Beer 3.0

The latest BeerAdvocate magazine's opening editorial, Beer 3.0, discusses how the internet has advanced the craft beer scene over the past ten years or so. It rightly credits sites like BeerAdvocate and Rate Beer for providing a forum for beer enthusiasts. It also credits beer bloggers and now twitter for taking the beer discussions forward in new directions. I agree with the main points of the editorial. I would add one important point: Craft brewers have fueled the online growth by making great beers, and without these brewers and their beers the internet boon would not have occurred.

The editorial sites the number of brewpubs that closed in the late 1990s and early 2000s as proof that the craft beer movement was in trouble a decade ago. I think of that time as more of a transition period. Beer drinkers were tired of the ubiquitous offerings from most craft brewers and brewpubs - golden ale, amber ale, pale ale, stout and fruit beer - and wanted better beers. The golden ale was targeted at the hard core macro drinker who was dragged to a brewpub and women, the fruit beer was targeted at women, the amber and pale ale was targeted at men, and the stout was targeted at the adventurous. There were variations to this theme, but you could go to a brewpub anywhere in the country and get similar beer choices. How boring. These clones needed to close. Does anyone really miss an insipid blueberry wheat beer or some anemic golden ale? There are still some of these legacy brewers and brewpubs around, but they continue this old formula at their long-term peril.

Stone, Russian River, Allagash, Dogfish Head and a host of other craft brewers changed all this. They made exciting beers that did not fit into the microbrew box that was built in the early 1980s and was rotting by the late 1990s. These brewers changed craft beer and fueled the online boom. Belgian-style beers were nearly non-existent at brewpubs in the 1990s and for most of the 2000s, and are now almost commonplace. The same can be said of double IPAs and the move to "imperial" nearly any beer style. There are debates on the merits of "extreme" beer, but "extreme" beers moved the industry forward and gave it a needed boost. I look forward to limited and seasonal releases whether considered "extreme" or not.

Craft brewers have also been a part of a changing restaurant industry. While there may be fewer brewpubs today, there are more beer choices. I look for restaurants with a good tap list when I go out to eat. I am seeing many restaurants with several craft taps along side the usual macro taps. Heck, there is a Vietnamese noodle house near my house with twelve taps - eight craft - and an extensive bottle list. This would have been unheard of a few years ago. I am also seeing a correlation between the quality of a restaurant's beer list and the quality of its food. I guess it makes sense that if a restaurateur cares about his or her beer offerings, he or she will care about the food. I have also seen an improvement in the food offerings at some brewpubs, in particular Stone's World Bistro and Gardens that has completely changed the the brewpub dining experience for the better.

Yes, BeerAdvocate, Rate Beer, bloggers and now Twitter have raised beer awareness. Craft brewers have met the challenge and made some interesting, outstanding beers. Here's to hoping the symbotic relationship continues for a long time.