I continue to marvel at the growth of craft beer. I’m a firm believer that when folks, no matter their background, find good beer they’ll know what to do with it. They typically embrace it. Sure good beer costs a bit more than the run of the mill stuff, but even the uninitiated can usually taste the value.

Even though I know this to be true, I still find it amazing how craft beer continues to worm its way into the mainstream.

Here’s a good example. I was at the mechanic’s this weekend in West Milford, New Jersey to get my wife’s geriatric minivan tended to. After picking up the van, I realized I had a hankering for a good barrel-aged stout. Problem was West Milford is kind of remote, and last time I checked, the liquor stores there carried just the basics. Newcastle was exotic.

But it had been a year or two and I was there, so I decided to pop into the Valley View Pub, which always had the best selection in town.

When I walked in the door, I was immediately disappointed, because where they used to have a few short aisles full of mostly domestic beer, they now had open floor space. I scanned the far wall only to find a pretty average selection of booze and some mixers. The middle of the store wasn’t any better, with the shelves holding a minimal selection of wine. It appeared the place had regressed since last visit.

I made my way to the cooler in hopes of scoring some Dogfish Head or maybe something from the Brooklyn Brewery, and there I found the mother lode. 80% of the wall to wall cooler space was packed with a really great selection of craft beers from Founders, Terrapin, Oskar Blues and more.

And right in the middle of all this wonderful beer was the crowned jewel – a four pack of Founders KBS! I was in the mood for a good barrel-aged stout and here was a doozy. The four pack was $22.99, but I decided to go for it, reasoning $5.75 was a fair price to pay per bottle for KBS. I also grabbed a four pack of Founder’s Breakfast Stout to help stretch my goodies out a bit.

I think seeing a small town beer store go all in on craft beer like this is sign of things to come. As more and more people like us spread the word about good beer (and “beer it forward” by sharing), I think this trend will continue. Eventually “craft beer” will just be “beer” like a lot of the good stuff was before Prohibition screwed everything up.

In the meantime, it might pay to double back and see what’s happening at a couple of the beer stores you gave up on years ago. You never know what hidden gems you may find.

These are the Golden Days of craft beer – enjoy them!