Craft Beer Takes Hint from Wine
With the resurgence of craft beer, industry analysts are obviously trying to figure out exactly why it’s gaining market share. After all, it couldn’t possibly be that it’s just better beer. This article points towards a shift in marketing that’s making craft beers more like wine. This includes reserve bottling, vintages, futures, and vertical tastings.
The article mentions several brewers such as Stone Brewing, Allagash, and Goose Island who all have reserve or vintage bottlings. In fact, Allagash even offers a beer that it calls “Grand Cru”, which clearly smacks of wine industry lingo. If I recall correctly, they had it on tap at the American Beer Fest, and it was awesome! (Of course, after the first five samples or so, they all start blending together into one hazy memory.) Grand Teton in Wyoming has actually started offering beer futures for its rather rare beer. They only produced 300 cases in 2005.
Overall, the future is looking very bright for craft brewing, and it really seems that craft beer is being elevated to the level of wine in the public’s eye.
