Beer Trends

[theheadonthedoor]

What do you think is the next big trend in beer?

Let's be obvious here and point out that northeast style IPAs are already amongst us in a very big way. Maybe not every brewery has made one yet in the way they have say a barrel-aged beer or a sour, but it's getting close. Crazy that some breweries have held out making a sour until now, if at all. Craft lagers are also already amongst us, whether it be hoppy pilsners like PC Pils by Founder's, Hoppy Pilsner by Saint Archer, or Pivo by Firestone Walker (all great, by the way) or Mexican lagers like El Sully by 21st Amendment or Lager Cerveza by Full Sail Session.

Let's just also quickly list all the trends that happened over the last say decade just so we don't get on repeating material instead of streamlining a conversation towards actual trends that have yet to occur. Here we go:

Barrel Aged Beers
Fruit IPAs
Craft Lagers
Sours
Session IPAs
Black IPAs
Northeast Style IPAs
Milk Stouts

And milk stouts barely counts, if at all. I don't remember Lagunitas, New Belgium, or Dogfish Head making a milk stout that was regularly available in my grocery store the way these other trends were.

I also don't consider coffee-infused beers, pumpkin beers, or beers with weirder flavors so much a trend as it is just slight extensions of other ones. This could be argued.

So where are the actual trends going? When we look back in a decade, what will be the standouts that almost no one could predict?

What's really even left? The answer: a lot.

Between Kolschs, Gin Barrel Aged Beers, session stouts, Eisbocks, Ryewines, Sparkling Ales, and Sahtis, just to name a very few, there's lots left to explore.

I honestly think it's naive to think we are at a saturation point for hops. If anything, we should be thinking of what styles have yet to be hopped.

Hoppy Piwo Gradiskie
Dry Hopped Oud Bruin

Maybe not those. I think that hops and smoked malt sound awful together. But then again, I wouldn't think coffee and hops could work, and yet coffee IPAs are delicious. Maybe it would taste like a campfire. Charred wood and fresh pine mixed might actually work. Regardless, I think smoked beers have a huge potential.

For me, I would love to see hoppy saisons and grisettes gain popularity. The few I've had have been absolutely outstanding! Nice juicy citrusy hops mixed with bright french saison character and even some brett to push the flavors of pineapple to the forefront. I'm really surprised this hasn't already taken off.

If not these, I think that barrel aged beers that use other alcohols other then whiskey/bourbon/scotch are intriguing. Like using rum, tequila, or even more wine barrels.

What about scotch ales? Maybe the flavorfulness of the malty scotch ale can quench our thirst for flavor that hops have for so long provided.

What do you think?




Sidenote: Other annoying things:

If basically none of the top like 20+ pale ales have only Cascade hops, then why are so many breweries making their pale ales with just Cascade hops. I get that many have been doing it forever and have a dedicated client base, many are just riding the coattails of the success of those original ones, and some may be wanting to pay respect in this way, but they have to know it's only going to work for so long.

Next, if most all IPAs now are above 6% (lots more above 7%), and almost all session beers are below 5%, where does that leave IPAs that range from 5-6%? That's a great range! What should they be called?



Thanks for any input. I'd love to stay ahead of the curve.

 

[OswaldvW]

Smoked beers!

Or, on the not so serious front, those old school beers with rooster in them.

 

[MSK_Chess]

Scottish smoked beers, aged in American Bourbon casks. Nom nom nom!

 

[cannman]

I think hoppy pils will shine soon enough. New England IPA.

 

[The_Bishop]

I don't think you'll see NEIPA go anywhere in the long term. It has garbage shelf stability due to all the muck floating around in it, which makes packaging in cans and bottles not so worthwhile, which limits distribution. I *still* think it's a gimmick to be able to sell beer faster, before it's had time to actually clear.

 

[theheadonthedoor]

New England IPAs have their place as do west coast style IPAs. Sometimes I want more mouthfeel, more sweetness, and fruitiness. And sometimes I want a bone-dry piney resinous clear beauty.

 

[MSK_Chess]

Is it not possible to have a silky fruity beer in something that is clear? I have a recipe for a European lager that uses flaked barley I suspect to impart some creamy silkiness and I have brewed well fruity American pale ales that were nowhere near the bitterness of an East coast IPA.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

New England IPAs have their place as do west coast style IPAs. Sometimes I want more mouthfeel, more sweetness, and fruitiness. And sometimes I want a bone-dry piney resinous clear beauty.

Did you read the OP? He asked what the next big trend in beer brewing is, not what style of IPA you prefer.

 

[day_trippr]

Spiced beer

 

[Gravity]

Spiced beer

By spiced do you mean Jalapeño? If so yes

Also Peanut Butter ales/stouts
Fruit additions in Sours
Wasabi stouts - had a couple good ones
Oatmeal Creame Pie stouts
Salted Caramel Porters
Coffee ales (non stouts/porters) - this is a visual trip

 

[ericbw]

Chocolate peanut butter porters are all the rage (like Sweet Baby Jesus). Will it continue? Who knows.

I don't know that most of the "trends" you mentioned are really that big. Everyone knows what an IPA is. But unless you're a fan of sours or saisons, you probably don't seek them out, and you might not even know what it is. Craft beer and weird styles is a trend in and of itself.

Fruit beers are here to stay.

What's a session stout? Many stouts are already low ABV for session drinking.

What's a "gin barrel?" Gin isn't aged in barrels.

Pumpkin beers (and pumpkin everything) is/was a trend. We might have reached peak pumpkin, but we'll see what happens over the next year or 2.

I suspected that saison/farmhouse styles might become more popular, but maybe they're too limiting.

 

[ericbw]

Did you read the OP? He asked what the next big trend in beer brewing is, not what style of IPA you prefer.

Is policing others' comments the next trend?

 

[day_trippr]

Welcome to the internet

 

[beernutz]

Someone has already said NEIPA but I think Double IPAs in general are trending upward in sales.

 

[65C]

I expect to see fruit beers becoming bigger than they are - even though I go to some big city real ale places with all the latest Cloudwaters, Blackjacks etc. I can't remember last time I saw a fruit beer on a pump

Smithfield Tavern has had a couple of single hop brews on lately - the Sticklebact they had on the other day knocked it out of the park - I can see that becoming a big thing the way they are doing it

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Is policing others' comments the next trend?

For forums? Sure I guess, I don't care.

 

[McGarnigle]

Were cold-brewed coffee beers mentioned above? Not stouts or porters, but lagers and IPAs. I've seen several of those. Maybe it's an old trend by now, I can't keep up.

ADD: re-reading, I see the OP mentioned them.

 

[theheadonthedoor]

I'm both people. Haha

 

[theheadonthedoor]

Did you read the OP? He asked what the next big trend in beer brewing is, not what style of IPA you prefer.

Yes, I did read it.

BECAUSE I WROTE IT.

HAHAHA

 

[woo_pig]

I think historical beers are on the come up.

 

[AMessenger]

Wouldn't bet the house on this but I could see mixing in flavorings at serving becoming in vogue. Not unusual to see this in Germany - coke or lemonade in a lager or fruit syrup in a Berliner Weisse

 

[bobeer]

I don't think every brewery needs to do a sour. I don't really dig them and don't mind at all that some breweries just brew what they're good at or like themselves and they stick with that. Nothing wrong with not following trends.
Speaking of following trends I'm pretty damn sick of the beer trends. The lines, the hyping of beer nerds, the rising beer prices, etc. I'll never understand the whole beer hunt thing or driving long distances to wait on a huge line just to taste a beer. Good for the brewers who are making good money off of these people but personally I just don't get it and I can't buy into it. I love homebrewing and the process of making beer and sharing it with the people I love but that's where my love affair ends with beer. Haha.

 

[Killshakes]

Beer trend that won't take off, but should: Blended Beers. Beers that are just a blend of two or more finished beers, preferably recognizable ones.

I know it may sound like a bad idea, or even just kind of gross, but I have done this many, many times--usually just at a bar or sitting around the kitchen with friends--and the results are often surprising and usually an improvement! Try it sometime and see for yourself.

In any event, I could definitely see a commercial brewery bottling and selling hybrids / mixtures of its well-known beers, cleverly packaging them in bottles that mix the label designs of the original beers, etc. It'd be fun and interesting for the consumer, and allow the brewer to just keep making the same old beer they always have.

 

[bobeer]

Beer trend that won't take off, but should: Blended Beers. Beers that are just a blend of two or more finished beers, preferably recognizable ones.

I know it may sound like a bad idea, or even just kind of gross, but I have done this many, many times--usually just at a bar or sitting around the kitchen with friends--and the results are often surprising and usually an improvement! Try it sometime and see for yourself.

In any event, I could definitely see a commercial brewery bottling and selling hybrids / mixtures of its well-known beers, cleverly packaging them in bottles that mix the label designs of the original beers, etc. It'd be fun and interesting for the consumer, and allow the brewer to just keep making the same old beer they always have.

Allagash does this with their barrel aging program.
Check out this episode of Local Brew and specifically at 20:22 where they go into the barrel house and blend beers!
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibDA6JHHUp8[/ame]

FWIW- I'm of no affiliation to this show. I just dig good shows about beer and breweries!

 

[20grit]

More rye based beers and historical beers. I think smoked beers are an option, but they're never going to have the mass appeal that some of the other trendy beers have had.
If Gose can come back from the dead, someone out there has already picked the next candidate.

I feel like we're going to see more and more alternative grains thrown into the mix.