State of the Brew-nion: what's up with beer?

Introduction
This is a contradictory moment in the history of beer. It's hard to decide whether we are observing the death of beer or a triumphant revival. How can this be? Read on.


The Two Cases

1. Resurrection: Rejoice, for beer is back from the dead
Prohibition effectively bankrupted and wiped out most of the microbrewery traditon in the country. Once it was repealed, a select few companies who were financially prepared for the event quickly stepped up. The result was a dearth of variety; to the average person, the only readily availible beer consisted of a scant few, similar-tasting beers.

Fortunately, people grew weary of the lack of selection, and, over the last few decades, microbreweries began springing up across the country. These brewed a variety of different tastes, and their market share increased so dramatically. In many cases, "microbrews" became a misnomer, and the term "craft beer" was invented to describe these successes (Sam Adams is the best example). So, as you can easily see, beer has been saved, proliferating in many tastes and styles throughout the land.


2. Sunset: The end of beer as we know it
On the other hand, the taste that has defined beer for centuries is under seige in America. A beer's strong flavor is given to it by the hops flower, which were probably added to brewing for their antibiotic effect. Most people find the hops flavor to be very bitter at first, but after drinking it for some time grow very fond of it. Beer, and ales in particular, were defined by this strong flavor for years.

However, in the aforementioned Prohibition aftermath, the breweries that survived almost all manufactured very light lagers, with little to no trace of hops (Budweiser, Miller, Coors). Furthermore, as time went on, these companies continued to use less and less hops flavoring. Because people often do not like the bitter taste of hops at first, these companies elected to take away the hops to create a product that could appeal to more people, be produced at less cost, and be consumed in larger quantities.

Though the microbrewery revolution helped a little, it also has exacerbated the problem in a way. Included among the variety of microbrewery beers are many terrific wheat beers, trappist ales, and other exotic flavors that use little or no hops in the brewing process. Unfortunately, the availability of these excellent beers means that is easy to avoid developing a taste for hops even if you are drinking really good beer.

The affinity for the hoppy flavor of traditional ales seems to have lasted over the centuries because if you wanted to drink beer, you had to drink beer with a strong hops flavor. This meant that people were almost forced into developing that hoppy taste. Unfortunately, as it stands now it is easy to avoid that taste, as thus less and less people are discovering how great the hops flavoring can be once you get used to it. As a result, the flavor that has defined beer for a millenia may be on its last legs.


Conclusion
So should we administer the final rights, or celebrate the revolution? In the end, no matter what happens there still will be a alcoholic beverage derived from fermented grains that will be called "beer" for many years to come. Whether it will have the same qualities that have traditionally defined beer is not as certain. The real question is on of perspective. If you are a traditionalist sort of beer epicure, you should probably be worried. If you see beer's flavor as something that's fluid and evolving, then there's nothing to fear.



UPDATE 4/17
I have an update to this article, as more information has come to my attention while I was watching the evening news. While watching Larry King I learned that Coors has a special "flavor seal", which was revealed during a commercial. This gives us valuable insight into of the above discussion: apparently this is how Coors prevents any outside flavor from getting into its beverages. This is an important technological innovation in the quest to make beer into water. Will continue to update this story as more information becomes available...