So, the craft beer movement is on the rise. What are your thoughts?
I think you need a faster Internet connection. Are you posting from 2008?
Maybe rephrase this as what types of craft beer do we like? Do we like craft beer at all?
I for one do like craft beer, but then I am not a huge fan of lager, which is what most non-craft beer is here in the US. I enjoy anything from an ale to a stout, but prefer a more balanced flavor profile. I don’t like a one-note beer of any type.
My favorite type for the moment is IPA. Again, before I get pounded for bitter beer, it needs to be balanced (see Bridgeport for example). An IPA that is simply over-hopped with no nuance will be imbibed, but is not my preference.
The darker the better. Chuli Stout and Irish Death are both in my list of favorites.
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mmm
It’s marzen time! My favorite beer time of year, through October. Right now I’m loving Great Lakes Oktoberfest.
It’s just a passing fad. The craft brew bubble will burst any day now. The last 20 years were a fluke.
What about cellular phones, also referred to as mobile phones. It seems like a lot of people are starting to use them. Do you think they’ll catch on?
Can someone explain the intrawebs to me?
The only problem I have with craft beers is nobody in the Bay Area stocks my absolute favorite (IPA 395). Luckily for me I’ll be paying a visit to Mammoth Brewery week after next!
I didn’t like beer until the craft stuff started coming out and I love stouts and wheat beers. There was a time when the only stout I was aware of was Guinness. Now there is so much more available. Ciders, too. I will try all the ciders.
More like 1998. Hell, early 90s, really.
I think would love to have another beer.
In all seriousness, we seem to be getting more rye-based beers these days. I’m drinking a rye pils right now, and had rye IPAs yesterday. Mmmmmmmmmm.
I’m all about the sours, but drink IPAs when there aren’t any sours.
Our local sour hounds, Draai Laag Brewing is hitting their stride. Although they are a tiny brewery, their beer has been sighted on shelves in New York, California, Connecticut, and Maine.
It’s a wonderful time to be a beer lover!
You are closer than you think.
Craft beer is subject to Sturgeon’s Law, just like everything else.
And the phenomenon of an industry having spectacular early growth and expansion followed by a period of consolidation and/or companies going out of business isn’t at all uncommon either.
I personally never really had the feeling that this current situation of every major metro area having a dozen small breweries was going to last; what we’re liable to end up with is something where each major metro area or region ends up with a small handful of craft breweries. My hope is that the ones that make it do so on the strength of their products, not because they were early entrants into the market and have had longer to build those distributor relationships and market presence. Probably a pipe dream though.
Still… even a small handful of breweries per major metro area is a damn sight better than the state of things back in say… 1970, when you had 142 breweries in the entire country, all producing some variant on the standard American Light Lager. I mean, what were the real differences between PBR, Budweiser, Lone Star, Stroh’s and Falstaff back then?
At least now, we have the big breweries for people who like that kind of thing, and we have smaller ones brewing more styles and more interesting variants on those styles for people who want something else.