"Bland American beer" may be "here to stay," but not just because of American flavor preferences

On the positive side, this isn't another article complaining that craft beers are getting "too hoppy" or "too pastry." And it gives a nice overview of America's brewing history, albeit giving short shrift to the fact that we do now have our own styles and burgeoning tradition around beers like those darned hoppy IPAs and heavily adjuncted stouts.

And yet, craft is growing. And while some of this craft may be "bland," most of it isn't. Craft is unlikely to ever dominate the beer market for simple economic reasons -- a 30 pack of Busch will always be cheaper than a 12 pack of a good IPA. As wealth disparity continues to grow, it's simply priced too high for a lot of beer drinkers to purchase on the reg. And that's okay.

What's interesting to me is that as an economic historian, Ranjit Dighe completely ignores pricing as an obstacle to continued craft growth and instead claims it's simply a matter of (people not wanting much) taste. I reject this reality and substitute my own.

Floyds gets the go-ahead

While there was some speculation that this was just some pie-in-the-sky nonsense and that they might actually do something not normal like move into the 606, Three Floyds has received approval for its planned expansion. Congrats, big strokers!

Beer snobbery

Ha! This is great!