I get to meet a lot of people who like craft beer. And it doesn’t seem like I meet anyone anymore who doesn’t like at least one style of beer. Sour been have brought more people into beer recently then any other style I can recall. When I go on dates, the women seem excited when they find out I write about beer, and that I have made it to every single brewery in the state of Indiana. With a more diverse craft beer drinking population, it builds the potential for popularity among a diverse range of beers. I think this will occur over a long period of time, but as a beer drinker, this is cause for excitement!
When I first started exploring beer in the late 90s, I didn’t have a lot of craft beer to choose from. Therefore it was the flashy import labels that turned me onto beer. It wasn’t until I got to Belgium in 1999 that I learned about all sorts of styles of beer. I was visiting a friend who was working there on a Fulbright and he told me that there were over 1000 different labels of beer produced in tiny Belgium, and he was going to try them all! I never asked EJ how close he got, but it was impressive that he tried! I myself got to try dozens in the short time I spent in Belgium, and came back to the US concerned about the quality of our beer!
22 years later, all I can say is we have come a very long way. And I was blessed to see several amazing Belgian style Breweries start up here in Indiana. Brugge Brasserie was long my source for fresh Belgian style beer! More recently Taxman has stepped up to the plate making all sorts of crazy Belgian beers. No matter where you live, someone is making this style. And while I still like to get my hands on imported Belgian beers when they’re available, I like knowing I can drink the styles fresh as well!
And I suppose one could live on Belgian styles of beer alone because there are so many different varieties. But I don’t live in Belgium, and here in the United States, the beer we produce is about as diverse as the 9000 breweries making it! Craft beer has a style for everyone whether you like light beer, dark beer, hoppy beer, malty beer, sour beer, hazy beer, fruity beer, smoky beer, and so forth. And breweries continue to experiment creating new styles, so it’s hard to predict what might come next. The last wave of craft beer growth literally doubled the size of drinking population as well as the number of breweries, and that’s just exciting
Another exciting thing about the American craft beer experience is that they have resurrected styles of beer long forgotten in Europe, as well as saving some that were on life-support. Altbeir is primarily enjoyed around the city of Düsseldorf, but lots of craft brewers like to experiment with this ale from Germany, the land of lagers. The Danziger Jopenbier is a style of beer that I helped make when I was doing home brewing about 15 years ago. The style has been nearly forgotten, but I doubt we have seen the last of it. If you’re really into this subject, the Internet is a great source for lost styles of beer. Before I move on, I would like to mention the Gose. This once popular beer originating in Leipzig was nearly written off in Germany before craft beer discovered its potential!
And this is a good place to talk about the diversity in sours. I can’t get over how many breweries there are that make fruited sours, and they are turning them out at rates unseen until now! And then the dessert sours made by such breweries as Humble Forager and RAR are out of this world. I even had a sour by 450 N. that was supposed to taste like Mountain Dew! And just this Friday Brandon the bar manager at Hoosier let me try a raspberry salted caramel sour they will be releasing in early May!
IPA’s are so popular right now that people ask me if I written anything about them recently. I do talk about them and I enjoy them very much. I think the debate between hazy IPA’s(New England) and West Coast IPA’s is fascinating and as someone who enjoys both styles, I welcome the discussion. The style goes deeper and you may remember my article about fooling around with Fruited IPAs. Whether you drink a session, or a DIPA, you’re drinking the style of beer that comprises 1/5 of craft beer consumed(IRI, as reported in Beer & Brewing.
Stouts and Porters have never lost their popularity. When I started visiting brewpubs 25 years ago, these styles were always offered, And they remain popular as trends have made them into bigger beers. I don’t have to tell you that a large percentage of special releases center around barrel aged stouts, particularly the Russian Imperial variety. I have lots of them in my beer cellar, and they are what I primarily collect. A lot of breweries are doing exciting things with stouts, porters, and also Scottish ales. Darker beers are very popular, and if you like these styles of beer, you certainly have a lot to choose from. I have a friend who really likes stouts, and as I travel I’m always on the lookout to find a cool beer for him!
So with so many breweries, we have access to a plethora of great beer. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut and drink the same thing day to day. But I encourage you to try styles. Flights are a great way to find out if you like a style of beer, and it’s one of the ways I learn about what a brewery is doing. Beer festivals when they start happening more regularly are also a great place to try styles of beer. I encourage you to try stuff you wouldn’t regularly drink there because it’s a great opportunity to learn.
Then again I know some people only like one or two styles of beer, and that’s ok. The diversity in our palates is what makes us beautiful! We have so much beer, and our time is short. Drink what you like, but take the time to expand your palate if you have the interest! Otherwise you might just miss out on a lot of cool things that are going on in and around this hobby we call craft beer!
So Much Beer So Little Time 