But the human spirit isn't so easily tamed. An emphasis on corporate accountability, environmental responsibility, and vital local economy has come to define the present zeitgeist, a sort of neo-hippy movement made mainstream. Leery of the immense power of Big Business, consumers are choosing partners, rather than merely producers, in the marketplace.
With their preferences, consumers even the playing field in favor of small businesses, helping to foster fresh, novel ideas and products. As competition increases, so does the importance of the individual. Companies must once again learn the art of The Woo. Advertising isn't enough; companies must engage in consumer courtship. The primacy of identity is reinstated.
This view may be a bit Panglossian. Still, it is no wonder that craft beers, with their unique flavors, strong personality, and regional appeal, have become extremely popular. Early last year, craft beers saw intense market gains, growing by a whopping 9% in sales and 5% in volume in the first half of last year. In comparison, overall US and import sales declined by 1.3% and 9%, respectively (http://www.brewersassociation.org).
Craft brewers think of themselves as exploring all dimensions of Beerclidian space, infusing their duds with exotic essences like chocolate, fruits, jalapenos, and pecans. Attention to detail is paramount. Each beer is a coup de maitre, the culmination of imagination, experimentation, and just a tinge of mad scientist-like insanity. Craft brewers aren't thinking of mass-production, developing bland recipes that have the widest appeals. Instead, they want something revolutionary, something with presence, something people can either love or hate, but not dither somewhere in the inoffensive inane. The beers that emerge from craft breweries are distinctive, memorable, and, well, wild.
I think Rateabeer.com has an apt description of craft beers from the brewer's perspective:
Craft beer is primarily characterized by a brewer’s attention to recipes and ingredients that maximize the flavor, appearance and aroma of your beer. The craft brewer almost always personally oversees the selection of ingredients and the entire brewing process and constantly monitors flavor and quality. And unlike mass market beers, craft beer isn’t “contract brewed” in multiple facilities. The brewer is the one who both writes and follows the recipe. This isn’t just a quality measure -- it also ensures that you, the consumer, end up with a beer that’s more like a signed print in the art world and not just a poster.
Notice, too, that by brewing in their own facilities rather than outsourcing around the country, craft brewers maintain a geographic identity, often utilizing fresh, local ingredients. 21st Amendment Brewery in San Fransisco, for example, boasts recipes containing local watermelon, not processed syrups, in its Hell Or High Watermelon wheat beer.
With strong personalities, many craft beers and breweries have amassed a cult-like following. Take Three Floyd's Brewery, for example. Each year, this quirky craft brewery from Munster, Indiana hosts Dark Lords Day, a mecca for stout-thusiasts. For one day only, thousands of people flock to tiny Munster to purchase Dark Lord, a highly-acclaimed Russian Imperial Stout.
American craft beers aren't just interesting concotions; they're real winners. Many have taken gold in the World Beer Championships, which, though hosted in the US, extends its invitations to any brewery, anywhere, and uses blind taste testing to ensure fairness. Craft breweries consistently prove their worth, year after year in this competition. Rogue Ales, a brewery from Newport, Oregon, is a perfect case study: it has taken gold in sundry style categories, from amber ales (American Amber Ale) to hefeweizen (Half-E-Weizen), often for 3,4, or 5 consecutive years. Rogue's Old Crustacean Barelywine has won gold 7 times in its respective category.
And this is just one brewery, one competition. At beer competitions around the world, craft breweries are employing syncretic and highly experimental methods to challenge the longstanding reign of Old World institutions. And each American brew d'etat wins national and global recognition for heretofore unknown locales, like Munster, Indiana.
Identity, an American identity, local American identities, are being reasserted year after year, beer after beer.
If you're interested in idiosyncratic and iconoclastic tastes offered by craft beers, have ye a listen to Craft Beer Radio to help guide you through the savage terra incognita of craft beers. You'll discover that these beers have some serious soul.
Let me close with a gushing ode to the Craft:
Craft Brewing is an art, a skill, a philosophy. It's as beautiful and elegant as an idea, yet its fruits are tangible, tastable, delectable. And, like all good art, whether you praise it or detest it, you can appreciate any craft beer for what it is: a modern marvel of human creativity and the product of a careful, arduous process.
