I have long extolled the communication between brewery and drinker that results, step by step, new beer release by new beer release, in something unique to place. That process has given us the lagers of bavaria and the lambics of Brussels. Breweries have to be responsive to the tastes of their consumers, too; otherwise the whole process stops in its tracks.

There is a similar but far less laudable practice: chasing trends. This is not merely when a brewery tries a new style, ingredient, or technique that seems to be gaining traction, but rather when they identify a particularly popular product and recreate it as close to identically as possible. This is not communicating with customers, it's opportunism. It's a phenomenon that seems to strike at those moments when breweries are starting to have excess capacity and the excess anxiety that comes along with it. In the 1990s, I remember when wheat beers became a thing, followed soon by fruited wheat beers. Fads came and went as breweries went looking for something that would sell long enough to keep the brewhouse rolling for another season.

This is recurring now in the form of grapefruit IPAs, golden ales, and New England (cloudy) IPAs. Recently, Patrick and I were doing a podcast on whether or not craft beer is doomed (give it a listen!)--a riff on a doomy op-ed of the same title by Boston Beer's Jim Koch--and we decided to taste some of the recent offerings of the larger craft breweries that have been in the news for their listing sales. Surprise!--they all contained citrus. As we were tasting Sidecar Orange Pale by Sierra Nevada, something crystalized in my brain. I get why breweries built on selling large amounts of beer have to continue selling large amounts of beer. And I therefore get why the allure of a hot, trendy beer style that can help keep capacity up for that next season or two draws them to chasing trends.