Craft Beer Is the Strangest, Happiest Economic Story in America

Agree, and in particular this stood out to me:

> If the U.S. had long ago allowed a couple of corporations to take over both the distribution and retailing of wine before the Napa Valley renaissance, Lynn told The Atlantic in an interview, Americans would be exclusively sipping three varieties of Gallo table wine. “The reason that didn't happen 50 years ago is because you had this system that was designed to promote deconcentration, to incentivize [retailers] to go out and find the new, the different, the alternatives,” he said. “It was effective in achieving that aim.”

This seems completely crazy to me. We’ve also seen an explosion in coffee variety availability, without any kind of convoluted legally-mandated distribution system. American tastes in drinks and food are splintering and opening new market niches; as long as it’s legal to fill those niches, someone will.

I love this, but I'm curious as to how much it can grow. The neighboring town to me has 5 craft breweries on its main street. All of them are within a 1 mile of each other. It's even crazier since there are also 3 winery storefronts/bars and a craft distillery in that same radius.

The other thing I've found is that it has inspired people, including myself, to try their own hand at brewing. I just bottled my first batch and while I have no delusions that I'll start my own brewery, it's a fun activity to try one's hand at.

There still is a 3 tier system...

And the rules didn't just change... people that wanted to make changes had to lobby for years to make it happen... and then it took the right years to make it happen.

I've been a part of this activism in New York State for wine, cideries, and to some extent homebrewing my entire life and belong to a number of organizations to help make it happen.

There's also never a coincidence on timing and the economy. Governments love an excise tax and "sin" products are heavily taxed and a lot stays at the state level to where when the economy is in the dumps... they are much more willing to listen to lobbyists on ways to boost income for the state.

It works every time. In the wake of the "Great Recession," we were able to pass the most amount of pro-winery laws in a generation in New York State, unfortunately, we still came up short for our biggest initiative: WIGS aka Wine in Grocery Stores do to illegal campaign financing from overseas and domestic liquor groups. Albany is still a very dirty space. But prior to the recession, it would cost you $20K to get a license to start a distillery... we got that down to about $600. Wineries can now have 5 outlets or mini-wineries to sell their wine. The list goes on and on and it's had a real impact on jobs in Upstate New York.

You'll notice the big rule change for homebrewing happened in 1978... you had the oil crisis... Carter... inflation... and a Congress that was willing to literally let people start making beer in a super unregulated fashion to eventually boost income for the government... and of course create jobs and all that jazz along the way.

When the economy tanks again, I expect there will be marijuana legalization at the federal level.

reading this makes me realize that the business school mantra of 'create barriers to entry' is ultimately limiting for both the industry and its dominant players

What I dont understand is that in Europe there are dozens of delicious lagers, in the US I can't find any local copies. Mexican or Central American beers come closest. Surely with literally hundreds of microbrewery options there should be something close. Any recommendations?