{"id":8408,"date":"2013-08-09T09:07:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-09T16:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=8408"},"modified":"2013-08-12T09:39:34","modified_gmt":"2013-08-12T16:39:34","slug":"will-the-bubble-burst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2013\/08\/09\/will-the-bubble-burst\/","title":{"rendered":"Will The Bubble Burst?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many tasting rooms are standing-room only these days. Bottle shops can\u2019t keep beer on shelves. Breweries are brewing practically non-stop.<\/p>\n

Yep, the craft beer craze just keeps getting crazier, especially right here in San Diego County, where there are now 72 brew houses in operation<\/a>. Only two years ago, the number was less than half that. And with many more in the planning stages, San Diego could top the century mark by next year.\u00a0The numbers are impressive and so is the beer. But the meteoric rise of craft beer has some people contemplating gravitational pull, meaning what goes up, must come down.<\/p>\n

So is the craft beer boom heading toward a bust?<\/p>\n

\"gregsean\"<\/a>
Left to right: Sean DeWitt (Brewmaster, Coronado Brewing Co.) & Greg Koch (CEO, Stone Brewing Co.) during SDBW 2012’s Beer Garden @ The Lodge at Torrey Pines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leave it to Greg Koch, San Diego\u2019s voluminous craft beer crusader, to put all this talk in context.\u00a0\u201cHow many mass extinctions have we had in the history of our planet? I think five,\u201d said the CEO and co-founder of Stone Brewing Co.\u00a0 \u201cI think you can say that human existence isn\u2019t permanent, let alone the rise of the current growth rate of craft beer. Yes, there\u2019s a threshold, it\u2019s between .01 percent and 99.999 percent. We know it\u2019s somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

But where? And when?<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is scrambling for volume right now \u2013 adding equipment and tanks at a breakneck pace with no eye for a possible snarl ahead,\u201d Koch continued. \u201cAnd I\u2019m not saying there is a snarl ahead. I am not predicting the future. But I do think there is going to be a bump in the road because there always is a bump in the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever obstacles the industry may face eventually, many brewers and fans believe this time it will be much different than the rise and fall of craft in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

\"Donna<\/a>
Donna & Charles Leask at SD History Center’s Bottle & Kegged premiere<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Charles Leask, a longtime craft beer enthusiast and tasting room regular in San Diego, said today\u2019s beer consumers are more evolved than they were 15-20 years ago. And so are the brewers.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsumers are a lot more educated about beer,\u201d said the Oceanside resident. \u201cAnd if they\u2019re not, at least they are willing to try and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the brewers, Leask sees a lot of camaraderie that he didn\u2019t see before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people here who are genuinely concerned and make a major effort to help other people in the business,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone is helpful to each other instead of being competitors. Sure, there will be fallout, but I don\u2019t think the bubble is going to burst again. If the beer is good and the tasting rooms treat people well, people will come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of taste, that is much different nowadays too. And that commitment to quality is playing a huge role in the growing popularity of craft beer. While the law of averages dictates that not every brewery is going to produce award-winning beer, Koch argues that the percentage of mediocrity today is lower than it was in years past.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Low quality) drove the saturation point in a negative direction to a point of a crash,\u201d he said. \u201cToday, we\u2019re willing to go somewhere and try something we don\u2019t know and get surprised if the beer sucks. Our expectation is that it will be at least not bad and maybe even awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"1016515_520927831290495_760783235_n\"<\/a>
Paul Sangster, top right, speaks to beer drinkers at a Rip Current Brewing event in June<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Paul Sangster, co-owner of Rip Current Brewing in San Marcos, is in his first year of operation and said he\u2019s not concerned with volume at this point. For Rip Current, quality comes first.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we were to make only 500 barrels, but that beer was really good, I\u2019d be happy with that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Todd Davis, a commercial real estate agent who specializes in San Diego\u2019s craft beer market, agrees that quality will go a long way in sustaining the popularity of craft.<\/p>\n

\"Todd<\/a>
Todd Davis (photo courtesy of Cassidy Turley)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAs long as breweries continue to make better beer, I don\u2019t think saturation is going to be as big a problem as some people make it out to be,\u201d said the Cardiff resident. \u201cIt\u2019s great knowing you don\u2019t have to drive a half-hour to find a good brewery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Sangster: \u201cLook back at the days before Prohibition. It seemed every neighborhood had its own local brewery. I don\u2019t think breweries, even in San Diego, have reached that number yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

So maybe all this talk about boom or bust isn\u2019t necessary right now. Maybe the fans, the ultimate beneficiaries, just sit back and enjoy the ride for however long it lasts. If you ask Koch, he says absolutely not.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want it to last longer, then being passive isn\u2019t what you want to do,\u201d he said. \u201cHelp in the navigation. Actively pay attention, lobby and support with intent, knowledge and education. And a lot of people are doing that. The consumer doesn\u2019t have to take on that responsibility, but if they do, the industry will be better off because the industry will always be consumer-driven.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many tasting rooms are standing-room only these days. Bottle shops can\u2019t keep beer on shelves. Breweries are brewing practically non-stop. Yep, the craft beer craze just keeps getting crazier, especially right here in San Diego County, where there are now 72 brew houses in operation. Only two years ago, the number was less than half […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1128,1126,114,308,647,131,111,1127],"class_list":{"0":"post-8408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","7":"tag-cassidy-turley","8":"tag-charles-leask","9":"tag-greg-koch","10":"tag-paul-sangster","11":"tag-rip-current-brewing-company","12":"tag-san-marcos","13":"tag-stone-brewing-co","14":"tag-todd-davis","15":"entry","16":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-2bC","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}