5 Beer Trends That Look Like They’re Sticking Around For 2015

Home brewing

Over the past few years, home brewing has become quite popular. Beer drinkers know what they like in a beer, and are making it happen in 6.5 gallon buckets in houses and apartments everywhere. Beginner brewing “kits” have been an extremely fashionable gift to give recently, and that beer trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. The year 2015 will be another big one for DIY beer.

Nanobreweries

Kind of an extension of home brewing, the “nanobrewery” is on fire. Nanobreweries allow individual brewers to make (and sometimes sell) their beer in small batches. These breweries (sometimes called “bucket breweries”) focus on quality over quantity, brewing small batches to share with friends, neighbors, and maybe a few other brewing-aficionados who like to try interesting creations. O.H.S.O is a Phoenix-area nanobrewery (and eatery) where this process of “your recipe, our equipment and assistance” of beer-brewing is happening. And happening quite successfully. (ohsobrewery.com). All signs point to this continuing in 2015.

Cans

Beer in cans was out-of-style for years. Decades, even. Unless you were floating in a lake, beer in a bottle was the norm. However, all things old become new again. Enter canned beer. Convenient, easy to transport, and offering that “retro feeling,” cans are back. Popular Scottsdale brewery, Papago just released their most popular beer in cans. Papago Orange Blossom (a light wheat ale) can be enjoyed on tap and now, from cans. Watch for more beers nationwide to join this club in 2015.

Naming

Beer names have been are getting weirder and weirder. But with that, they are more enjoyable – they’re wittier, funnier, and it’s obvious that some thought and creativity (and probably some laughs) went into creating them. It only makes sense that with the recent explosion of craft and nanobreweries (see above), brewers are finding it more of a struggle to come up with a name for their ales and lagers that hasn’t already been used. With names like Peter Cotton Ale, Audrey Hopburn, even Old Leghumper already being taken, you can see where it’s only going to get more difficult to think of something new. Good luck, brewers of 2015.

IPAs

And not just IPAs, but the increasingly popular sub-category of IPA –the session IPA. These beers have all the hoppy goodness of a typical IPA, but at a more “sessionable” ABV level. (So, a lower alcohol level.) 2014 saw many breweries trying these out, some producing them as a “seasonal selection,” but it seems like 2015 will see more session IPAs entering permanent rotations. (e.g New Belgium Brewing’s Slow Ride).

And there are a few beer trends that already were gaining good traction and now look like they are here to stay, at least for the next year or so. So, sit back, grab a can of oddly-named session IPA from your local nanobrewery or go make your own. Enjoy 2015!