craft beer: the bubble is about to pop

big if true

sdfasdfasdfdf wrote:

You heard it here first.

The expansion has been similar to golf courses in the 1990s. Unsustainable. Expect major contraction shortly.

Carry on.

Erp, what leeds youse to dat concl..saying that, erp.

I'm doing my part, argghh.

Dear Dale,

I will dring any amount necessary of your beers to keep you in business.

sdfasdfasdfdf wrote:

You heard it here first.

The expansion has been similar to golf courses in the 1990s. Unsustainable. Expect major contraction shortly.

Carry on.

Would be no bad thing. A lot of craft beer is dreadful.

Why is there a "bubble" in your opinion?

No one is going back to the fizzy yellow piss produced by Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors or Pabst.

E. Bonix wrote:

No one is going back to the fizzy yellow piss produced by Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors or Pabst.

Shut your mouth, PBR is mother's milk!

President Trump doesn't drink. This is one of the many reasons why the lefty liberal commie pinko snowflake weirdo anarchist God haters don't like him.

MAGA

The problem is all the independent breweries are being bought up by the mega corporations like inbev and diegeo. Mass distribution kind of takes the fun out of it and leads to boring mass market pleasing less carefully made beers.

I would't expect a contraction though, probably just a plateau.

E. Bonix wrote:

No one is going back to the fizzy yellow piss produced by Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors or Pabst.

This.

Personally, I don't see myself ever going back. I love the hoppy beers!

I think what we will see is a lot of microbreweries will start to fail and only the bigger successful ones will survive. Then, they'll either try to stay independent or get purchased by bigger guys.

Nice analysis

I think there will be a shift away from overly hopped beers. what's the point of having 3,000 independent breweries if 90% of them are riffing off the same beer. I expect the breweries that do best are the ones that start adding more Pilsners and Belgium style beers to the mix......which in fact might lead to craft beer growing even more. Strongly hopped beers are a love/hate kind of beer.......most people can enjoy a well made pilsner, even though some won't admit it for fear of losing beard cred.

bretts might be the new IPA in 5 years

Bingo! Some companies do pretty cool hybrids, but in reality they're just churning out the same 6 beers with cheeky labels. I stick to Schlafly.

Agree OP. This isn't true everywhere, but beer in the PNW has become a contest to see who can make the most bitter, hoppy tasting drink with zero regard towards taste. And the few non-IPAs are really heavy stouts and porters that will knock you out in the summer and don't pair well with food. Undrinkable!

Give me a good imperial stout anytime!

You like a craft beer... cool, glad you like it. However, the number of hipster douchebags this craft beer bubble has created is nauseating. Most of the craft beer bars should just change their names to Douche City as that is the accurate description of what's going on inside, guaranteed. I'll be happy when the fad fades... it's held on for far too long.

Rich Piana wrote:

You like a craft beer... cool, glad you like it. However, the number of hipster douchebags this craft beer bubble has created is nauseating. Most of the craft beer bars should just change their names to Douche City as that is the accurate description of what's going on inside, guaranteed. I'll be happy when the fad fades... it's held on for far too long.

So what is it that's going on in there exactly? Are these guys something like the wine connoisseur crowd?

This nonsense is why the "bubble" isn't about to pop. There are tons of non-IPAs, and every brewery I've been to has had at least a Pilsner/Lager/Cider drink on tap. Just about everyone (at least out East, dunno about Seattle) has a good selection of lighter, session-y beers.

It's not too different from 10 years ago when the cool thing was to pretend that Starbucks coffee cost $9 and was a milkshake. Craft breweries have become too mainstream, and now the cool thing to do is to shave off your beard and pretend you like High Life.