Is Craft Beer Too Trendy?

[boney]

I got to thinking about this question today as I was reading a beer blog that was talking about several new craft beer establishments that recently opened in Calgary (http://www.onbeer.org/) and I’m wondering if others feel the same way across the country......

My general complaint with the beer scene in Calgary is that new establishments serving quality craft beer are generally deluged by corporate after work crowds that come to drink micro brew because it’s new-ish, trendy and has the appearance of “cool” rather than truly liking or enjoying craft beer. Chit chatting with many of these people at the pubs and having several of them as my friends, I see them ordering craft when they are at these establishments. However, these are the same people that will readily take a 2-4 of Bud camping with them without a second thought and call me a beer snob because I won’t drink Corona (for the record, I never chide anyone for their own choices).

We are definitely in a beer renaissance in terms of the diversity of offerings made available to us by breweries, but is the beer IQ of the average consumer keeping pace? Does it even matter as long as a smaller contingent of legitimate craft culture keeps growing and moving forward? Am I a hypocrite for wanting the craft beer segment to keep growing but also being grumpy about having to wait in longer lines to get a pint so that some douche-bag in an Armani suit can order a Delirium Tremens so that he can feel cool and in the know?

[Tapsucker]

Well I do often get looked at like a douche-bag when I ask for local or craft beers at bars. Kind of like the way yuppies cause people to roll their eyes when they will only drink an import like stella or heineken. Fortunately I have no self esteem so it's a small price to pay to get the beer I want to drink.

I guess I just consider it the more the merrier. If consumer demand grows (and I consider most 'consumers' idiots anyway) we should be able to see more outlets and more choice.

[G.M. Gillman]

My experience (I have none with Armani incidentally) is that some people in all groups will get craft beer and some (most) won't. Fritz Maytag, who may have created the whole kit and kaboodle, is a member of a prominent, wealthy family, an American aristocrat - and he got down in the trenches to help revive brewing because he loved it and the best it represented. In Germany, some princes brew ancestrally... But then there are people, whether on the business or consuming side, who came from more modest backgrounds. I don't see that it has any relevance at all who drinks the stuff. That said, it is my perception that in most places, the business crowd don't - generally - patronize the small and innovative products, whether beer, wine, liquor or anything else. They will stick to widely advertised products that they feel comfortable with. Same thing with other societal groups - most people stick to Bud or Heineken as known and safe quantities. So we come back to the fact that some people, regardless of background, will take an interest in an area and go with it.

Gary

[Bytowner]

Am I a hypocrite for wanting the craft beer segment to keep growing but also being grumpy about having to wait in longer lines to get a pint so that some douche-bag in an Armani suit can order a Delirium Tremens so that he can feel cool and in the know?

Yes, but I'm right there with you. Same deal in Ottawa with overpaid twenty-something civil servants. My biggest problem though is with the retired overpaid civil servants who buy up all the good stuff at my local LCBO! Rough with the smooth and all that...

[EricM]

The haters, Fuck 'em.

Drink Craft Brew because it's fun to try new things, tasty and good to support communities.

Also, what's wrong with being a trendy salaryman, really?

[vincho]

I often find it to be the other way around actually...

Many people seem to float toward what they seem to know best.

[boney]

Gary and EricM are right, affluence and salary have little relivence related to enjoying or not enjoying craft beer. My message was mixed, so I take my Armani comment off the table. More to my point, do disengenous craft beer drinkers, those who ony drink craft because of it's precieved coolness, damage the community in the long run?

I was picking on corprorate types (office oil patch workers in Calgary) simply because that's the group that happens to be choking craft beer establishments in my town.

[markaberrant]

Gary has been at this a lot longer than I have and he said it quite well.

I posted a few comments at onbeer.org, but I think this one really hits the nail on the head:

"Craft beer is real growth segment right now. Once you start getting mainstream attention, it is automatically a fad, which attracts all sorts of people for whatever reasons. Some will truly embrace it for what it is. Others will do it to look cool or cash in, and then drop it as soon as the next thing comes along."

There is always the natural ebb and flow and people entering and leaving niche hobbies for multiple reasons, but when it becomes a fad, everything is amplified. This is happening everywhere in Canada, just look at the explosion of new craft breweries and bars that have opened in the last year or two, and there is probably double that amount that are about to open. Craft beer is growing, and will continue to grow, but at some point the bubble will burst and there will be a backlash of some sort.

Hold on tight, it is going to be a hell of a ride.

[Belgian]

Sure it's gotten more fashionable to drink craft beer, and yes it may soon have some negative side-effects - one being if too many brewers begin catering to the wannabe crowd. But, why get all irritated by just the fact of their drinking it? What, isn't that what beer is for? Doesn't it help the general success of good brewers?

Maybe the weekend Bud drinkers will maintain two quality standards, just like wine drinkers often do (they have 'everyday' and 'occasion' wines.) Also the craft trendies will probably not be competing for the best stuff you are after (and fully appreciate.)

[markaberrant]

Sure it's gotten more fashionable to drink craft beer, and yes it may soon have some negative side-effects - one being if too many brewers begin catering to the wannabe crowd. But, why get all irritated by just the fact of their drinking it? What, isn't that what beer is for? Doesn't it help the general success of good brewers?

Maybe the weekend Bud drinkers will maintain two quality standards, just like wine drinkers often do (they have 'everyday' and 'occasion' wines.) Also the craft trendies will probably not be competing for the best stuff you are after (and fully appreciate.)

I agree with your points.

But like I say, the craft beer landscape is rapidly changing/growing, and once you are no longer the "target demographic," you may not like where things end up (at least in the short term).

[G.M. Gillman]

The ones who gravitate to trends will probably leave the field - for the next trend. But some will stay. Why does anyone try something new?

Gary

[toweringpine]

The ones who gravitate to trends will probably leave the field - for the next trend. But some will stay. Why does anyone try something new?

Gary

Trends come and go but after the world has moved on we are left with more choices than before. Snapple was the big thing a while back and now it isn't so popular but there are lots of different non carbonated drink options in the store coolers. Balsamic vinegar was the hottest food item not too long ago and now you don't hear so much about it but you will still see five different kinds at any good grocerer where once there would have been one dusty old bottle at the back of the shelf.

I suspect craft beer will boom for a few years and eventually interest will dwindle but hopefully we will be left with a better selection of beers widely available than we had before the fad began.

[Tapsucker]

The ones who gravitate to trends will probably leave the field - for the next trend. But some will stay. Why does anyone try something new?

Gary

Like the impending 'sour beer' trend?

[cannondale]

As stewards of the craft beer movement, it is incumbent upon us to suppress its mainstream appeal, at any and all costs, until such time as our goal of............mainstream appeal for craft beer has been realized?

[JeffPorter]

For me,, the question isn't so much, is it too trendy - because while it is VERY trendy right now (like small scale farming, charcuterie, and CIA trained chefs opening fish and chip joints) I'm more concerned with the cynicism and I don't necessarily mean here on these boards.

At Volo one night, I ordered a Lackey's Caskey and a fellow sitting on that single table by the bar snorted at me...told me I was a "brave man for being able to choke L.C. down.."

Really? It's THAT bad is it? I'm less worried about someone pretending to know more about craft beer than they do (because we've all been on a that learning curve, and for most of us, it's been pretty recently, and we're all still always learning). I'm more worried about people acting like dicks, often during a beer event, after they've had WAY too much (which is why I advocate for dump buckets at tastings, seriously).

I dunno. I say we just teach people when we get the chance, and not in a condescending way, but in a way that's accepting and welcoming...many of us had people who were kind and helpful and helped us in our own education, and I see no reason why we shouldn't do the same for newcomers, no matter how they come to it...

For me, the start of my craft beer interest was simply because of geography. Until about 5 years ago, I'd been primarily a wine drinker. I loved the Queen's Quay LCBO not for it's beer section but for it's vintages and it's huge selection of great massive Spanish wines.

I was living right across from the newly redeveloped distillery, and there was this new brewpub that opened there.

One day, it was my first day of summer (I'm a high school teacher, fyi) and I decided to check it out...Walked into Mill Street, struck up a conversation with the bartender, spent the afternoon and most of the evening there, and that was the start for me...

(hmm...this sounds like a good thread idea...)

Too much rambly...Point is, let's be open and welcoming and if it "trends out", well lets just hope it doesn't have an impact on local brewers.