I'm sure most of you are familiar with Michael Dawson from Brewing TV. It's old news now, but him and the other hosts Jake and Chip split from Northern Brewer a few months back; something to do with an investment firm buying equity in NB..
At any rate Dawson's blog makes for good reading - just looking through his archive I came upon this article, thought it was quite interesting and worthwhile sharing:
http://thebeerengineblog.com/2012/11/20/bubbles-in-my-beer/
I remember a history teacher in school saying how almost everything is cyclical, I guess craft brewing isn't immune to the effect either. We're seeing it here too (read Tube's post on licenses granted to new micro's); while it's good, I find it hard to believe it's going to be sustainable.
Just my two cent's worth really - not sure what everyone else makes of it?
Right now I can buy O haras, 8 degrees, Porterhouse & Dungarvan in O Briens, Galway. Id prefer 30 irish beers to choose from.
Im still waiting for an Irish micro to do a proper American IPA or an imperial stout (or has there been some Ive missed?) All the Irish stuff has been pretty safe so far. Id hope with more micros & more competition it would push ideas & force them to take a chance on some left field stuff like the US micros.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's effin brilliant that I can go to most average drink stores and buy some measure of craft brew at least.
I know what you mean tho - I think we're missing a Brew Dog - type brewery that really pushes the boat out with some crazy interesting styles - A black belgian triple IPA perhaps!? :P I think for the moment, while the industry gains interest, it's going to take a while before someone is daring enough to brew something different than everyone else.
The irish market is but a wet week into craft beer v's our US chums and I am confident we will fully catch up.
Only last week Rossa and I were talking to a brewer that wanted to do something out of the ordinary, but big risk if it goes wrong :(
yea, I read extreme brewing from the dogfish head guy (cant recommend it enough - theres a torrent) there, and now wanna do nearly all high gravity, and at least try some different fruits/spices in a few bottles, why cant brewerys try this stuff? how do you get qualified enough to run a brewery and not try going out on a limb? especially with so many brewerys doin so many similar and bland (for craft beer) styles... the porterhouse and brewdog seem to be the only really interesting ones out there ( to me - im sure there could be dissagreement here :) ).
And you'd imagine that its less hassle for bottling etc as you can charge a higher price for high gravity beers, more risky if it goes tits up i know but arent they all missing the point about craft beer?
I'd agree that it's probably a bit premature to talk about bubbles in an Irish context. Ron Pattinson has an article in the front of the Good Beer Guide to Belgium comparing the number of breweries in about 10 different major brewing countries (inc Gernany, US, Czech, Belgium, UK, Ireland) over the last 100 years. Sorry, no link, but it's striking that the number of breweries in Ireland is much lower per capita than most other brewing nations, and also than it has been historically.
USA 1980
180 Breweries : Today 2000 No ref to total output there :(
Anybody wanna fill in that number for us?
I am guessing 6 : 26, anybody have more accurate data than my guess?
QuoteTalk of "per capita" isn't really meaningful as 50% of Ireland's population lives in the country and has limited access to a pub, almost ruling them out of the equation.
if only there were a way for people to consume beer somewhere other than a pub! Seriously though, the reason I referenced the article is because it put some numbers on something we all know - which is that we are a long way back the curve in terms of craft beer market saturation in Ireland as compared to the US or the UK. I think that means you can't read directly across to the Irish market based on articles about craft beer armageddon in those countries.