Lotte Peplow, Brewers Association American Craft Beer Ambassador for Europe, unearths the latest trends in the American craft beer world
The USA is widely credited with pioneering the American craft beer movement we see today and is perceived to be among the top brewing nations in the world. There are now 9,200+ breweries in the States, renowned for their innovation, creativity, brewing precision and high quality, full-flavoured beers.
As trend and style setters in the craft beer world, what starts over there often comes over here so below is a snapshop of what’s trending in American craft beer following a visit to the Great American Beer Festival held annually in Denver, Colorado and organised by the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade association for small and independent American craft brewers.
IPA
IPAs in their many iterations continue to dominate the American craft brewing scene with approximately one third of all sales. Well-made, high quality, classic IPAs featuring punchy, flavoursome American hops were highly prevalent as both brewers and drinkers alike sought a return to traditional flavours and styles. The latest trend is for Cold IPA, a heavily dry-hopped ale/lager hybrid made using bottom fermenting yeast at warmer temperatures to give a clean, crispness with hop intensity and supreme drinkability. Within the IPA category, Imperial IPAs are driving much of today’s growth and hazy/juicy IPAs were also popular but slightly less so than 2019 levels.
Lagers and Lighter Styles
Lighter and more approachable styles were much in evidence with a return to less palate-challenging and more easy-drinking beers. Lagers including Helles, Pilsner, Oktoberfest, Festbier, Marzen, Bocks and much more all featured heavily.
Low and No
Alcohol-free beers account for a small but rapidly growing sector of the American craft beer with .5% of the total market. This may seem small but compared to other sub-sectors of craft beer it’s a big chunk. There were more examples of low and no alcohol beers than ever before with brewers showing high levels of ingenuity and imagination, eg. Athletic Brewing Co’s medal winning Lemon Radler.
Wood & Barrel-Aged Strong Beers
Pastry stouts were less of a thing this year but intense, high ABV, rare beers were much sought after eg. Firestone Walker Parabola, imperial stout aged in Bourbon barrels for a year and The Bruery’s Ivoire, Bourbon barrel-aged ale.
The UK is the largest export market in Europe and second biggest individual export market accounting for 8.4% of all exports. American craft beer is available from select national wholesalers or direct at Athletic Brewing or the Cascade Club