My Monday column is out at Food & Dining Magazine: Hip Hops: One of those bucket list lager days.
For knowledgeable beer drinkers during my lifetime, lager often has constituted a Jekyll-Hyde proposition. Thirty-five years ago, the American mass-market way of doing lager (fizzy and flavorless) was the original impetus for the “craft” beer rebellion. At the same time, touring the Central European heartland always provides bountiful examples of how satisfying lager can be when traditional thought processes and methodologies are retained.
Otherwise, and as usual, Lew Bryson has the take of first (and best) resort. This truly is a must-read, with a conclusion more optimistic than you might imagine from the header.
“Brewers will be tightening their belts like the rest of us. It’s a scary future, but a little more community feel is going to help get us all through it. If everyone gives a little, fewer people will have to give a lot. After all, it just might save your favorite beers.”
Did I mention this essay is a must-read?
Coronavirus Could Kill Craft Beer. Will Any Brands Survive? by Lew Bryson (Daily Beast)
I’ve been watching the craft beer industry collapse over the past few months.
After 20 years of writing about how upstart craft brewers have steadily taken customers from mainstream brands, it’s a shock to see this whole world shatter under the hammer of the coronavirus pandemic.
Given that everything is now upside down maybe I shouldn’t be shocked, but overall, things are pretty grim. The disease has broken the long growth curve of craft beer, which had outperformed the overall category for more than a decade—and it only took a month …
Read.