The Next Big Thing

I forgot about that one. Thanks for reminding me, it was pretty good.

 

I think barrel-aging will continue to get bigger, but it won't be just "Bourbon barrel aged" more ingredients will be used (fruit, spices, natural ingredients) then different types of barrels (wine, tequila, brandy, cognac, sherry, port) and possibly aged in one type of barrel and "finished" in another. A lot of blending like the wine and spirits world. Everything will become much more entwined within the industries.

 

Maybe some more funky/sour stouts? I believe Ive heard of some, but its obviously not the big thing now, so maybe the next big thing?

 

THIS. I've been preaching this for a long time and find Hop Ranch to be the best example around at this point.

 

@sierranevadabill recently posted in another thread: “Big things!”

That made a light bulb go off so my comment on the next big thing(s): The beers of Sierra Nevada from SNPA to the new Wild Hop IPA (brewed with Neo Mexicanus hops) and beyond!

Cheers to Sierra Nevada!!!

 

Baltic Porters, IPL, and Hoppy Pils!!!!

 

Where?

 

This beer was freaking amazing:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/220/73131/

 

Realistically, I don't think sours have reached that overkill status that barrel aging has come to achieve and will be next to be beaten to death.

"out there" answer: Edible glassware. Imagine a pretzel tulip dipped in non-nutritive cereal varnish. It's semi-permiable. It's not osmotic.

 

Quintuple bourbon barrel aged on vanilla, cacao, chocolate, coffee, caramel, cherry, honey, tobacco, plums, molasses, quadruple dry hopped beers. Who knows, maybe one day

 

My vote for most creative thoughts. Need a business partner?

 

Pot infused beer in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska etc...

 

I wonder what would be the preferred food pairing with those beers. Hmmm, twinkies!?!

Cheers!

 

In seeing this thread it reminded me how I have, on more than one occasion suggested that smoked beers will be the next big thing. I went back and did a quick search for some of those comments I made. Below are some highlights, if anyone is interested. Let me preface all of this by saying, I think smoked beers are the next big thing for beer geeks, not beer drinkers, not even the casual craft fan, but for folks like us. Again, here's some of my previous comments.....

In my opinion, the big "trends" tend to play on the "bigger/stronger/more intense = better to the American consumer" assumption. Extreme hoped beers, extreme strength beers, extreme barrel aged beers, extreme ingredients (though this one has worn out it's welcome amongst the geeks I believe), etc., etc. Smoke can be exploited that way. You'll start seeing posts like "Smoked beer from X brewery was like drinking a pack of Marlboro's, it was EPIC BRO!!!" as if the smokier it is, the better it automatically is (as we see with the comments about DIPA's being awesome because the bitterness can strip enamel off teeth).

Smoked beers especially could become the next new thing when you factor in the machismo element of smoke and the nonsense bravado that could, if marketed correctly, accompany it (ie. being a tough guy who smokes cigars, beeing a mountain man who smokes meat, and other similar foolishness). The style is ripe to be marketed to high hell. And, if AAL's have taught us nothing else, marketing can influence your perception of taste more so than your actual taste buds. At that point you'll start seeing many more threads that say, "I used to hate smoked beers, now I love them."

Many will say that smoked beers are too polarizing. Indeed, the flavors are strong. But again, why are we consuming what we are consuming. We like to think it is because appealing to our taste buds, but there's a lot of psychological factors that contribute to what we ultimately taste. Additionally, I present to you sour beers. These beers are/were polarizing too, yet all summer long we saw people crushing 12 packs of Westbrook Gose in the "What Beer are You Drinking Now" threads. Perhaps sour flavors aren't as polarizing as smoked flavors when it comes to beers, but there is certainly some division, and as I have alluded to, when marketed correctly, the arguments on taste alone aren't as cut and dry.

If a brewery that wasn't considered "too big" (like Sam Adams) but large enough to reach a lot of people, though not everyone, so that some exclusivity could still tantalize folks AND that same brewery had a head brewer people respected and didn't dismiss when they experimented (someone like Jim Kimmich and not someone like Sam Calgione) came out with a 12 pack of canned "Smoked Amber Ales" AND named it something that tapped into the bullshit bravado that underscores the craft community (Mountain Man's Smoked Ale) AND then wrote on the can some exaggerated foolish descriptor using violence, irony, a reference to beards and the word epic at least once (for example "Mountain Man Smoked Ale is for the burly man who knows his night in the wild is epic. While he smokes his freshly killed boar over a fire that he used a piece of his beard as kindling for, he cracks open one of these brews and enjoys the satisfaction of himself. No need for this man to crush the can on his head, as he'll crush it on the skull of his next kill, unless of course he decides to use it as pillow.") AND then that same brewery got those same canned Smoke Amber Ales into the hands of a few people in the craft scene with cred. like the Bros., while they were getting their picture taken AND then got those pics uploaded to all sorts of places you'd start to see a change. That is a perfect storm of factors, no doubt, but how does anything become truly popular without a little "right place/right time" magic?

So brewers take note, a lot of people like craft because of how it tastes, but a lot of people got into craft because it helped the reinforce an identity that they wanted to have (for whatever reason).This is all just my $0.02 obviously, but I see a huge market to capitalize on with smoked beers.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...ar-coming-tick-tick-tick.184971/#post-2837586

 

@Jesse, I really like you enthusiasm concerning smoked beers and wish you well on your crusade here. I will do my part by vowing to once again attend the Yards Smoke ‘Em if You Got ‘Em event.

Cheers!

Jack

P.S. And I will track your ‘prediction’ of a US craft brewery producing something like a12 pack of canned "Smoked Amber Ales”.

P.S.S. You may be interested in knowing that more Schlenkerla smoked beers will be coming to the US this year; bottled versions of Fastenbier and draft of Krausen.

 

Perhaps it's just me, but I can't stand BA beers. Just too boozy for my taste.

I like my IPAs, Stouts, Porters, Reds etc....so I'm happy

 

Hopefully Zwickels and more Maibocks!

 

Aging in oil barrels.

#tooedgyforme

 

You are talking about the next hyped thing not the next big thing. barrel-aged/sour/wild are a small % of the craft beer market.