Sucking in '16 -- What's with the Bad Beer?

---
Part 1
---

In the Prologue, I suggested that the growth of Craft Beer could be (roughly) compared to the growth of the Organic Food niche within the overall consumer market.

While thought-provoking in and of itself, it's not exactly what I wanted to get at.

For one thing, others have made this same, rough comparison in the past, and frankly have already done a fairly good job of parsing it.  Still, I might try my hand at it in the future.

But the point I originally wanted to make concerned Minnesota's "young" Craft Beer scene, and how it is a reflection of something larger.

Fact is, there's a lot going on in the beer industry behind the scenes which your average beer hobbyist isn't aware of or doesn't truly comprehend -- that isn't too controversial a statement, is it?

But how about this for controversial: I know a few professional brewers who view brewing as a dignified, but sometimes drudgery-filled profession, and one which isn't necessarily lucrative.

By point of comparison -and judging solely on the merits of circumstantial evidence- there are some who view the Craft Beer Industry as an endeavor by which to make easy money. 

But who's correct, here?

After all, Craft Beer is definitely of-the-moment, a true cultural phenomenon.  Money IS being made as new breweries proliferate across the state.

But -OMG, are you shocked or what?- when it comes to earning big bucks, brewer is by no means a fast-track occupation.  The truth (small t) is somewhere in between both extremes.

I'm adding a link (below) to a professional forum which I believe to be quite pertinent.

For one thing, it suggests that what is happening in the young Minnesota beer scene may very well be happening in the brewing industry at large.  Consider the conversation below, and the similarities it has with the conversation at the "Falling Beer Quality in Minnesota" thread -- here's the link:

http://discussions.probrewer.com/showthread.php?54019-Brewmaster-Shortcut

Now, let's truck on over to this article at The Growler and have a quick read.  In particular, this quote from that thought provoking article stands out:

 With Mike Hoops holding down the head brewer role at Town Hall, Rifakes says there is no place to promote his assistant brewers. That makes retention a problem—one he believes would be solved were he able to distribute; distribution offers more room for internal promotions.

I won't comment on the idea of Town Hall being able to distribute, but Mr. Rifakes' basic assertion is clearly evident: A lot of assistant brewers and cellar people want to run their own show, and many of them will indeed do exactly that -- only elsewhere, and as competitors.

---

The general topic of the ProBrewer thread is on shortcuts in the commercial Craft Brewing process.

Is there evidence in the Minnesota scene to suggest that some brewers feel they can take shortcuts?  That's a roundabout way of saying YES: Agnew's article suggest as much.

Can one transition from homebrewer to Brewmaster simply by being attached to a commercial entity?

Based on the replies at the ProBrewer thread, the answer is NO: Many of the professional brewers who responded on that thread do NOT believe that such shortcuts work out for the best.

Likewise, based on the discussion amongst Minnesota's beer hobbyists, is it not safe to wonder whether we're now seeing more people looking to take shortcuts than ever?

---

On the one hand there's no need to wonder about continued growth in the number of breweries. 

Frankly, I can't see an end in sight to the growth in the new model of brewery (Taproom), just as I also foresee growth in the number of breweries with attached restaurants -- Surly and Urban Growler being the local (Twin Cities) examples.

Finally, with all this growth there will be some pain --"growing pains" as it were-- and that chiefly means that some places won't make it to the point that they can celebrate their big 25th anniversary bash, as Summit did just a few years back.

Beyond all of this, I won't make any speculation other than that there will be more, new breweries.

---
End Part 1
---

Sucking in '16 -- Prologue

A post at Beer Advocate has me thinking about the increase in Minnesota breweries.

By "thinking about", I mean thinking a LOT about -- here's a link to the original post:

Falling Beer Quality as MN gains more Breweries

I have opinions just like everyone, and mine are no more or less qualified than the average poster at BA, Rate Beer, you name it.  And while we can debate the merits of anyone's experience in the (Amateur) hobby or in the (Professional) trade, that's not what inspired me, here.

Besides, we'll save all of that for another (much later) post -- okay?

Instead, I'll ask questions which set the stage for this series.

First, please read the OP and Mr. Agnew's piece which inspired it, if you haven't already. 

Both are reasonably short, whereas this one is most definitely not a short piece.

---
Prologue
---

I find it interesting that until recent years brewing beer wasn't generally seen as a dignified or serious occupation.  But when a novel, perhaps innovative descriptor was added to the end product of the trade -beer- we have Craft Beer, and brewing is suddenly being regarded more seriously by both those who regularly imbibe and those who seldom do.

As others have done in the past, I believe it instructive to draw parallels between the world of brewing and similar developments in beverage, dining and the broader culture in recent times.

Of couse, we can draw such parallels if we look at the very well-developed world of wine, and in particular the development of the California Wine movement certainly lends itself to such.  Both are beverage alcohol and thus both concern a particular form of licensed, regulated luxury item.

But outside of that "easy"area for the sake of comparison, is there a segment of the food and grocery market which can provide roughly-comparable, measurable growth to Craft Beer, and over a similar span of time? 

Yes there is, and such changes in shopping and dining habits --from staple grocery items to fast-casual to fine dining-- have taken place in the past several decades and are found in the modern Organic Food movement. 

Although there are no exact parallels, there are enough similarities between both Organic Food and Craft Beer where the tangible and monetary effects of each upon the general, consumer marketplace can be measured and compared.

In fact, I'd be very surprised if courses aren't being taught which compare the two!

I imagine they are -- somewhere out west -- where both have been affecting the broader consumer culture for a while longer (being more well-devolped aspects of the consumer market) than they are here in the upper midwest.

But dropping the "easy" comparison between Craft Beer and Organic Food wasn't the point I originaly wanted to make.  Nope!

Instead let's consider it a starting point, and just one of many thought provoking pieces in the challenging (even maddening) larger puzzle that is contemporary Craft Beer in the modern consumer marketplace.

---
End Prologue 
---

Not-quite jumping in at the Deep End

It's taken me many years to do this, and by many, I mean over ten years.

The point of this blog is to take as its inspiration one or more of the various of-the-moment conversations which will (mostly) originate elsewhere, and expand upon one or more particular idea -or even an entire train of thought- expressed therein.

In the past I've found that this sort of exercise has proven to be cumbersome in day-to-day usage, especially when the (often) short attention span of your average Social Media user is concerned. 

But... older users of Social Media cut their teeth on the "old-fashioned" hobbyist fora, and simply stated, the old want bite-sized, INSTANT (and preferably free) just as much as the young.

But that is pretty much exactly the opposite of what this blog is about.

To say I think a lot about beer is fair, and the fact is my tendency is to "over-think" certain aspects of the modern approach to beer. 

By this I mean not so much the modern beer and brewing industry itself, but rather the knock-on effect.  In other words, I parse the various streams which comprise the contemporary Beer Hobby.

By "Beer Hobby" I mean that which is not wholly reducible to the sum of its parts: Homebrewing, beer rating and reviewing, beer trading, "Truck Chasing". . . and all manner of silliness in-between.

These various aspects of the hobby have grown since Fritz Maytag purchased Anchor Brewing Co. (and certainly since the introduction of Liberty Ale), and they continue to grow and diverge.

As is typical for the way I have written for most of my life, I will ask more questions - most often they will be rhetorical ones - than I will answer. 

What's that you say?  Boring?  Tedious?

TRUST ME!  I know how tedious this style of writing can be.

But I've found that through the tedious process of asking such questions, some degree of clarity is usually reached, if not exactly an capital A Answer.  For as we know, answers can be variable and deeply personal things when we're talking about such rhetorical questions, espeically those which deal in sometimes-intangible amounts (barrels, dollars) and personal tastes or palate.

And as anyone whose judged an amateur homebrew event knows, a palate is VERY personal.

Anyhow, my next post will jump right in at the deep end.

P.S. I'll explain the title of the blog in a later post.  It's not as simple as it sounds.