A recent article by
Andy Crouch in Boston Magazine has set the craft beer community abuzz regarding Jim Koch of
Samuel Adam's (Boston Beer Co.) fame. In it Jim Koch berates a local hip beer bar's server(
Row 34) why they have no Samuel Adam's available. Out of an estimated(per the article) 62 beer selections(24 on tap the rest in cans/bottles ) not one Samuel Adam's product. Not one of an iconic brand name of craft beer. Not one from a beer based in the same city the supposed. How is that? The owner's defense is that Samuel Adam's is a mediocre beer. Seriously? Out of over 60 (according recent commercial) selection's you can't find one worthy? Come on! That is a lame excuse. Even the worst dive bars at least have Samuel Adam's Boston Lager. My girlfriend's favorite Karoake dive bar/Chinese restaurant in the middle of nowhere , that you can count the beer selection on two hands, has it. This bar has shown you up "Row 34"!
Ok well I digress.
I do kind of see this as craft beer having growing pains. Everyone wants the newest and most current cool beer. I did see some of this at a small local beerfest that was just north of Boston recently. Of course Boston Beer Company had a table alongside everyone else. I thought it was cool that a big craft brewer came to a relatively small event. I did notice one sort of thing though. The most activity was around the smaller newer brewers with Sam's table being a little less going on. I did make sure to visit them for samples. I got the feeling that they were being a little snubbed which I thought was a little sad.
Part of the allure of craft beer is trying something new and exclusive. It's like feeling your in an exclusive club that no one has found. All of a sudden though everyone else does and now it's not cool anymore. Let's search for next big one. It's still a relatively new in the last 30-40 years. I admit I like trying the new stuff too. It's cool and you get a sense of adventure just trying different brews. It's easy to forget with over 3200 breweries in the country that the old stand by's, the ones that got you there are left behind.
Part of it is that success has it's one curse too. Your no longer the cool kid on the block. Your the John Milner from the George Lucas movie(before Star Wars) "American Graffiti". John Milner plays the local dropout king of the hill cool guy with the fastest '32 deuce coupe in the valley. The challengers keep coming at you. One day you realize your era is coming to a close after another cocky (played by a young Harrison Ford) almost beats you at your own game. He realizes his days on top are numbered.
Beer aficionados should not forget their roots by
shunning older craft beer makers and especially those that have been very successful and grown. Just because business has grown doesn't mean they now make bad beer or it is suddenly inferior. Judge the beer by what's in the glass and not by the brand name. Isn't that what really counts in the end?
