The new year is always a time to look at the past and contemplate what might lie ahead. Here’s what we see in 2018’s sudsy crystal ball:
Splitsville for IPAs
It’s not much of a prediction to say that IPAs will continue their trajectory as the most popular craft beer style. IPAs have been the darlings of the craft-beer scene for more than a decade in a world of ever-hoppier beers. Call it the hops race, a competition to put the most IBUs — international bitterness units — on the moon, but as brewers scramble to create their own hoppy takes based on or inspired by American-style IPAs, the style has split into nearly 20 distinct sub-styles, from fruit IPAs to the new IPA, wunderkind, the hazy, orange juice-like New England IPAs, which people either love or hate.
This year will bring an explosion of further category splitting, with plenty of experimental IPAs for adventurous hopheads.
Mainstream sours
Sour beers may have begun as niche brews, but they’re on track to go mainstream — or at least mainstream-ish — this year. Like IPAs, the sour category is dividing into different types that range from mildly sour to downright vinegary. There will always be beer lovers who find them too puckery, an increasing number of people appreciate the brews’ complexity and flavor range. Expect to see that diversity increase as more balanced, food-friendly sour beers come forward to woo people, who might never have thought they’d like a sour beer.
Fruit focus
Fruit beers were popular in the 1990s, when most were made by simply adding fruit to a base beer. But their market share faded away, doomed by the brews’ reputation for inauthenticity or frivolity. Now fruit beer is staging a comeback as brewers rediscover and reinvent the concept, using fruit in thoughtful ways that add to the beers’ complexity. Even more exciting: The variety of fruits used is increasing as brewmasters seek out local produce to make location-specific brews.
Can can-do
This year will see the mainstream acceptance of cans — and we’re not talking mainstream-ish. Where canned craft beer was once a tough sell, now it’s virtually a fait accompli. The last few years have brought an increasing number of breweries shipping their most popular beer in cans. Now we’re seeing many breweries step away from bottles altogether.
Sweet backlash
You’ll find dissenters with any trend, people who back away from whatever’s the most popular. That’s true with the hoppy brew trend, as well. We’re starting to see a sweeter-styles backlash to the crazy popularity of IPAs, with beer lovers asking for sweeter, more malt-forward beers as an antidote to the hoppy bitterness. As brewers look for something to set themselves apart in a world of IPAs, we can expect to see not just craft lagers — particularly pilsners — but other older, more traditional beer styles reemerge on taproom lists to co-exist with their hoppy cousins
Hoppy new year!
Contact Jay R. Brooks at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com.
