The current beer scene looks like a roller coaster of flavors and styles that, in some cases, reminds more of an experiments laboratory than to an artisanal tradition. From beers so murky that they look like a puddle of wastewater to combinations of flavors that challenge all logic, the world of craft beer has become a battlefield of overflowing creativity.
Enthusiasm without brake and the danger of losing the essence
These days, it seems that launching a new beer every week is the standard, not the exception. The owner of a small brewery, fed up with that dizzying race, confessed in a social network: ‘Strange when we could concentrate on making a really good beer, without so many hurries or forced to constantly innovate.’ This feeling reflects a trend that, although driven by enthusiasm, can take its toll on the quality and identity of beers.
From pioneers to news producers: at what cost?
A few years ago, some brewers in the United States decided to recover the original spirit of beer, rejecting the dominance of large corporations and focusing on recipes with soul and character. Thanks to these independent voices, today we can enjoy an immense fan of styles and experiments. But that same appreciation for innovation has led to a maelstrom of releases that almost looks improvised competitions to see who creates the most different beer, however strange it is.
The lost art of improvement
Traditionally, making good beer involved months of meticulous tests and adjustments. Each lot was an opportunity to improve the recipe, raising a detail, refining aromas, modulating the texture. Patience and commitment to quality were the cornerstones of the trade. However, today, many breweries seem to skip that process, choosing to launch ‘open’ products in search of quickly conquering a audience thirsty for novelties.
The clock against artisanal creation
Time, that very scarce and valuable resource has become the number one enemy of beer crafts. Traditional practices such as experimenting in small lots before mass production have almost disappeared. Today, many breweries choose to launch multiple versions of the same style, with slight variations only to keep the thread of innovation alive, although many times those variations end up being more clones than true advances.
Who is the fault? The context of a quick change industry
To point out who pushes the beer industry towards this constant launch fever is not a simple task. Are the companies, marketing experts and social networks themselves, that generate limited campaigns and launches to create desire and expectation? Or are consumption apps as a kind of dragon that encourages the search for the only one, rewarding the constant novelty? Perhaps the bars bars also influence, which encourage customers to always try something new, feeding that maelstrom. The reality is that all these actors contribute to that ‘endless wheel’, where quality and patience seem to be in the background.
Where do we go, in the midst of such a hurry?
At the end of the day, perhaps the key is to find a balance. The beer, the one that accompanies us at good times, should be enjoyed without such a hurry, with time to savor its aromas and nuances. Perhaps, instead of pursuing the latest innovation, we should return to what really matters: the authentic enjoyment of a good beer, made with the heart and patience that its art requires. Is it possible to stop for a moment in this race and simply rediscover the pleasure of the simple and well elaborate?
