Wow. That news saves me a 120 mile round trip to check out the -NOT- Total Wine beer store. ( I procrasinate these days.)
Love telling this story. Was at the hotel Utah saloon in SF some years ago, and noticed the only draft macro AAL they had on the impressive beer list was Oly. That seemed kind of random, and so I asked the bartender what was up with that. He indicated the owner felt all AAL macros tasted pretty much the same, so why pay a premium for bmc stuff? He mentioned that kegs of Oly were considerably cheaper, and so he could then pass the savings on to his customers. Pints of Oly were $1.50 as I recall, so a pretty good deal really, if you wanted a macro AAL. When the bartender happened to mention that in his opinion they all tasted like flavorless crap anyway, I was pretty sure we were going to get along.
Some time about 1974, Tug's Tavern in San Diego dropped Coors draft, and put in PBR, Andeker, and (possibly??) Pabst Dark. They likely changed to lower their costs (PBR was "popular price"). Andeker draft was a minor triumph for a couple of beer nuts, maybe not so popular with the rest of the crowd.
I don’t know, I feel like the bigger Craft breweries like DFH, Sierra Nevada, Stone, etc have put way less emphasis on varying their lineups these days, but smaller local breweries have a LOT of different beer styles available when I visit.
When you visit, but most of the stuff that enters distro is the same styles over and over for most breweries.
I think for wide distribution, a steady product line would work best. Distributing craft breweries haven't been able to get enough of a market share to have clout with wholesalers or retailers. Distributors have enough on their plates without bringing in a lot of one-offs. Retail sales outlets will allocate slots based on a reliable sales track record. A store isn't going to give Sierra Nevada extra shelf space to sell several one-off specialties. Larger craft breweries have good reason to keep it simple.
“Yeah Bro, I hear the hazies from those two breweries are kinda mid and their Westies aren’t fire, so we’re not bringing it in.” I just picked up a 4 pack on sale at Whole Foods for $14.99. WF feels like a good beer store from the early 2000s. I never used to get grocery store beer very often, but now that’s where I find most of the stuff that I like.
In the late 90’s and early 00’s, everything was new and fresh, the industry was just beginning a period of massive growth and expansion. I think we are just spoiled and complacent now. There are so many great beers, of all styles, that are easily accessible. I can get better beer at my local gas station now, than I could at a bottle shop 25 years ago.
I gotta find that Rogue one, I'm planning to pick up the new Troegs tomorrow if I can, it is at a store close by. I told another BA that their latest post gave me pause... Sounds slightly new school but I love Troegs and they make clean beers very well so I think I'm gonna give in a grab the six pack tomorrow, I believe only $11.99. PS...currently drinking a Sunshine Pils
The other styles didn’t used to be “one-off specialties.” They were part of the regular portfolio. This is why my earlier comment claimed that if you want a variety, go to your local breweries. Mine offer a wide variety of styles.
In the last few years I've seen less or at least a different type of variety on the whole. Between 2000-2012'ish, they typical small brewery lineup typically consisted of an amber, a wheat/weizen, pale ale, blonde, porter/stout, and a redd'ish American IPA. You'd have the occasional Belgian items or maybe they had a pumpkin beer or Oktoberfest as a seasonal, too. That's just what you expected from most places. Right now it's more like, hazy IPA 1, hazy IPA 2, west coast IPA, DDH double IPA, Mexican lager, trendy DH lager of some sort, fruited sour, fruited seltzer, mega strong BA stout with adjuncts. Seasonals are still a thing, too.
I think Covid changed things a lot. At least locally, there are fewer specialty stores with a dedicated beer buyer. The position of dedicated beer buyer seems to have gone by the wayside as well for the most part. From my standpoint, we are seeing a more homogenous selection from store to store. The selection might be greater than it used to be overall but the selection store to store is very similar whereas that didn't feel like the case before Covid. It seems like store beer selections are largely driven by what is pushed by the distributors. They're pushing the same things everywhere, hence you get a homogenous selection. That's just my hypothesis/observation of what is happening. I do remember going to stores back in the day when I was a kid with my dad (kids love recycling cans/bottles), the selection was still pretty good. You had a myriad of German options. You had a bunch of seasonal beers. Mixed packs. Lots of bottles. Everything was clearly labeled. I feel like now, it takes work to see what a beer is because you have to read each label individually (beauty of a six pack bottle holder is that you had it clearly labeled what the beer was). You kind of assume everything is an IPA psychologically because that's what the culture has sort of boiled down to. Who has the time to look through everything.
Agreed, I’ve had this conversation a lot. It’s not special anymore, and I don’t mean it in a bad way. 10-12 years ago if you wanted a large draft selection you had to go to specific gastro pubs and beer bars. Now I can go to Buffalo Wild Wings and they have 30+ beers on tap compared to Miller lite, SA, and SA season like in circa 2015ish. I think a lot of us are just numb to it now, great available beer is no longer the exception, it’s the rule these days.
Definitely true. It wasn't long ago where most restaurants had 5 taps and all but one of them would end in lite/light. It's pretty rare for a restaurant with a liquor license not to have something halfway decent. Oddly, old reliable Sam Adams seems to be a casualty of that. Those Sam taps in random beer deserts seem to have dried up in favor of Modelo.
