Alright legends. I booked my US trip today. I’ll be hitting Indy, Nashville, Denver, Fort Worth and Austin. Brewery suggestions are very much welcomed!
Nashville GOD TIER: Living Waters Brewery (one of the best record stores in the country is next door) Barrique (does cast) Bearded Iris (homestyle is one of the best IPA’s out)
Indy recs: Metazoa (3 words: dogs dogs dogs) Sun King (big space with awesome food) St Joseph (old church location is rad)
I feel like this year has been a slow year for breweries? Or maybe distribution? I have been going to the same beer place for a decade and historically they would get a good 10-12 new beers every week from breweries all over. I’ve noticed the past 2-3 months it’s now like, maybe 3-4 a week - if that.
Declining customer base (more people use cannabis than alcohol in studies for the first time), people under 30 aren’t drinking really at all. The tariffs will crush anyone who is canning, too. Add in the climate impact on grain and hops and the rising expenses of utilities and running a brewery is really tough.
Honestly, I understand why young people aren't drinking as much, many of them have seen alcoholism all around them growing up
Yeah, to be honest, it’s also not a great industry to work in. At least, in my experience. Physically taxing, fairly mid pay at best (at least on the producer side as a sales rep) and I became a functional alcoholic drinking 25-30 beers a week at my peak running 2-4 tap events a week + end of day beers with industry friends. It’s really tough.
Makes sense, definitely one of those things that sounds amazing in your late 20s and then you realize it's not the golden ideal you imagined
i hate to say it but at this point im a little bored w craft beer. a lot of good shit out there but not enough variety. ive seen a lot of my favorite non ipa beers get discontinued through the years. these days id rather spend my fun money on decent liquor and maybe keep a few domestics in the fridge for when im in a beer mood.
I just need the German-focused lager brewery here in MI to stay open. One of the only other one is closing in the next couple of weeks.
I hit up Side Project and Perennial when I was in STL this time. Had always heard great things about them and thought to myself that with all the places closing I should hit them up in case they aren't there next time I go. Schlafly closed their place in the airport and that had been there for years... was bummed. But 4 Hands did take it over so at least it stayed with a STL craft place for the time being. I have definitely noticed that there is not that big of a variety of craft stuff coming into PHX anymore. I think it's the closures but also I think it's breweries scaling back their ops as well. I know Bottle Logic used to do so many releases and it seems like they are down to just a couple a month if not less. Luckily I have a good tap/bottle shop near me that does pretty well and knows their audience or I probably wouldn't even drink at this point. (is that a bad thing)