Too many breweries in the U.S.?

A controversial blog post by World Class Beverages yesterday sparked quite a bit of discussion. Per the article:

“Are there too many brewers in the US? Are there too many beers? It sounds a little bit like crazy talk, but there are a fair number of brewers who seem to feel that this may be the case.”

Really interesting given that we were just celebrating how well craft beer has done in 2009 and now the question is asked . . . is the industry doing too well? Greg Koch from Stone Brewing chimed in as both a brewery owner and a distributor. Lots of talk about this over at RateBeer as well. Finally, some great insight from Erik at Top Fermented.

By the way, cheers to World Class for diving headfirst into our little web community. It’s great to get their perspective considering many of us aren’t in the industry. I wish that more distributors would start blogs even if it is to just identify and/or update what brands they carry.

Pennsylvania Beer Raids

Joe Sixpack wrote yesterday about the disclaimer on the PLCB beer brand registry more or less proclaiming not to use the list. It is funny how burdensome the PLCB has made it for the industry to follow its rules though no one has made it burdensome for them to enforce them (until now, I suppose). Wouldn’t it just be grand if retailers, brewers and distributors rang their phones off the hook next week because the registry disclaimer clearly implies that people shouldn’t go by the list? Spin it right back in their direction . . .

More state representatives are speaking out against the raids and a hearing could be scheduled on April 13th. Is there a live web feed for these things for the rest of us?

Jack Curtin is reporting that he’s hearing that there are rumors that the PLCB is trying to smooth things over “behind the scenes.”

Lew Bryson’s Abolish the PLCB Facebook group is now 3,000 strong.

Craft Beer in Japan

CNN just ran a story on a craft beer bar in Tokyo, Japan, and the main picture shows Three Floyds, Southern Tier, Great Divide, Stone Brewing, Green Flash Brewing and Coronado Brewing on tap.

On one hand, it’s an incredible display of how far craft beer has come but on the other hand, how does it make those who can’t get these beers right in the States?