At the dawn of any year, it's all too tempting to spend one's time looking back at the twelve months just passed. It's also a bit of a writer's cop-out, to be honest, although it's one which, I hasten to add, I have happily taken on more than one occasion, like here and here.
So, for 2006, I thought that I'd instead try casting my gaze forward rather than back, and in so doing have come up with the following perilous predictions. Check back with me in twelve more months and we'll see how I did.
1) Although hops, hops and more hops will continue to be the dominant theme in American craft brewing, I suspect that by September or so, a mild case of "repetitive bitterness disorder" will set in, bringing with it a new appreciation for less "extreme" styles of beer, like British-style best bitter, suitably hopped with Challenger, Fuggles and/or Goldings hops, and Bavarian helles and weisse.
2) In British brewing, on the other hand, I expect that more and more brewers will discover how much fun it is to play with American hops like Cascade and Centennial, much to the dismay of CAMRA traditionalists across the land.
3) Wood-aged beers will continue to grow in popularity, and not just in the U.S. Expect Canadian, British, Belgian and Scandinavian brewers to also hop on the bourbon (and rum and Burgundy and sherry) barrel bandwagon.
4) Watch for the Big Three American brewers to become increasingly involved in the specialty beer marketplace in different ways, or, in the case of Anheuser-Busch, in pretty much every way imaginable.
5) Long-simmering animosities between Beer Advocates and ratebeerians will explode into open gang warfare. (Just kidding . . . maybe.)
6) Specialty beer styles will continue their inexorable march to the dining table, undaunted by disbelieving wine snobs or major beer companies insisting that continental-style pilsner is a good match for cheesecake. (As if!)
7) The success of the fledgling Bruxellensis beer festival in Belgium, at which only "characterful" and rigidly vetted beers were poured, will over time spawn similar craft-focused beer events not just in Belgium, but around the U.S. and U.K., as well.
8) The next craft-brewed beer market to explode on to the world stage: Italy.
9) With the appearance of pulque, a beverage made by fermenting the maguey plant, now officially recorded at select chic American restaurants, look for all sorts of fringe fermentables to begin marking out a (highly) niche market.
10) And finally, the style I expect to see the most impressive gains in appreciation and acceptance in 2006 is . . . Bohemian pilsner!
All the best to brewers, brewery workers, restaurant and bar staff and beer aficionados the world over in 2006!
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