Part 1
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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.
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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?
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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.
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End Part 1
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