The future has never been brighter for craft beer, and throughout the long history of beer around the world, there has never been a better time to be a drinker and lover of great beer. It can be easy to lose sight of that notion in the day-to-day realities and mundanities of running brewing businesses, but all of us from time to time should step back and appreciate just how incredible it is that consumers today support such a broad spectrum of brewers with stylistically diverse interests.
I know what you’re thinking. “Stylistically diverse? But it’s all hazy IPAs and pastry stouts and a handful of sour beers here and there.” You’re right, of course—there is a lot of that. But hear me out.
Every trend in any creative enterprise (anywhere) is typically met with equally powerful countertrends. Impressionism was destroyed by cubism, which was supplanted by abstract expressionism, which looked dated once the minimalists and pop artists grabbed the limelight. Today, singular trends in art don’t exist—numerous concurrent trends exist simultaneously, often in tension with each other and competing for the attention of audiences and critics.