Beer Trends
People ask ‘Why don’t you carry Budweiser, Miller Lite, or Coors?’ Well, everyone else does – you know, differentiation… There is nothing wrong with mass produced beers, it’s just not what better beer bars are into. Authenticity is the operative word of the day.
Craft Beer
In comparison to the big brewers, the craft beer market is miniscule, with estimates at 6-7% of total beer sales. However, that percent has been rising dramatically with a huge growth of new microbreweries over the last 20 years. It is growing enough that the big breweries are buying craft beer shops and marketing them as their own. For example, Leinenkugel (owned by Miller), Goose Island (owned by Bud), Blue Moon (owned by Coors) are all marketed as craft brews but are owned and produced by the heavies. Nothing wrong with these beers, but they are arguably not authentic craft brews.
You can find a selection of great beers on draft all around the area. Currently, some drafts you may want to check out are:
- The Old Well has Back East Brewery Porter on draft.
- Millwrights Tavern has Dogfish Head Brewery 120 minute IPA on draft.
- Red Stone Pub is tapping Father Christmas Highland Ale from Olde Burnside Brewing Company this week.
Farmington River Brewing Mahogany Ale is now on draught at the Red Stone Pub and is pouring very well. This ESB (Extra Special Bitter) is light to medium bodied with deep caramel color and a clean white head. Its ESB characteristics are well balanced with the malt so that it is very pleasant to quaff.
