Yankee Brew News Archive

The Industry Matures

Originally Published: 01/96

By: Brett Peruzzi

With the region's oldest craft brewers now virtually a decade old, we are starting to see some signs of maturity in the still-growing New England beer renaissance. The good news is that unlike some other areas of the country where craft brew has boomed, we have seen very few busts. See Dann Paquette's treatise elsewhere in this issue on the subject of microbrewery closings and how well New England is faring in comparison to other areas.

What we are seeing is clear signs of our region's craft beer becoming Big Business. Brewpubs are opening multiple locations (and being referred to using the corporate-speak term "units") and microbrewers are announcing stock offerings. Craft brews are getting more shelf space in liquor stores, and doing more elaborate advertising.

Good beer is no longer a novelty, but part of everyday New England culture. Beer festivals are annual events, beer dinners occur regularly at numerous restaurants, and unique seasonal offerings from craft brewers are now expected and anticipated, rather than suddenly appearing as a pleasant surprise.

Five years ago if I walked into a party and saw someone drinking an IPA or a stout, we would likely have been introduced to each other as "another beer nut" and left to babble in the corner about our mutual obsession all evening. Now, so many people drink good beer it doesn't even draw a comment.

Yes, this is good, even though now you occasionally run into pseudo-know-it-alls who have tried a couple of craft brews and read about the brewing process on the back of a brewpub menu. But the wine world has had such boors for years--it's just another sign of the integration of the once-esoteric beer culture into our pop culture.

For some of us long-time champions of good beer, there is a bit of wistfulness, sometimes mixed with a slight sneer, because, as we reassure ourselves, we were into good beer before it was popular. True enough, but the way I see it, the bigger the market gets, the more good beer we'll see brewed in our region. And I'll drink to that.