Duh.
I’m sure some of you have heard that the Brewer’s Association announced yesterday that craft beer “dollar sales were up 12 percent in the first half of 2010, compared to 9 percent growth during the same period in 2009.” I can’t say I’m surprised, though being involved with MNBeer & craft beer on a local level for 5+ years (and drinking it for much longer…) has allowed me to watch the enthusiasm grow exponentially both within our market and beyond.
Six years ago, I never would have thought that so many people that I know would have enjoyed malt- and hop-forward beers. “I tried this new beer, a dark beer… Ever heard of Amber Bock, Ryan?” seemed to be more of the sentiment. Now I’m not surprised when a friend can tell me that her mom loves Furious and another friend replaces his Budweiser with Lift Bridge’s Farm Girl. Pretty cool.
Go craft beer, go!
People, Ryan,
This market has a great deal FARTHER to go than it has. In two to three years the people who are wowed by a siply hoppy beer – a local beer merely because it is local – will be looking into traditional Kellerbeer, and multi-yeast beers oak casked (Like Jolly Pumpkin), or aged barleywine, or Belgian Beer (Notice that it is “Belgian” without the hyphen.
ALL of this happened 15-25 years ago on the coasts – and the greatest thing about the human palete – once you acquire a thirst for quality – it never degrades. You might not buy something if you cannot afford it, but your tastes and desire for the utmost in quality – authenticity – never die out. Hence, the folks who were drinking high-end micro and Import twenty years ago in Los Angeles are still drinking them, if they are still dinking and the tale will be the same for here. It is like the ultimate beer hedge fund if you work in the business and have a vested interest in the beer now, or in the past : it only gets better. As I teel the younger sales people who come to work with us, or who come into the market as new reps : 90% of my current customers are people who told me point blank, repeatedly, that no one would ever buy a $9 draft of Delirium Tremens, a $8 Bomber of Maharajah, or a $10 six pack of Lion Stout!
-Brad the Beerguy
Brad, your expertise, enthusiasm, knowledge, and wisdom make up for your atrocious spelling.
love,
al
Brad – totally agree.
It’d be great, I suppose, if this market’s interest in well-crafted beer deepens, but personally I’m just happy to see it broadening. It’s great to be out somewhere and overhear so many people asking about the Summit seasonals on tap, or to see someone (actually lots of people) at Target Field carrying around a beer that’s darker than the limestone.
The broadening of the area’s collective interest in non-macro, flavorful (and especially local) beers is reason enough to toast, I’d say.
Then again, I feel like the presence of beer in a glass within arm distance is reason enough to toast, so maybe I’m just too easily satisfied/encouraged.