What to look for in 2016…according to the Beer Search Party crystal pint glass / reading the hop leaves. (BTW: This is the negative post, mostly about those Debbie Downers in the beer world. I will do the flip side of positive news on the 2nd.)
1. More Hand Wringing when SABInBevMiller buys another three or four breweries
You would think that craft beer was made of Chicken Littles not hearty brewers because with each sale, the response is as if we were dealing with Darth Vader when we are really dealing with Darth Trump. Craft beer is not some outsider vying for affection anymore, it is an major minority in the beer industry and won’t be disappearing in one swipe of a lightsaber.
2. More Hand Wringing when the labeling law goes into place in December.
Is labeling costly, yes. Will this decrease tap handle opportunities, yes. But are craft breweries banking on chains to sell their beer? In some cases, but not all. Late bloomer L.A. just had two bottle shops open in December with a combined 20+ taps. There is space, new space to be found. How about a balanced look at the problem and how-to find opportunity?
3. Higher and higher prices
This past year, prices were a large deterrent to my purchase choices than ever before. There were many bottles that stayed up on the shelf and not in my cart due to seeing a price tag north of comparable options. I don’t begrudge a brewery for charging the materials and time and labor and if a brewery wants to position itself as a “high end” brand, I won’t stop them. But I also won’t be spending over $15 on something that is brand new to me. But people will spend, it is in our natures and the spiral will continue upward.
4. Blog Blacklists
With the flood of acquisitions over the past few months have come an equal flood of bloggers or beer fans who make principled stands based solely on a brewery’s owner and not the beer itself. These “blacklists” will continue and while I understand the danger that the Industrial Beer Complex poses to distribution and ingredient purchases if we start basing our standards on other, we begin a descent down a PC mountain. And at the bottom is a nano-garage brewery making horrible beer for all the right moral and ethical reasons.
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