Page 47 - summer18

Crooked Tooth’s brewery and taproom
are located off a quiet ally near the
Julie Vernon gets in on the action, too, he 2017, for instance, small brewers produced an intersection of Sixth Street and Sixth
says. “Every full moon, some women at work average of 200 more barrels than the year before, Avenue, in the former home of a vintage
here, and even women from other breweries, do a compared with 900 more barrels in 2014. On the Volkswagen repair shop.
special full-moon beer. The one coming out soon bright side: Even those sobering numbers haven’t
will be a German sour beer. The beer is salty, so dampened enthusiasm for this specialty industry;
we added some turmeric, and we’re getting ready nearly 1,000 new breweries opened in 2017, and
to add some kumquats tomorrow.” thousands more are planned.
While there’s plenty of higher thinking None of these trends surprise Vernon.
involved, coming up with these clever beverages “Microbreweries have been taking on the large
is not exactly rocket science. “Mostly, it’s just us brewers for 20 years,” he says, “so it’s bound to
sitting down over a beer and thinking about what plateau, and then stay linear. I just think we may
fruits are going to be available, what flavors are be getting to the saturation level.”
going to be available, what ingredients can we Perhaps. But you won’t find many plateaus at
grab,” he says. Crooked Tooth. “We have nine taps and we try to
Of course, even the most innovative brewery keep them all full,” he says. “Now, in our second
must be cognizant of an ever-shifting craft beer season, we’re also getting ready for an in-house
industry. According to the Brewers Association, expansion — we’re getting another fermenter and
a national group of commercial and home beer- a bunch of barrels.”
makers, growth among regional brewers — those As for all those other breweries sprouting up
producing more than 15,000 barrels a year — has out there, “Of course it’s competitive,” he says.
largely flatlined. But market share for smaller “But it’s a very respectable competition. All of
breweries such as Crooked Tooth has continued us have our own niches — and there are lots of
to grow. However, the explosive growth of small niches in Tucson.”
breweries has slowed a bit in recent years. In Label this the smartest niche of all.

SUMMER 2018 45