Pretty Thing's Babyaga is one of the best stouts out there right now.
I have the great pleasure of running into Dan and Martha Paquette of Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project last week at a tasting at Sierra Grille. We spent the better part of two hours chatting and it was quite a delight.
And while any casual conversations I have with people are off the record, there is one aspect of our visit I'll mention here. But mostly this column will be more about my musings in the afterglow the conversation. It stimulated quite a bit of thought about brewing craft beer these days.
The bit of news from that meeting that I am here to tell you about is this: That Pretty Thing's Babyaga is one of the best stouts out there right now. I hadn't had it before, but I had my fill that night. It's a perfect dark brew as the days get darker. It's cozy, comfy tasty and mouthfeel are utterly delightful. I was also able to snag a beautiful Pretty Things glass. I'm at the point of my beer career where I almost don't want any new glassware logo glassware. But this one is so nice, I couldn't resist.
Now this next part of the column is just my thoughts. And while they are the result of the conversation I had with Dan and Martha, let me be clear that what follows is totally my line of thinking, not theirs. It just happened to come as a result of the overall conversation we had.
As I was lying in bed later that night trying to fall asleep and remembering the tasty pleasures of Babayaga, I started thinking about all the competition craft brewers are up against these days. By that, I mean one another. I started thinking about that soon, within a five-minute walk of my house, there will be about 250 craft beers on tap. Then I started thinking about how now anybody can put out a record on Amazon or iTunes. You don't need a record deal anymore. The same thing is happening with craft brewing now, with small nano breweries popping up in people's garage. Garage brewers are the garage bands of today.
And then I started too wonder if it's all too much. Are there is just too many craft beers out there right now? Have we reached the tipping point? My answer is no.
The great thing about all this beer coursing through the streets of almost every state
is that a lot of it is local. You have to be there to get it. For example, it's pretty impossible to get Blue Boots IPA from the Northampton Brewery anywhere except for the Northampton Brewery. There're examples of that kind of thing in every state. And since I've never been a completist type of guy, I don't have to have every beer that's ever existed. I know there are some people with mindsets that want to do that, but these days it's pretty much impossible. Unless you have unlimited funds and time to travel ever, you're not even going to get half of all the beer out there. Right now there are more than 2,000 craft breweries in United States--the first time that number has been reached since the 1880s. Let's say they'll put out at least five beers. I know some smaller breweries do you fewer, but most brew more. That's easily more than 10,000 beers in the U.S. alone.
At some point, though, I think there will be a market correction. I just hope the public's taste is discerning enough to keep the best ones around. So far, the signs for that are good. What do you think? Is there just too much beer out there these days? When will the growth end, if ever?