“Sometimes, however, they are sober at their first deliberation, but in this case they always reconsider the matter under the influence…”
-Herodotus
Last night while drinking Rouges “Hazelnut Brown Nectar” (good but a bit too dry and porterish) was thinking… micro brewing has won. Sure its only 2% of the market according to those Sam Adams commercials, but it is becoming highly influential in the younger crowds. While sitting at the bar at J-Ryans sipping on my brew, I noticed the patrons at floozy-o’clock ordering another round of Blue Light. Then I noticed a younger female go to the bar, and change her order from a Swallow-Wit to a Hogardeen, like she actually knew what she was talking about!!. This may be anecdotal but I think it represents a larger move in the beer world away from the popular bland lagers that had destroyed ale brewing almost a century ago. When WE grow up, all we are going to drink is real ales and we will pass this on to our children and our children’s children. The problem for the microbrewer is that within that 2% of the market the consumer wants choice. As micro-brewers becoming too large and influential, like Sierra Nevada for example, they lose they tend to lose their appeal. (Recently Sierra Navada has been doing some interesting things like their 30th anniversary Grand Cru , but for a while their delicious pale ale had become little more than a high class Bud) This means that small, interesting breweries are in demand, but they are never going to command a significant portion of the market. In other words, micro-brewing will likely be a subsistence profession for the foreseeable future.
Random buzzed thought from Jason
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