My three sons are craft beer enthusiasts. Their father is not because my beer-drinking days have past, and because, I don't get it. I'll never be able to use the phrase "mouth feel" when referring to a beverage. They do.
But I like the "movement," the kind of 60's back to the garden, do-good-things-for-the-love-of-it kind of approach with a little of anti-establishment, anti-monopoly religious zeal thrown in. Tell a craft beer guy you'd prefer a Budweiser and you'll soon feel like the proverbial sinner at the church picnic.
From the June 7 The New Yorker Magazine post:
"As of March, the United States was home to two thousand three hundred and sixty craft breweries, the relatively small, artisanship-oriented producers best known for India pale ales, porters, and other decidedly non-Budweiser-esque beers. These beverages have become so popular that craft beer now represents thirty per cent of Costco’s beer sales..."I believe it. When I was in Philadelphia a couple weeks ago I bought beer for my boys at the local corner market. Years ago the display shelves would have been lined with six-packs of Miller, Coors, and Bud, now they are lined with single bottles of craft beer with names like Dogfish, Victory, and Sierra Nevada. Hundreds of labels all neatly stacked in rows. Never mind that each bottle costs about three bucks each, and never mind that I used to buy a 12-pack of Natural Light for $5.97, this is what the 20 - 40 year old beer drinker is drinking.
Of course, Budweiser is paying attention and like any corporate bully will be looking to buy up the profitable bits of the business and some craft brewers will be looking to cash out and cash in. This is America after all. When I was 18, I never imagined the Beatles could be anything but revolutionaries, but I have heard the instrumental Musak version of "You Say You Want a Revolution" in a JC Penney's shoe section. It ain't right but it happens.
What I am saying is one never knows how something like this will mature, but however it grows up we can all enjoy a return to quality, to small business, big dreams, and the big adventure, and if I had half a chance I'd jump in with them. If you like numbers and charts the New Yorker has some catchy interactive charts with numbers for all kinds of artisan beer categories.
Click here: BEER
