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GOURMET NEWS JUNE 2014 www.gourmetnews.com GENERAL NEWS 8 Craft Beer Continued from PAGE 1 that is itself not a craft brewer. And it must be traditional, with a focus on producing beers whose flavor derives from tradi- tional or innovative brewing ingredients and their fermentation. Not everyone agrees with this strict def- inition of craft brewers, however. Rob Fullmer, Director of the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild, takes a more philosophical approach to identifying what makes a brewer "craft." "What defines craft to me it is about having connections beyond what's in the glass," he said. "Having a connection to a location or having a conversation with a local brewer can kind of really make the experience richer and much more full." The specific local focus that Fullmer de- scribes has become synonymous with craft beer. Today, beer lovers turn to craft beer as a way to get in touch with their specific re- gion or locale, while at the same time trav- eling to breweries around the country as a way of learning about less familiar territory. "People want to get hands on and in- volved in things. People want to do some- thing where they understand the progress," said Fullmer. "With a lot of these smaller brewers, you can see the entire process in ac- tion. It brings satisfaction. People are going back to their neighborhoods… They are reattaching to their own locality and seeing the growth, seeing new breweries pop up." "Today you can go to the craft brewery and point to and say you met the brewer. It is important for consumers to know who they support," added Herz. "Some of these locally produced products that have a local footprint are becoming part of the local success story in the U.S." Despite the specifically local character of craft breweries popping up across the coun- try, Fullmer points out that there is a para- dox at work within the American craft beer landscape, as it is actually globalization that has been in part responsible for the explo- sion of craft beer labels and varietals on re- tail shelves. This is because, as the Internet has given rise to an informed beer consum- ing populace and as global shipping has made it possible to obtain beer making in- gredients from anywhere on earth, brewers have been able to surprise and delight their local communities with exotic new tastes and techniques. "In terms of the style, styles originated because of access to local ingredients and conditions," said Fullmer. "Today, a brew- ery here in Arizona can create any style, and it isn't tied to those conditions. We can even create beers that were created at dif- ferent points in history. Right now, a person has access to basically any ingredient avail- able [anywhere in the world]." This global influence on regional craft beers can be seen in the flavors and vari- etals that are most popular among the beer loving public today. According to Herz, the number one most popular craft beer vari- etal is currently India Pale Ale, an intensely hoppy ale that first arrived in this country by way of England. Similarly, Fullmer points to a number of German varietals, in- cluding Berliner Weisse, Kölsch and Pilsner as those he sees as currently trending in popularity among beer drinkers in his state of Arizona. Still, although IPAs and German varietals might be the most popular among today's beer drinkers, there is no guarantee that what is currently in demand among con- sumers will still be popular a year from now. The American craft beer industry is especially dynamic, with consumers always looking to try something new. Herz predicts that sour beers will be the next big thing to capture the attention of American craft brewers and their clientele, including American sour beers, German style sour ales and Belgian Gueuzes. Fullmer, on the other hand, expects brew- ers to gradually move away from intensely flavored IPAs and move toward more subtly flavored, lower alcohol varietals like Amer- ican cream ales. The biggest upcoming craft beer trend may be unrelated to what is in the bottle at all, however, and more tied to where and how that bottle is served. "Associating beer and food together is something that I see as the future—things getting smaller and things getting back to the table," said Fullmer. Both Fullmer and Herz argue that, in the vein of wine and food pairings, beer and food pairings are the wave of the fu- ture. According to Herz, brewers are even packaging their product differently, bottling craft brews in 750 milliliter bottles that can be more easily shared at the dinner table. "What continues to march on and gain steam is … packaging craft beer in 750 mil- liliter bottles," said Herz. "You can share the bottle at dinner just as you would wine. That's something that craft brewers are starting to invest in. You're definitely going to continue to see that dinner table bottle of beer." As craft beer continues to capture an in- creasingly large piece of the beer drinking consumer dollar, retailers are taking notice, offering their customers a larger selection of in demand local and national craft brews. However, both Fullmer and Herz argue that the potential benefit to retailers in offering a carefully curated, well-mer- chandised craft beer selection goes beyond simply increasing beer sales. "For retailers, in the same way that they expanded their cheese, coffee and bread se- lections, diversity is good. And a wide array of regionally produced beers helps establish a retailer as a shopping destination," said Herz. "Businesswise, it helps increased the bottom line, but it also helps create an identity for that retailer." "I think in terms of adding a human con- nection to something, if you're a bigger box store, people want to have a connection. They want to identify with where they live," echoed Fullmer. For a retailer, paying attention to the store's local craft brew scene, being able to confidently connect with beer drinking clientele and perhaps offering customers something they have not seen before are ideal ways to build connections and estab- lish the store as a go-to local spot for those looking to learn about, try and purchase the best in craft beer. GN

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