Scriffer said:
Where I think you're really going to see a bubble pop - if there is one - is in the crazy fruited this, barrel-aged that, etc. I'm getting pretty fatigued on the whole idea of it all, and I find myself more often wanting a good simple beer over something with exotic flavors. Obviously that's a personal preference here, but I'd imagine I'm not alone.
The wild success of the Jester King's, Wicked Weeds, Weldwerks and other high quality mad-scientist type brewers has created a glut of crazy beers. Some are good, but a lot of times, you can't even tell if it's a good base beer or not because it's got so much other stuff.
I don't even look at JK, WW or WW as putting out 'crazy beers'. They are trendy for sure (sours and NE ipas namely), but nothing I'd call 'crazy'.
DFH, he's put out some crazy beer over the years. Weird ingredients, styles, etc.
While fruited sours are def. a trend in the US, the foreign sours (flanders, lambic, berliner, gose, etc) have been around forever, but the US has just recently embraced them. Because of that, I don't think they are going away anytime soon.
Great thing about your situation is, if you just want a good simple beer, they are plentiful, inexpensive, and no line is required to buy one. Enjoy that.
A really good clean lager is one of the hardest beers to make. There is NOTHING to hide flaws. You start adding a bunch of hops or fruit or wine/bourbon barrel in to the mix, you're right, the base beer could be half ass, but final beer will get attention.