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If you’ve been reading us this week, you may have already checked out our fearless Craft Beer Predictions for 2016. And now if an effort to totally hedge our bets (and hopefully have a couple of our predictions come true) we thought we should maybe get a little more adventuresome with what we think might happen in the craft beer world, this year.
Hey, we get that all these predictions are long shots – but if any of them do happen…we’re going to look like f**king geniuses!
Consumers Will Finally Abandon The IPA – After years in the spotlight as America’s most beloved beer style, the American IPA will finally lose its sheen and be acknowledged as the cliché it has become. Sensing its fall from grace, craft beer fans will abandon the once popular IPA in droves for newly anointed and now fashionable styles like Hefeweizens and Brown Ales.
Russian River’s Pliny the Younger Release Meets with a Collective Yawn – In yet another sign of IPA burnout Russian River will release their once vaunted Imperial IPA and be met with massive consumer indifference. Panicked bar owners desperate to move the pricy brew will resort to tactics like “Pliny the Younger Wet T-shirt Contests in hopes of turning things around- but to no avail.
Stone Brewing Will Acquire A Disneyland Theme Park – Emboldened by the success of Stone Brewing Berlin, Greg Koch and his crew broaden their scope with the bold acquisition of the Anaheim-based Disneyland theme park. It remains unclear if Stone Brewing’s future plans will include moving the newly acquired park closer to Escondido and their World Bistro & Garden operations – but we wouldn’t be surprised. We also predict that Stone’s employee outings will be even more fun in 2016 and now include discounted Space Mountain tickets.
Stone BrewingWill Purchase Anheuser-Busch InBev – Having successfully built a craft beer empire punctuated by years of brewing award-winning beers, a new brewery in Berlin, and culminating in the unexpected purchase of a Disneyland – Stone Brewing will make its most audacious move. Partnering with undisclosed Silicon Valley money, Stone’s founders Greg Koch and Steve Wagner will once again defy expectations by acquiring AB InBev. This stealth, “counter-intuitive” play ensures Stone seamless global distribution, as well as access to the coveted “beer pong” consumer. The deal also throws in the entire network of Busch Garden theme park properties to complement their recent Disneyland acquisition.
The 2016 GABF Won’t Sell Out – After years of being one of the industry’s most anticipated and in-demand events, festival fatigue will set in – and ticket sales for the Great American Beer Festival will grind to a halt! In a desperate effort to generate some kind of interest the Brewers Association will stoop to Facebook page giveaways’ and Groupon programs in hopes of bailing this disastrous situation out.
