The Beer Thread

[Swirls]

Saturday night the lady and I downed our other 3L bottle of Troeg's Mad Elf Ale. Same results as last time, except this time she passed out on a lawn chair in front of a bonfire.

Mad Elf: 2
Future Mrs. Swirls: 0

[Freed Roger]

Was in ILL today, and picked up a 6r assortment of some nice beers I can't buy in MO- Dogfish Head's 60 Min IPA, 90Min IPA, India Brown Ale (I think these are what God meant for IPAs to be - tasted so many bad ones lately, that I almost forgot I could like them) Ale Asylum -MadTown Nut Brown.

They all taste great and compliment each other.

[Freed Roger]

So many breweries, brewpubs springing up everywhere: is there a Craft Beer Market Bubble?

A decent article - answer seems to be yes and no

Another one
http://articles.philly.com/2014-04-04/n ... -lagunitas

What would a collapse of craft beer market mean to me, me me? All sheer panic!!!!

No, mainly I think it could be some inconvenience. Should many smaller brewers fail because there are too many, or get gobbled up by Big Beer - then Big Beer will have even more market control over distribution and the regulation around it, store shelf space and bar/restaurant tappers. I still should be able to find a variety of beers that I like, but it may take more effort.

And as beer drinker -I'll admit to checking out beer-ratings in the aisle, but overall, I prefer to be lazy. I'm guessing close to a third of our grocery store beer aisle is craft beer. Maybe another third is the faux craft beers like Goose Island, Blue Moon, Leinies, Shocktop. Other third is Bud Coor and Miller family beers. I would see the 1/3 craft section getting smaller and more confused. Whichever local craft brewer that pays the distribution mafia most is what will be there. (Wouldn't doubt if that isn't happening now - why so much 4 Hands?). With this market scenario, it won't be a meritocracy based on taste, as to who survives.

Also, regular restaurant taps - seemed like the last time in Chicago- the Goose Island was all they were passing off as craft. Granted small sample size (3 local not beer-centric places). Stupid Chicago.

Anyways - heading up to WI in a couple of days - my travels there and everywhere is always bettered by the craft beers. I wouldn't fret a bad brew-maker failing - but would be a bit bummed by the passing of this Golden (or red, amber, brown, black, white -if you prefer) Age of American beer drinking.

[33anda3rd]

One way to look at it is that there were ~ 1000 breweries for 103 million people in the US in 1918 (or a brewery per 103,000 citizens) and there are now ~2800 breweries for 320 million citizens (a drop in the last century to "just" one brewery per 114,285 citizens.) We still have not caught back up from Prohibition.

I call BS on this line from the first link:

“The portion won’t grow unless craft brewers drop prices and begin advertising during the Super Bowl,” writes Mr. Sixpack, “and that’s never going to happen.”

Look at food. People are smarter about what they are eating now. It's a health thing, a localization-as-politics-of-eating thing, it's a lot of things. It's also a hip/culture thing. 20 years ago some urban hipster showed her/his savvy by talking about the 7" vinyl import of some obscure band. Now it's an Instagram photo of her/his meal at some hot restaurant. Food prices, as organic/local/quality has grown exponentially in the last decade-plus, have gone up. A pint of strawberries at the Green City Farmers Market here is way more expensive than a pint of same in Jewel/Marianos. And you have to get to the GCFM, if you're a consumer, by like 8am on Saturday to make sure you don't miss out. The stuff at Jewel is still on the shelves at 10pm.

Good food didn't have to drop prices (they did the opposite) or advertise on the Super Bowl (many producers have literally zero advertising.)

In 2013 total beer sales in the US were down, but craft had 20% dollar sales growth and a 17% growth in barrel production. Craft was 6.5% of the market in 2012, then 7.8% in 2013. So it's probably a little early to think a bubble is going to burst when growth is so big. The beer market is enormous, and Bud, Miller, etc. have not had to fight off legitimate competition except from imports for nearly a century--if craft keeps picking away from big beer and from wine (way down the last several years) those are still two huge markets that are not competition-proof. Craft beer isn't like housing because there are old-school markets it's taking from. Like food, people are going to become more aware of what's in their beer, they're going to ask why they're drinking ABInBev or MillerCoors products full of corn and rice that are almost entirely lacking in flavor when they can step up a few bucks and get something really delicious. If the market had such big growth last year....how did that happen without dropping prices or mass advertising? Has anyone ever seen a television ad for a craft beer brand? (Sam Adams does not qualify.) How has Three Floyd's become Three Floyd's? How has Stone done what they've done? No advertising, just good beer.

And as craft grows in the public's consciousness and people learn more about what they drink, I think people will step up their price point on beer. It's silly in this country that we understand wine pricing structure but not beer. People understand that not all Cabernets are the same, and that they can pay $6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, etc. for a Cabernet at their local supermarket, and people are ok with stepping up from the $6 to the $10 bottle. But many beer drinkers are stuck on this idea that a beer should cost X regardless of the beer, and that if a beer is $9.99 for a six-pack it's an expensive thing. From a purely cost/oz standpoint, the craft beer that costs $20 for a six-pack is "cheaper" than a $10 bottle of cabernet (2129mL of, say, 7.5% abv beer vs 750mL of 14% abv wine.)

[Freed Roger]

Yeah, i think the first link mentions younger people are splurging on fancy beer more often. Of course you kids spend money a lot easier than I did at that age. Lin college, for me it was 99% about price.

My older daughters boyfriend, sort of a blue collar 20 something/typical blues fan. I think bud family is a mainstay still for him, but he ventures into craft beers (especially when I am buying). If that type of guy goes for craft beer, then craft beer will continue to grow.

[33anda3rd]

For me college was Icehouse, Bud Light, Keystone. There was no craft. At our restaurant I can put a Moody Tongue beer on tap and 23 year olds get excited. I can put an Against a The Grain all-brett pale ale in a bomber on for (hold on to your hat Jim) $18 and the stuff flies--sour beer is the new hops, you can book that, Berliner Weisses and brettanimyces/lactobacillus beers are easy sells now. These kids know their beer and it's a full time job keeping the menu rotating and interesting to keep beer moving. They don't know anything but a world where there's bad beer and craft beer. I grew up with just bad beer.

[Freed Roger]

Trying the Trader Joes brand JosephsBrau the Vienna style - it's pretty good for dollar per beer. I'm going to grab another or two and stir up the Sam Dungy thread.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Trying the Trader Joes brand JosephsBrau the Vienna style - it's pretty good for dollar per beer. I'm going to grab another or two and stir up the Sam Dungy thread.

I just picked up a 30 pack of Busch Light for like $17. About $17/30 per beer. It's pretty good.

[ZigZagCardsFan]

Trying the Trader Joes brand JosephsBrau the Vienna style - it's pretty good for dollar per beer. I'm going to grab another or two and stir up the Sam Dungy thread.

Trader Joe's has some solid house beer options. I recommend the Stockyard Oatmeal Stout.

It's my go-to cheap beer.

I wanna say it's 4.99 for a sixer.

[Freed Roger]

Trying the Trader Joes brand JosephsBrau the Vienna style - it's pretty good for dollar per beer. I'm going to grab another or two and stir up the Sam Dungy thread.

I just picked up a 30 pack of Busch Light for like $17. About $17/30 per beer. It's pretty good.

And you'll have to drink that entire 30 and take 10 nasty sh!ts before you can stir up the Michael Sam Dungy thread.