A quick disclaimer, I love craft beer. This article is intended to be a conduit for some of my thoughts on if Craft Beer Lost Its Soul and not a slam on what craft beer has become. Additionally, every brewery mentioned in this article is amazing and I highly encourage everyone to visit their taprooms and enjoy their beer. They are simply examples that help me express my perspective . . . . cheers!
With that out of the way . . . .
If you’ve been around craft beer for more than a few years then I’d have to imagine you’ve noticed many of the changes that I’ve noticed. And for the most part, the change has been good . . . I mean really good.
Example of the changes for the overall good of craft beer:
- Increase in the number breweries
- Improvements in packaging is empowering more breweries to can than ever before
- Availability of craft beer at restaurants, venues, and other places that historically only sold macro lagers
- Quality continues to improve
- Craft beer is now common knowledge and awareness of styles continue to grow
- Many states have enacted legislation that has allowed for craft beer taprooms and overall expansion
That’s a lot of amazing things to happen in the past decade or so and much of it happened in the past 5 years. All of this has moved us into a time when craft beer just isn’t available but it is actively part of our culture.
If there’s so much good happening then why am I writing about craft beer losing its soul?
A Quick Story
To properly explain my thoughts, I have to tell a bit of a story.
About 6 years ago, I took a business trip to Charlotte. During this trip. I was fortunate enough to visit a few breweries including Old Mecklenburg, NoDa, and Wooden Robot. Of these, Wooden Robot was my favorite.
Their taproom was really nice and intimate. It was dimly lit and comfortable. On a weekday evening, it was busy but somehow always had room for anyone that walked in. And the people on both sides of the bar were joyful, engaging, and friendly.
Over the years, I’ve often thought about Wooden Robot and told others about my great experience there. They left an impression on me to say the least.
Fast forward to this year, I once again found myself on a business trip to Charlotte. The trip was short and I only had a few hours to explore the city. So, naturally, I decided to check out a brewery or two. My first stop was Sycamore to try their Mountain Candy IPA that locals recommended.
A quick Uber got me to their brewery which was busy for a Thursday evening. Nearly all of their seating was outside which was nice because the weather was amazing. I ordered my beer (which they served in a plastic disposable cup) and I found a place to sit near the band that was playing that evening.
I enjoyed the music and the beer was delicious.
But as I looked around, it didn’t have the feel I was hoping to find. It felt more like the local college bar than a brewery. To help save the evening, I decided to walk to Wooden Robot. I felt like visiting their taproom again would ensure I ended my evening well.
As I approached their taproom, I could tell things had changed . . . a lot. The space was nothing like I had remembered from 6 years ago. I know, it was naïve or even foolish to think they hadn’t changed during this time.
What was once an intimate taproom was now a sprawling space with just as much space inside as it has outside. It is a very wide taproom with a bar running down the center between the indoor and outdoor spaces so the same staff can serve both crowds.
It is a great taproom and as expected, it was nearly full which is impressive for a weekday evening.
I sat at the bar where I enjoyed several beers. Every beer was better than the last one as they have continued to produce high quality beer. But there was something missing.
What Is Missing?
As I sat there enjoying my beer and talking with a few locals, I felt a bit let down by the overall experience. During the walk back to my hotel, I thought about my evening and other evenings I’ve had in the past few years and I think I’ve pinpointed what has changed.
As breweries get larger, it is extremely difficult to maintain community. And in the end, craft beer is about community more than anything else. Small taprooms are able to create unique experiences where people come together. Large taprooms lack this and make you feel less important to the experience of the others there.
I notice many customers walk up to the bar and aren’t familiar enough to know what to order but the breweries are so busy that there’s no interaction or education. The result is they order the “lightest” beer or whatever the beertender suggests.
This isn’t the craft beer world I remember. For breweries that have grown, have they lost the ability to create experiences that help strangers become neighbors while absorbing craft beer knowledge?
Locally, I’ve felt this way about MadTree. Their original location was a place where friends and strangers had conversations over a beer. In the much larger new location, it is harder to find this.
And I’m not faulting these breweries for growing. They grew because we love their beer and they wanted to share it with more people. I love MadTree and believe they have one of the best large taprooms in the area . . . . possibly the country).
But for me, I still love small taprooms that allow every guest to feel like they are part of the experience. Locally, Brink comes to mind as a place where the small taproom brings people together.
It does make me think about the small breweries/taprooms that I love and wonder if they’ll change if/when they expand.
Can Craft Beer Recapture Their Soul?
My thoughts on this topic probably aren’t popular. These growing breweries are reaching more consumers than ever before which is great for the industry. But is there a way to grow and still retain the same feeling and experience?
I’m not a fan of pointing out an issue without suggesting a solution but in this case, I am struggling.
Maybe breweries should open small secondary locations instead of expanding into a single larger location.
Or maybe the layout can be structured to still create spaces that encourage community.
Maybe they just need more beertenders so they can spend more time educating customers about beer styles and making them feel like they are part of the experience.
These changes are probably just a bi-product of a growing industry. There is a maturity that is happening in the craft beer world and that is exciting. We are also seeing breweries continue to reach young adults as many large taprooms are full of those just starting to learn about beer.
These are really good signs for long term sustainability of the industry but I am still a bit sad when I leave a taproom and feel a bit empty. But as the title suggested, my thoughts may be tied to “getting old” or at least getting closer to middle aged. Maybe breweries haven’t changed at all instead I’ve changed.
