Last weekend, I went on a bike ride with some friends through the city visiting 4 local craft beer breweries. The number of people at each and the energy around this craft beer movement struck me. A couple of the breweries had very nice tasting rooms and another was like having a beer in your neighbor’s garage. The beers were unique such as “ Lime Lavender Pilsner”, “Shut Out Stout” and “Spruce Top Pilsner.” I visited only four but biked past several others, all seemingly very crowded.

The staff at the breweries spoke passionately of the brewer and the creativity of their craft. One of the brewers was experimenting with infusing a variety of flavors.

On a recent visit to Cincinnati I was impressed by how shelves at the local markets were now not totally full of the national mega brews but now contained many of the local craft beers there. There are tasting rooms scattered throughout the city in many neighborhoods just like in Vancouver.

The atmosphere at all of the small neighborhood breweries was extremely welcoming, and felt like a local gathering spot. So if we don’t need to depend on national mega brewer who makes assembly line beer but can count on neighbors ….

What other areas might this ferment into?