The bittersweet fruits of bringing craft beer mainstream

[Read to end for pictures]

I think it’s safe to say that almost all of us who love craft beer want to see it succeed and thrive as an industry.  We’re not really proud parents, unless we’re brewers ourselves, so maybe we’re proud aunts and uncles, but all the same, there’s a happy glow that we all share when good beer gets its due. 

There are a lot of reasons for this warm fuzzy feeling.  First, a selfish and obvious one: when good beer goes mainstream, it’s available more places, and we can have beer we like more of the time.  For example, while other stadiums may just have their Bud or Miller or Coors, at Giants Stadium we not only have Sierra Nevada, but we also have Lagunitas IPA!  I can now go to baseball games and avoid shilling out $8-ish for a watery macro-brew I never actually wanted, and pay the only slightly more outlandish price of $8.50-ish for Lagunitas.  I’d say the 50 cent upgrade is 100% worth it.

On a more altruistic note though, I think we also all want to see craft brew succeed because American’s love an underdog story.  Craft brews are clearly the underdogs, considering that the American beer industry is incredibly concentrated into just 3 large players (Bud, Miller, Coors) and that domestic craft brews are only 3.8% of American beer production and only 5.9% of American retail sales, according to the Brewers Association.  But it’s about more than just our perpetual love of underdogs, it’s also about that fact that we often know these particular underdogs personally.  Because craft brew is so often sold at mom-and-pop style brewpubs, and because beer is such a catalyst for conversation, it’s not unusual for craft beer drinkers to meet, chat with, and befriend their local brewer.  How could you not want these guys to succeed once they’ve shared a pint with you and pressed samples of their new stuff into your hands waiting to see your reaction?

I bring this all up because the San Francisco International Beer Festival, which I attended last Saturday, had a distinctly non-beer-geek crowd, and I am having an inner struggle over how to feel about this. 

On one hand, it was great because, hey, this was my demographic.  The average age in the room was probably more like 28 than the usual 55 (note: no math went into choosing these numbers, these are a gut-level guess), and though men still composed the majority of the attendees, most every group had one or more women with them. 

On the other hand, though the Nielsen ratings and the primary pollsters may throw us all in the same bucket, I felt like I had much less in common with these people that the usual beer geek crowd, most of whom could easily be mistaken for my dad.  It took me a few minutes of thinking here to try to pin down the reason why, and I think this is it: They were all trying so hard to seem impressive and what I like most about the usual beer crowd is that there is usually little pretense.  Maybe that’s because if you’re 55 and married there is no particular reason to dress up to drink beer, but if you’re 25 and unmarried you better put on your mating attire.  Ugh.  I think the couple in front of me in line best exemplifies this phenomenon.  They were a mid- to late-20s guy and girl.  The girl has on Ferragamo sunglasses with the logo printed in giant letters on the earpieces.  She’s also wearing a strapless, bejeweled top that keeps slipping down so precariously that every two minutes she has to yank it back up over her boobs.  The outfit was completed by strappy, open-toe, open-heel, expensive leather sandals.  At a beer fest in a giant concrete-floored pavilion at night?  I would not want to be those sticky, grimy toes at the end of the night, nor would I want to be the guy who has to grab her elbow to keep her from slipping every five minutes.  The guy was no better, outfitted with equally expensive sunglasses, $200+ jeans, and a Blackberry he checked every few minutes.  I felt like asking, did they think they were at Slide or Vessel?  And who were they hoping would notice their trendiness?  I also internally berated myself for being so judgmental on the basis of their appearance.  But then, the conversations and behaviors of this crown played into this gut-sinking feeling almost as much as appearances.  This was a “we must always be touching” couple and I don’t think either of their hands came out of the other’s back pocket for the duration of the wait in line, no matter how awkward it got to shuffle towards the entrance like conjoined twins.  As their friends joined them and we could hear their conversation, it could not have played more closely to stereotypes: 

Guy1: Dude, this is so awesome, there are like 100 beers in there, I am going to get so f*ed up.

Guy2: Yeah, I know, last year we did a power hour, where each shot had to be from a different table. I was so f*ing wasted, I can’t wait!

Girl1: I had to take him home, but it was ok because I was pretty sober.  I don’t really like beer, but they had some cider tables so it was ok. 

Girl2: I love cider!  Do you think they’ll have Blue Moon? 

So, this is where I have to admit that I have a categorical dislike of fitting stereotypes, even if I naturally just happen to fit them, so this whole event grates against my own personal biases. 

With all this said though, this was really a long prelude to the thought that I had while starting this write up: I think this crowd may be a good sign for craft beer and I need to cut the whining.  Sure, they may not be my best friends, but they will ensure the survival of my favorite hobby. They’re a sign that craft beer is moving mainstream, that it’s given the respect of something to be tasted rather than chugged, and that it can continue to command the higher price point necessary to support the higher quality ingredients and higher labor intensity that goes into it.  So, hurrah for fair-weather beer fans!  Because they keep the craft beer movement afloat and crowd the Shiner tables instead of the Ommegang ones!  Yeah, sometimes there’s a sense of sense of loss at seeing something you love slip from your fingers, out of your control, and into the rough-and-tumble mass market.  And sometimes the mass consumers aren’t going to support the niche, harder-love-but-all-the-more-lovely-for-it beers that you may like, but I still think that through supporting the craft segment, they indirectly support those beers as well.  

I think our story is one best told in pictures with minimal narration, so let us begin:

(and a big thanks to Dan the Cameraman who took all kinds of photos we had no idea he was taking)

We arrived at the Pavilion and were a little overwhelmed by the sheer size of the space.

 Allie and Melissa were in town for the weekend (specifically for the beer festival!) and as usual served as my partners in crime

 

However this time we had a new squadmate as well: Brother Dan.  Nope, not a monk, though that would have been more awesome, just our actual little brother.

 

We sampled some beer, in orthodox and unorthodox fashion…

 

Ate some pretzels…

 

Recorded what we tasted…

 

…and occasionally suffered a truly absent-minded mishap as a result of my determination to record each beer we tasted. 

 

But nevertheless, we were generally very happy about the night!

 

 My favorite of the 23 beers I tried that night was the Ommegang Three Philosophers (Thanks, Jay, for the birthday bottle that turned me onto this beer!).  That’s a beer that’s hard to top under any circumstances, but especially in this room where, by my count, 59 of the 135 beers (that’s ~40%) were macro-brews (Bud Light Lime anyone?), or craft arms of macrobrews (you can’t fool me, Landshark Lager…), or craft brews that have been beaten into submission since being co-opted by being bought out by macrobreweries (I’m looking at you, Shiner).  

I spent some time last night analyzing the list of breweries present, and I’ll paste my full data list below, but here are a few summaries of the findings:

• 75 domestic brewers (44 from California)
• 60 imports

 

• 19 brewpubs
• 60 microbreweries
• 13 hybrids (owned by macros with aspirations or memories of being a craft)
• 43 macros

 

• 82 independent breweries
• 11 brands owned by Heineken
• 6 brands owned by InBev
• 5 brands owned by Anheuser-Busch
• 4 publicly traded brands
• 4 SABMiller brands
• 25 other brands

 

• 125 beers
• 6 ciders
• 3 soft drinks
• 1 mead

Beers I tried:

• Allagash - Curieux again, yum!
• Bison  
• Brasserie D’Achouffe
• Bridgeport
• Deschutes
• Devil’s Canyon - Loved the Full Boar Scotch!
• Dogfish Head - 90 Minutes, always delicious
• Duvel
• Firestone Walker
• He’Brew - Origin Pomegranate Ale couldn’t win me over…
• Hornsby’s
• Lost Coast
• Malheur
• Mountain Meadows Mead - The Spice Nectar, with “ginger and tropical spices” was fantastic, but I didn’t like the agave mead as much
• Moylan’s
• Napa Smith
• North Star
• Ommegang - Three Philosophers, yum!
• Orgasmica - The fruit beers were sickly, not a fave of mine…
• Sacramento
• Stone - Classic IPA, a standout even in this large crowd
• Wunder

Full list of participants:

Name	City	State	Country	Drink
21st Amendment	San Francisco	CA	USA	Beer
Ace	Sebastopol	CA	USA	Cider
Affligem	N/A	N/A	Belgium	Beer
Alaskan	Juneau	AK	USA	Beer
Allagash	Portland	ME	USA	Beer
Anchor	San Francisco	CA	USA	Beer
Anderson Valley	Boonville	CA	USA	Beer
Avery	Boulder	CO	USA	Beer
Ballast Point	San Diego	CA	USA	Beer
Bass	N/A	N/A	England	Beer
Beach Chalet	San Francisco	CA	USA	Beer
Bear Republic	Healdsburg	CA	USA	Beer
Beck’s	N/A	N/A	Germany	Beer
Belhaven	N/A	N/A	Scotland	Beer
Biere du Demon	N/A	N/A	France	Beer
Bison	Berkeley	CA	USA	Beer
Blue Frog	Fairfield	CA	USA	Beer
Blue Moon	Denver	CO	USA	Beer
Brasserie D’Achouffe	N/A	N/A	Belgium	Beer
Bridgeport	Portland	OR	USA	Beer
Bud Light Lime	St. Louis	MO	USA	Beer
Butte Creek	Chico	CA	USA	Beer
Carlsberg	N/A	N/A	Denmark	Beer
Chang	N/A	N/A	Thailand	Beer
Chimay	N/A	N/A	Belgium	Beer
Czechvar	N/A	N/A	Czech Republic	Beer
De Koninck	N/A	N/A	Belgium	Beer
Deschutes	Bend	OR	USA	Beer
Devil’s Canyon	Belmont	CA	USA	Beer
Dinkel Acker	N/A	N/A	Germany	Beer
Dogfish Head	Milton	DE	USA	Beer
Drakes	San Leandro	CA	USA	Beer
Duvel	N/A	N/A	Belgium	Beer
E.J. Phair	Pittsburg	CA	USA	Beer
Eel River	Fortuna	CA	USA	Beer
Elephant	N/A	N/A	Denmark	Beer
Estrella Galicia	N/A	N/A	Spain	Beer
Firestone Walker	Paso Robles	CA	USA	Beer
Fischer Brasserie	N/A	N/A	France	Beer
Fox Barrel	Sacramento	CA	USA	Cider
Franziskaner	N/A	N/A	Germany	Beer
Full Sail	Hood River	OR	USA	Beer
Fuller’s	N/A	N/A	England	Beer
Golden Pheasant	N/A	N/A	Slovak Republic	Beer
Gordon Biersch	San Francisco	CA	USA	Beer
Green Flash	San Diego	CA	USA	Beer
Grolsch	N/A	N/A	Denmark	Beer
Guinness	N/A	N/A	Ireland	Beer
Hacker-Pschor	N/A	N/A	Germany	Beer
Hair of the Dog	Portland	OR	USA	Beer
Half Moon Bay	Half Moon Bay	CA	USA	Beer
He’Brew	New York City	NY	USA	Beer
Heineken	N/A	N/A	Netherlands	Beer
Heineken Premium Light	N/A	N/A	Netherlands	Beer
High Falls	New York City	NY	USA	Beer
Hoegaarden	N/A	N/A	Belgium	Beer
Hofbrau	N/A	N/A	Germany	Beer
Hornsby’s	Modesto	CA	USA	Cider
Humboldt	Arcata	CA	USA	Beer
Izze Juice	Boulder	CO	USA	Soft Drink
J. Boag & Son	N/A	N/A	Tasmania	Beer
Karlovacko	N/A	N/A	Croatia	Beer
Kirin	N/A	N/A	Japan	Beer
Kona	Kailua-Kona	HI	USA	Beer
Konig	N/A	N/A	Germany	Beer
Kronenbourg	N/A	N/A	France	Beer
Lagunitas	Petaluma	CA	USA	Beer
Lammsbrau	N/A	N/A	Germany	Beer
Landshark Lager	Jacksonville	FL	USA	Beer
Lefebvre	N/A	N/A	Belgium	Beer
Leffe	N/A	N/A	Belgium	Beer
Leinenkugel	Chippewa Falls	WI	USA	Beer
Lost Coast	Eureka	CA	USA	Beer
Mad River	Blue Lake	CA	USA	Beer
Magners	N/A	N/A	Ireland	Cider
Magnolia	San Francisco	CA	USA	Beer
Malheur	N/A	N/A	Belgium	Beer
Maredsous	N/A	N/A	Belgium	Beer
Marin	Larkspur	CA	USA	Beer
MateVeza	Chico	CA	USA	Beer
Mendocino	Hopland	CA	USA	Beer
Meteor	N/A	N/A	France	Beer
Mike’s Hard Lemonade	Seattle	WA	USA	Alcopop
Miller Chill	Milwaukee	WI	USA	Beer
Miller MGD	Milwaukee	WI	USA	Beer
Modelo Especial	N/A	N/A	Mexico	Beer
Moosehead	N/A	N/A	Canada	Beer
Moretti	N/A	N/A	Italy	Beer
Mountain Meadows Mead	Westwood	CA	USA	Mead
Moylan’s	Novato	CA	USA	Beer
Murphy’s	N/A	N/A	Ireland	Beer
Napa Smith	Napa	CA	USA	Beer
Negra Modelo	N/A	N/A	Mexico	Beer
New Belgium	Fort Collins	CO	USA	Beer
Newcastle	N/A	N/A	England	Beer
North Coast	Fort Bragg	CA	USA	Beer
North Star	Shasta Lake	CA	USA	Beer
Ommegang	Cooperstown	NY	USA	Beer
Orgasmica	San Francisco	CA	USA	Beer
Paulaner	N/A	N/A	Germany	Beer
Pete’s	San Antonio	TX	USA	Beer
Phuket	N/A	N/A	Thailand	Beer
Pilsner Urquell	N/A	N/A	Czech Republic	Beer
Pyramid	Seattle	WA	USA	Beer
Radeberger	N/A	N/A	Germany	Beer
Red Hook	Seattle	WA	USA	Beer
Rubicon	Sacramento	CA	USA	Beer
Sacramento	Sacramento	CA	USA	Beer
Sam Adams	Boston	MA	USA	Beer
San Francisco	San Francisco	CA	USA	Beer
San Miguel	N/A	N/A	Philippines	Beer
Sapporo	N/A	N/A	Japan	Beer
Schwelmer	N/A	N/A	Austria	Beer
Shiner	Shiner	TX	USA	Beer
Shipyard	Portland	ME	USA	Beer
Shock Top	N/A	N/A	Belgium	Beer
Sierra Nevada	Chico	CA	USA	Beer
Smithwicks	N/A	N/A	Ireland	Beer
Spaten	N/A	N/A	Germany	Beer
Speakeasy	San Francisco	CA	USA	Beer
Stone	San Diego	CA	USA	Beer
Sudwerk	Davis	CA	USA	Beer
Tetley’s	N/A	CA	England	Beer
Thirsty Bear	San Francisco	CA	USA	Beer
Thomas Kemper	Seattle	WA	USA	Soft Drink
Tiger Beer	N/A	N/A	Singapore	Beer
Toohey’s	N/A	N/A	Australia	Beer
Trumer	Berkeley	CA	USA	Beer
Weihenstephaner	N/A	N/A	Germany	Beer
Widmer	Portland	OR	USA	Beer
Wolaver’s	Middlebury	VT	USA	Beer
Woodchuck	Springfield	VT	USA	Cider
Wunder	San Francisco	CA	USA	Beer
Wyder’s	N/A	N/A	Canada	Cider
Young’s	N/A	N/A	England	Beer