The Problem with American Craft

when you're not an alcoholic

 

Well thank god I have no self control. Roll out the barrel!

 

This is the most misquoted quote of all time.
But I digress. While there are things that irk me when it comes to craft beer, I find it isn't the beer itself but rather the distro issues and snarkiness that comes along with it.

 

not everyone here is an alcoholic. Just most of us

 

Often attributed to Franklin, but there's actually no evidence he really said it.

 

Gee, that’s looking pretty good. ( I remember a thread about a year ago in which everyone was forecasting doom and gloom for the NY beer scene. )

 

I agree with this hard. I got into craft beer because it tastes better, and at this point I pretty much only want to drink the best things I can. There's way too much beer out there (and way too little money in my bank account) to waste time and funds on mediocre beer. I don't care if the place is a block away, uses all organic fair-trade ingredients, and donates 50% of the profits to orphans in third-world countries, I'm not going to support them unless their product is worth supporting.

I do think at some point the "bubble" (since that's sort of what this conversation has become about) will burst and take out the mediocre and lesser breweries, but I am a little afraid that great but lesser-known/lesser-hyped/unpopular breweries will be taken down with the ones that don't deserve to stay in business.

 

More likely it was someone who was writing about beer who misremembered something Franklin actually did say. :-)

Here's a nice description of where it might have come from:

http://www.anchorbrewing.com/blog/say-what-says-who-benjamin-franklin-on-beer-or-not/

 

Local average beer sold at high price points will eventually collapse on them in due time (I think). There are only so many locals to take the leap and try a local beer for the first time to realize they wasted their money on a inferior beer and won't buy again. IMO Local small/startup brewers in it for the long haul, would be wise to start selling beer at a lower price point, then increase the price gradually of each beer based on positive ratings and demand over time. Unless they are just looking for a quick buck and get out of the beer making business after people catch on to their inferior product/price gouging based on the "buy local /freshness" selling point.

 

um.... this
"Doesn't mean there are no breweries here that fit your description/stereotype, but they tend not to survive more than a few years because the customers understand that it takes more than just lots of hops in a kettle to make a good beer."

Seems like you're just spoilin' for a fight dude.

Yeah, there's crappy craft beer made in America. And crappy clothing and crappy cars and ... you get the point. But to focus on the low end and then condemn the industry as a whole as having a "problem" seems pretty extreme. There are any number of American brewers that make fabulous beer in a wide range of innovative styles that aren't particularly hoppy (Great Lakes, Victory, Dogfish Head just to name three from my neck of the woods). But the bottom line is that Americans love extreme flavors, and so hops rule. Face it, if no one was buying it, they wouldn't be making it. And to get back to your original premise, the very fact that so many brewers do choose to make so many hop-forward styles means that the mediocre to crappy ones will die a quick, ignominious death.

 

People would rather pay a dollar more now and get used to your prices than get hooked on them and have the brewer gouge them in a year's time. I would resent the shit out of that shady practice.

 

Well I don't know about Wisconson, but the unpopular breweries in SE PA are those that seem to make poor quality beers. If those who do good beer fail it will be for other reasons in their business plan. Generally speaking we can expect 50% of the start ups to be gone without a trace in 5 years, even some that make good beer. (But it won't be the result of a bubble bursting since the market still shows signs of steady growth.)

 

How is that St. Somewhere brewery? Aren't they in Tarpon Springs? And aren't they all Belgian-style? I never hear much about them, but I've seen them at one of my locals out here collecting dust.

 

Well breweries are a lot like restaurants its sink or swim.

 

OP, seems to me a strange position to take.

Are there a lot of meh beers out there? Sure. Could some breweries do better? Of course. Do some over-hop to hide technical errors? Perhaps, but I think this is oversold - it is like saying a modernist cannot draw figures because they choose to use cubist techniques. I think mostly it is a matter of taste. IPAs are all over the place, sure, but you know what? People drink them.

Besides, if you look at other markets, like coffee, wine, spirits, etc., it is hardly shocking that there are plenty of middle of the road beers. There are plenty of middle of the pack wines, too, and many who seem to phone it in, follow fads, etc. None of this seems unique to beer. What is new is the incredible variety of beer out there, and the fact that I can buy locally produced, which means fresh, and delicious beer exploring all sorts of styles, only some of which are super hopped.

Ask this question: Is this a better place to be than the pre-craft explosion? I can remember when having options other than standard issue adjunct lager often required imports at high prices, if I could find options at all. I still walk into some liquor stores around town, and all I see are a few SN or SA options, a reminder of how it used to be almost everywhere for a very long time.

So while there may be room for improvement, I am grateful to be a beer fan now.