Beers Gone Wild

Jan. 30, 2015 – Unless you’ve been living in Siberia, everyone knows the craft brewing industry is exploding in this country.  We reported just a few days ago there’s an average of 1.5 new breweries opening every day.  There’s lots of competition and more to come.

In order to keep their customers interested, many small breweries are experimenting with unusual flavors offered in limited quantities on normally slow evenings or at special weekend events, according to Erin Geiger Smith in The Wall Street Journal.  These limited edition beers might be flavored with cilantro, Vidalia onions, mint, guava, chocolate, coffee or coconut to name just a few.  Sometimes the flavors work; sometimes they don’t.  A quote from Steve Anderson, brewer at Red Brick Brewing Co. in Atlanta, GA indicates that the cilantro-flavored beer was not too successful and their experiment with a salted stout was “undrinkable”.

Red Brick also offered a beer called “Lingerie IPA” because the tropical melon flavor came from special hops from Australia called Vic Secret.  That’s clever and fun.  (Not to spoil the joke, but we’re betting the “Vic” refers to the state of Victoria, not an underwear line.)

Sometimes the limited editions work really well and end up as a part of the regular line.  It’s a good way to test market, create brand loyalty and hopefully make a few bucks at the same time.

Check you local breweries to see what’s going on.