A bounteous feast stocked with staple seasonal dishes unique to individual families’ traditions, few events offer the variety of a Thanksgiving dinner. But what if you were to arrive at that holiday affair to find a table stocked solely with turkey and stuffing, because “that’s all anybody wants to eat”? No potatoes, yams or cranberries, not a veggie, dinner roll or dessert in sight. Though admittedly hyperbolic, such a spread somewhat mirrors the current tap-lists at many of the country’s craft breweries.
While vast stylistic diversity has long been one of the primary draws of the American craft-brewing industry as well as a primary means of educating consumers and converting them to fans, in recent years many breweries have shifted their focus to mostly producing hop-forward beers such as IPAs and pale ales, and a variety of low-alcohol lagers, ranging from Pilsners to light and adjunct styles headed by Mexican (corn), Japanese (rice) and American (corn and/or rice) light lagers.
Hoppy beers represent the Turkey Day centerpiece that is that majestic, bronzed bird, with lagers filling things out in the analogistic role of stuffing, leaving ales of English, Irish, and Belgian origin, as well as assorted dark, sour, and barrel-aged beers, fighting for menu cameos.
The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Why the shift? Consumer demand. By and large brewers love crafting a wide array of beers, but over time, beer-drinkers have gravitated dramatically toward two key factors – hoppiness and drinkability.
Hoppiness – fruity, earthy, spicy flavors and aromatics imparted by hop-derived compounds – has long been an attractor, and the style most poignantly delivering those characteristics, the IPA (India pale ale), has been the top-selling type of beer in the U.S. for well over a decade.
Drinkability is on the other end of the spectrum, appealing to consumers looking for something mellow versus bold. Low-alcohol lagers provide that in spades. Such styles are described by enthusiasts as “crispy” for their dryness and “crushable” because they go down so easy, much like the ubiquitous, largely indistinguishable, macro-produced offerings of Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors.
Ironically, those are the very same products craft brewers spent so much time and resources differentiating themselves from, getting away from bland, cheaply made Americanized interpretations of worldly styles to produce and celebrate conscientiously conceived, authentic beer made with high-quality ingredients and heart.
Karl Strauss Brewing’s longtime brewmaster, Paul Segura, points to light lagers’ “sessionability” – a term describing low-alcohol beers, multiple servings of which can be responsibly consumed over a single drinking occasion or “session” – as a reason for popularity that’s wide-ranging enough to include adjunct lagers that were long considered sacrilegious in craft circles.
“I feel like it used to be taboo for a craft-beer company to make a light American lager. Adjuncts like corn and rice were seen as cheap ingredients and only used by macro-breweries,” says Segura. “I think in the past five years or so, the lines have blurred with what is craft and what isn’t. In fact, I think most consumers either don’t know or don’t care. With that, I think the stigma of a light lager is no longer there and craft has embraced that opportunity.”
Though unlikely, the resurgence of lighter lagers in the U.S. is real and has been going for years. The renaissance has been both game-changing and challenging for craft breweries. This is particularly true of smaller operations with less cellar space to accommodate lagers, which take much more time to ferment than ales. The added tank time subtracts from a brewery’s overall productivity.
On the other side of the coin, hoppy beers present their own challenges in that their chief ingredient – hops – are pricey. With most craft breweries “dry-hopping” their IPAs (adding hops to fermentation tanks to increase aroma and flavor sans bitterness), often multiple times, it’s never been more expensive to manufacture this style. And because most craft breweries are small, they can’t procure ingredients at discounted bulk rates afforded to today’s macro-beer conglomerates (AB InBev, Molson Coors, Constellation Brands), rendering them unable to compete with those giants from a price perspective at retail.
Nelson-hopped Pilsner. (Alejandro Tamayo / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
But for breweries that can hone their operations to make the time, math, and resultant beers work for them, there is much success to be had in today’s stylistically condensed craft-beer market. Few have been so skillful in not only making their consumer-driven business work, but substantially growing it, as Burgeon Beer Co. Established in 2016, the Carlsbad-based business now boasts a trio of satellite locations in Vista, Escondido, and downtown San Diego. While their tap lists include the occasional English, kettle-sour, or barrel-aged ale, typically three-fourths of their menu is made up of current fan-favorites.
“Over the years, our customers have shown us what styles they like,” says Matthew Zirpolo, Burgeon’s president, referring to hoppy beers and lagers. A big step in Burgeon’s advancement was adding lager-dedicated fermentation tanks to its cellar, enabling the company to expand its offerings in that arena.
But it’s not as simple as just having trendy styles on tap. Keeping patrons interested and returning to their taprooms requires Burgeon’s staff to offer variety within a finite stylistic scope. In addition to offering multiple types of hoppy beers (West Coast, hazy, “cold”, fresh-hop IPAs, and pale ales) and lagers (Czech, German, and New Zealand Pilsners, and a Mexican-style lager), Burgeon releases, at a minimum, two new beers every other week, including collaborations with other popular craft-brewing companies, keeping things fresh and interesting. That effective formula also provides the leeway to introduce less in-demand styles.
We enjoy having a diverse selection and brew some of the rare styles so that everyone has something they can enjoy. They do not sell as well, but we will always keep them around for the customers who prefer them.”
Matthew Zirpolo, Co-founder & President, Burgeon Beer Co.
With so many breweries dealing in the same wares, one might expect a rather boring landscape of similar or cookie-cutter beers, but thanks to craft brewers’ trademark creativity and individualistic spirit, that is not the case. Much as one grandma’s stuffing tastes different from that of another senior matriarch, no two IPAs are the same. With stuffing, seasoning is the key. In the beer world, hops serve as seasoning, with a plethora of available varietals offering their own unique mélange of sensory characteristics.
“All the variety, what the hop-growers are doing and the products they are releasing, are nothing short of amazing,” says Segura. “We don’t need to add non-traditional beer products like fruit or other adjuncts to get awesome flavors. It all comes from the hops and that’s great.”
Even with most local breweries producing “San Diego-style” IPAs, defined by crystal clarity and stripped-back malt bills providing just enough backbone to carry their pronounced hop essence, those beers are discernibly different in myriad ways, keeping the exploratory thrill of brewery touring and seeking out the next new thing alive for craft-beer fans.
“It’s expected that many breweries follow the trends of their drinkers and look to provide styles that build fanbases. As a result, breweries produce styles that end up competing against other breweries,” says Segura. “We still see a lot of breweries create distinct variety in their portfolios, and we focus on doing the same while still giving the current craft-drinker the styles they want and trying to invite new drinkers into the craft-beer scene.”
Though a rarity in the current industry, there are local breweries that ignore trends, some going so far as to brew beers that fly in the face of marketing data. One such operation is Deft Brewing, a 7-year-old Bay Park business that has amassed a hardy following despite marching to a beat cranked out by European percussionists.
Deft’s 16-tap menu is heavy on German, Belgian, U.K., and Irish beers, and typically includes four or five lighter offerings, four or five malt-focused beers, a couple of dark beers, a saison (“farmhouse ale” of Belgian and French origin), a European-inspired sour beer and a high-alcohol beer, plus a pair of hop-centric beers. Some of those Old-World beers are popular lagers, but it’s purely coincidental, and of the one or two IPAs or pale ales Deft might have on tap, even those are untraditional (“hazy-ish”) or trend-defying (English).
“Contrary to what most would expect in such a hop-loving county as San Diego, our approach seems to work out quite well with our clientele, the majority of which prefer the Old-World styles,” says Mo Nuspl, Deft’s owner. “This is what Deft has always been about, celebrating all those amazing beer styles. With all the European flags hanging above the bar since we first opened our doors, we’ve had the same Euro-centric approach since day one.”
Nuspl says that, even with hoppy beers available, his Kölsch-style blonde ale and light Helles-style lager are his best-selling beers on the sessionable side, while top higher-alcohol draft picks include Deft’s doppelsticke altbier (a strong German amber ale) and Belgian-style quadrupel (the darkest, strongest of Belgium’s monastic ales).
Nuspl attests that in business, as in life, it is best to strive to do what you know and love. When asked if any industry trends could inspire him to pivot his model to be more in line with consumer trends, his reply is swift and absolute.
“That is a hard ‘no’. We’ll leave the pivoting to dealing with economic, health, or regulatory issues such as what was necessary during the pandemic,” says Nuspl. “We have no interest in changing our European-inspired menu and model, and we know our customers appreciate that.”
A version of this article originally appeared in the Business section of the Sunday, December 1, 2024 edition of The San Diego Union-Tribune