The Next Big Thing

I don't care for smoked beers at all but this is an awesome post!

 

Next big thing is people discover so called "shelf turds", ie regularly made beers you can get on the shelves, are actually 90% as good as the beers that are hard to find.

 

That IPL Founders put out is still sitting on the shelf. I would expect the takeaway from this for other brewers to be to not dick with an IPL or to not to price it so ridiculously.

 

Lots of folks dislike smoked beer; that is why it is a polarizing beer.

It will be interesting to see if any US craft brewery decides to brew smoked beer despite this polarizing aspect.

Cheers!

 

Yeah the Founders Dissident was way too high priced in my opinion. I still see it sitting around everywhere. People might pay $10 but not $15, which is the same price I did pay for the Big Luscious. I don't think Jacks Abby prices their IPL's out of the ballpark. I think they are in the $5-7 range for a 500ml. What needs to be done rather than putting these beers in a 750 ml bottle or bomber and charging more than $10 for them, to market them property they should probably be put in six or four packs and charge about what you would pay for a decent IPA, $10-12. By the way I did not purchase a Dissident, I was not really into IPL's when it came out fresh and I agree it was priced way too high.

 

Cheesecake Porters

 

Have you tried Susquehanna Brewing Company's version? I only ask because we are in Pennsylvania

 

getting stale?
oak aged sours?

okay then go drink KBS or whatever...seriously....
this is the best time ever in American brewing
by any measure

 

Smaller and smaller batches so the price can up and up.

 

I doubt TTB will ever allow this. At least not til it's legal in the eyes of the feds. Also: that'd be some expensive ass beer.

 

Aged in wine barrels

 

Tequila barrel aged! Actually, maybe the trend will be going back to the basics, brewing good old solid ales, lagers etc. instead of seeing how far beer can be pushed.

 

case in point. I don't understand the attraction of beers that smell like band-aids smell. I just don't get it.

 

Sadly all too many smoked beers do have this aspect. The best (IMO traditional) smoked beers do not possess any of these off-putting phenolics. In almost no other style is the difference between really good and really bad versions so stark.

 

I think the funkier wild ales. Brewers are just getting into wilds. In general the big boys will start making them funkier. Of course we need to refine the initial question. My guess is this will be big with BA but not the bulk of the beer buying public.

 

Malty uber Marzens, fresh and BA.

 

I think your gonna see breweries pop up everywhere. I think the market will become overwhelmingly flooded with great beer and "whales" will mean less because we'll have access to comparable examples. I think there will be more of a drink local attitude because we will feel obligated to support these breweries. I actually think this shift has begun already, we are just at the beginning stages of it. Overpriced beer will still exist but you'll have many reasonable options so it won't bother us. None of this is a bad thing. I think it could shift a lot of how distribution is handled and could place more emphasis on freshness and consistency.

 

At least for me, 2015 will see me drinking mostly from the local breweries. There are now easily 30 breweries within a 40-minute drive from my house. Many make exceptional beers that only locals know about. After two years of trying to track down every rare, limited or hyped beer, I've decided that they really aren't better than what I can find any day at a local brewery. With Troegs, Victory, Flying Fish, Yards, Iron Hill, Tired Hands, Forest & Main and Forgotten Boardwalk to name just a few, I can enjoy every style of beer at its freshest and bring my favorites home in a growler. So for me, no more over-hyped $15 bombers and more $12 64-ounce growlers of great local beers. Will that become a trend? It should if you want your local breweries to survive in a soon to be very crowded national market.

 

We are starting to see some new style crossovers, but will likely see more of these in the future. IPLs were mentioned earlier, and I have tried a few 'sour' or wild IPAs and stouts the past few months. Yesterday, I saw something that I had never heard of though. A local Citra Dry-Hopped white wine. I sampled it and it was not bad, as the Citra hop character came out pretty well. Not sure if I would drink a whole 750 of this, but it was interesting. I've also had some wine barrel aged stouts and sours that take on some of these alternate qualities as well and can be quite good. Whatever the future holds, it will likely be to the benefit of good beer drinkers!