Four huge trends to expect in 2017

Our crystal ball is broken but here are a few of the Beer World trends that we think may gain some steam in 2017. Beer Sommelier Maggie Cubbler shares her insight into the four key trends we expect to see this year

Juicy IPAs
Haters of the haze, you’re about to be converted. With intensely juicy flavours, a creamy mouthfeel and refined bitterness, this new wave of IPAs coming out of the States is so exciting you won’t care that it looks like it was dipped out of an old cellar bucket. Breweries like Huddersfield’s Magic Rock are taking note of this so-called East Coast IPA and it is now taking the rest of the world over by a big, delicious, juicy fruity storm. Your move, West Coast.

Honey
Breweries like Rogue and Founders are having success incorporating honey into beers like their Honey Kölsch and Honey Gose, respectively. As mead lovers know, honey adds a lot of flavour complexity and a bit more

Our crystal ball is broken but here are a few of the Beer World trends that we think may gain some steam in 2017. Beer Sommelier Maggie Cubbler shares her insight into the four key trends we expect to see this year

Juicy IPAs
Haters of the haze, you’re about to be converted. With intensely juicy flavours, a creamy mouthfeel and refined bitterness, this new wave of IPAs coming out of the States is so exciting you won’t care that it looks like it was dipped out of an old cellar bucket. Breweries like Huddersfield’s Magic Rock are taking note of this so-called East Coast IPA and it is now taking the rest of the world over by a big, delicious, juicy fruity storm. Your move, West Coast.

Honey
Breweries like Rogue and Founders are having success incorporating honey into beers like their Honey Kölsch and Honey Gose, respectively. As mead lovers know, honey adds a lot of flavour complexity and a bit more luxuriousness to the mouthfeel. Since honey takes on the character of whatever the bees may be foraging on these beers would be a great way to stir excitement for hyper-local ingredients. With about four gallons of honey required to make about 165 gallons of beer, this is just another reason to save the bees!

Lovely Lagers, Altbiers and Kölschs
With more and more people joining the ranks of beer-lovers there’s an ever-growing need for brewers to develop beers that will appeal to a wide range of taste preferences. Expect to see a lot more clean, crisp Pilsners and Helleses as well as lager-hybrids like Altbiers and Kölschs. London’s Mondo Brewing has impressed with their London Alt proving that simplicity and nuance can still mean great flavour. And that “craft beer” doesn’t mean you need to get a big, bitter punch to the face.  

Old Food
While we don’t anticipate seeing brewers bin-diving behind Tesco’s anytime soon, we have seen a new interest in using food that would otherwise go to waste. Leeds’ Northern Monk Brew Co. stunned, on the extreme end, by using overripe pears and stale croissants in their Wasted Pear Farmhouse Ale. While interesting, it was not an original idea. Indeed, the old Eastern European Kvass – which uses stale rye bread to create a sour, low ABV drink – is enjoying a bit of a renaissance thanks to breweries like Goose Island and Texas’ Jester King experimenting with this centuries-old recipe.