Old, But Relevant News

I have saved this Voice of San Diego opinion piece by Modern Times Beer founder and CEO Jacob McKean for nearly two months, but it's still worth a read.   McKean countered a previous Voice of San Diego article on the impact of a craft beer study on whether San Diego is experiencing a craft beer bubble.  If you haven't already, I'll let you read the articles and decide whether San Diego is in the midst of a beer bubble.  The debate is not why I saved the story.

The reason I kept this article is the following quotes from McKean:

So what is the real foundation of San Diego’s beer industry? Talent. What makes us successful is quality beer. And quality breeds quality by attracting like-minded brewers and putting competitive pressure on low-quality beer. Good brewers want to open breweries in San Diego because other good brewers are already here; it’s why I opened my business here.

And:

Craft beer is every bit as complex and significant an industry as defense, or tourism, or biotech or green tech. It is a key piece of San Diego’s economic and cultural future, and it is growing rapidly.

Bubbles  - whether housing, tulips or craft beer - are hard to predict in the present.  Only in retrospect can you accurately call a bubble.  I've stated before that people are always going to want to drink good beer, and whether there are five brewers or over eighty in San Diego County, money will flow to those brewers making beer that tastes good (and those making marginal beer will struggle).  Like McKean says, good brewers want to come to San Diego, and craft beer is now an important, if not vital, industry to San Diego.  This is good news for beer drinkers.