declining beer sales closes bottle factory

I have a few craft brew stouts in the fridge, just starting to explore. Had one last week that was bad, too much alcohol (12.8%) causing the taste of the alcohol to break from the rest of the flavor profile.
Murphy’s and Samuel Smith are both good. What do you suggest that is available locally?
One of my favorite brewers https://highlandbrewing.com/
Try their Oatmeal Porter and Black Mocha Stout
Old Rasputin has a strong flavor https://northcoastbrewing.com/beers/year-round-beers/old-rasputin-russian-imperial-stout/?ao_confirm
 
Budweiser and Coors sales are probably suffering. Americans have finally remembered what good beer tastes like.
They are suffering, that is why they are buying craft breweries, such as Wicked Weed in Asheville, and beer distributors so they can control distribution of craft beer.
 
As long as I can keep drinking my zombie beer, all will be right with the world.
I'd be pissed if Bud or Miller or Coors changed the recipe. They could buy the brewery but better damn sure leave the recipe alone.
 
I was on the hunt for some "Rock 92 Brew" recently and ran into guy that worked at the brewery that makes it. He stated that they were currently out of stock on what I was looking for and suggested a similar brew. It was Gibbs Hundred brewing company "Guilty Party". My daughter (11) told the guu that must be Hillary Clinton beer lol!! That is a dang good amber ale, in a can of course.
GibbsHundredGuiltyPartyESB.jpg
 
So I brew, hang with brewers, drink a lot of different beers.

Bottles meant "Craft beer" at one time because it was the only way for the to sell it. But now we have mobile canning companies, so most folks can use them. Cans do a better job of keeping the hops "flavor" inside. Bottles are great for laying down beers to age- stouts, barlywine, mead... but for IPA type, get it in cans and drink ASAP.

A lot of breweries have gone to crowlers to send draft home. Just a big ass can that they fill at the tap and crimp a top on. Even the best growler cap loses co2 and hop flover after 3-4 day at best.
 
Domestic sales are down but craft beers have continued growth. A lot of craft breweries are turning or have turned to cans, which hurts the bottle market even more.
Even small ones like Skull Camp in Elkin sells certain brews in Cans. But you can get anything they make in a Growler.
 
Note too that Budman hated Reagan for deregulation. That was the match that led to the explosion of micro breweries.
Ever since then Budman has been trying to buy regulations intended to kill off the smallest breweries. They have been pushing for mandated nutrition labeling for all beers. That means spending upwards of $100K per beer type to have an independent lab do the analysis. Most microbreweries make more types of beer than than AB does. AB can pass the cost at pennies per can to the customer. Microbreweries can't do that. The left says "all companies must play on the same field if they want to play." But they also want fewer players on the field because it is easier to control a few than thousands.
 
The best beers I've had (from the US) are canned. When a microbrewery starts canning that's when they've made it.



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The best beers I've had (from the US) are canned. When a microbrewery starts canning that's when they've made it.



Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
Skull Camp in Elkin, CANS their take away beer. Or one can get a growler. If you are even in that area, they have an awesome restaurant. Ask for Kasey for your server. You will be able to tell that she loves her job.
 
So I brew, hang with brewers, drink a lot of different beers.

Bottles meant "Craft beer" at one time because it was the only way for the to sell it. But now we have mobile canning companies, so most folks can use them. Cans do a better job of keeping the hops "flavor" inside. Bottles are great for laying down beers to age- stouts, barlywine, mead... but for IPA type, get it in cans and drink ASAP.

A lot of breweries have gone to crowlers to send draft home. Just a big ass can that they fill at the tap and crimp a top on. Even the best growler cap loses co2 and hop flover after 3-4 day at best.

This surprises me. As I understand it, IPAs were created to last relatively long times during extended sea passages in conditions under which any modern storage overseer would cringe. I'm curious to hear and learn more, though, as I don't say this to be contradictory. I love IPAs btw, and one thing I do miss from living in New England is hand-pulled Vermont Brew Pub IPAs.
 
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IPA's of today are a long way from what they were back in the day of long shipping time on the ocean. The hops oil was used as a preservative that gave a bitter flavor. But hat oil has a short life when in a container that lets O2 and/ or light in. The aroma 1st the first to go, then flavor, and last the bitterness. But the taste they wanted back then is very different than what is wanted now. What was a hoppy beer in the 1700's would barely be a pale ale now.

Now with the New England IPA style coming on strong, it even harder to keep all that juicy, citrus smells and flavors in. So, bottle do a poor job because there is always some cap gas escaping and even with the dark bottles, some light gets in. Even using cans, most breweries short date the product to get the best flavor to the consumer. It's the main reason that you don't see much of it on the shelf from brewries far off, well not much that live up to what is expected. It is a "drink local" type of beer, lol.

A little more on it: https://www.americancraftbeer.com/6-reasons-craft-beer-industry-moving-cans/
 
They are suffering, that is why they are buying craft breweries, such as Wicked Weed in Asheville, and beer distributors so they can control distribution of craft beer.

NC already controls how many barrels a micro brew can brew before they have to sell it through a big distributor.
 
IPA's of today are a long way from what they were back in the day of long shipping time on the ocean. The hops oil was used as a preservative that gave a bitter flavor. But hat oil has a short life when in a container that lets O2 and/ or light in. The aroma 1st the first to go, then flavor, and last the bitterness. But the taste they wanted back then is very different than what is wanted now. What was a hoppy beer in the 1700's would barely be a pale ale now.

Now with the New England IPA style coming on strong, it even harder to keep all that juicy, citrus smells and flavors in. So, bottle do a poor job because there is always some cap gas escaping and even with the dark bottles, some light gets in. Even using cans, most breweries short date the product to get the best flavor to the consumer. It's the main reason that you don't see much of it on the shelf from brewries far off, well not much that live up to what is expected. It is a "drink local" type of beer, lol.

A little more on it: https://www.americancraftbeer.com/6-reasons-craft-beer-industry-moving-cans/

Thank you.
 
latest beer sales update:
MillerCoors is in crisis mode as the brewer scrambles to boost Coors Light sales. Earlier in September, the brewer announced it was restructuring, eliminating roughly 350 salaried positions across the company.
"We are moving quickly and decisively to get our business back on track," MillerCoors CEO Gavin Hattersley said in an email to distributors, according to a news report on the company's website.

https://start.att.net/news/read/art..._in_america_as_m-newscred2/category/lifestyle
 
The actual sales are not declining at a drastic rate, just it is shifting in a different direction. The beer aisles will stay the same but every beer reset in a store the domestic beer section gets smaller and the craft section gets bigger. A lot of people are now exposed to higher end beer then 15 years ago. People realize beer can have different flavor profile like wine, mixed drinks or food, so that side of the industry is seeing continued growth.

And half of them don't realize that all that "craft" beer on the aisle is now owned by the major brewing corps so it's really all just "Bud" or "Miller" anyway. ;)
 
And half of them don't realize that all that "craft" beer on the aisle is now owned by the major brewing corps so it's really all just "Bud" or "Miller" anyway. ;)
Around here, they have perhaps 20 - 25% of the craft section at the grocery store.
Of the 14 craft labels owned by an-bev, I've seen perhaps 9 in the store.

Then own;
Goose Island
Kona
Omission
Red Hook
Widmer Brothers
10 Barrel
Blue Point
Elysian
Four Peaks
Breckenridge
Golden Road
Devil's Backbone
Karbach
Wicked Weed
 
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