I can’t help but wonder if, years from now, some historian will credit Beer Advocate and Rate Beer with being major contributors to the success of the craft beer industry following the 90′s. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time hindsight has shown us how much we don’t understand in the present. Craft brewers are often praised in the media for creating aggressive, ambitious, esoteric brews that take beer to new levels. And they should be praised. Much of the beer being created today is defining what craft beer is and what it will be. And alot of it is flat out amazing.
But that amazing beer needs to be consumed. It needs to be consumed on a “mass” scale or else it risks becoming irrelevant. The term irrelevant seems harsh, i know. But commercial beer created for the masses that is never consumed is irrelevant. It doesn’t full fill it’s purpose or potential if it’s never consumed. It might be a great Double IPA. It might be amazing ale aged in a rare barrel. But if it never finds it’s way down the throat of a beer drinker, it’s pointless. More importantly, (and more realistically) if that beer doesn’t find it’s way into someones fridge, the people brewing, packaging, and selling that beer may be out of a job. In short, the craft beer industry only exists because of it’s consumers.
Those consumers thrive and grow on websites like Beeradvocate.com and Ratebeer.com. Communities have been created based on an underlying mission to seek out and promote the best beers in the world. People on these sites are enthusiastic about brewers who push the limits of what beer can be. They also applaud those who make solid, drinkable beer that falls into historical guidelines. They create buzz about new beers on the market that not even the well paid marketing teams for the macros could create. I could probably spend 10 paragraphs listing the ways in which websites like beeradvocate.com and ratebeer.com have helped the craft brewing industry, but who has time to do that.
Ultimately, time will tell. But if I had to write a book about the history of craft beer between the years of 2000-2008, Beeradvocate.com, Ratebeer.com, and the craft beer culture they have helped to create, would certainly take up a good portion of the pages. Without people to drink it, craft beer has very little meaning.
