consumption necessitated by the chilly California winter.

 

Maybe it's already been said, but...New Zealand hops! Some of my favorite beers of 2012 have utilized those amazing buds.

 

Saison IPAs
And more sessionable beers.

 

I'll spend more money on homerew equipment/ingredients than commercial beers.