I am probably as guilty as anyone else, but when I go to a beer store in the US, I am generally not looking for something I have tried before (unless it is something that is just fantastic that is generally hard to get, Heady Topper, Hill Farmstead, etc), I am generally after stuff I haven't had before.
I too would take SA over pretty much any mainstream beer out there (the fizzy yellow piss types as so eloquently put on the back of a bottle of Stone Arrogant Bastard), but if there was something else on tap, that maybe I haven't had before (which is usually the case), or some other micro brewery from the area, I will probably pick it over SA every time.
The article paints Koch in a bad light, I get where he is coming from, but at the same time, it should make him up his game, to put out a better product that will compete with some of the other micro brews.
Eventually there will be a bubble pop, but I don't see it happening any time soon. True, 3200 micro breweries is alot, but out of those 3200, how many of them are small micro or nano breweries say like Railcar, whom have a very small foot print, beer is in a couple of pubs, or only available directly from the brewery, and only in growlers, ie: no bottling/canning line. My guess is probably half of that 3200 is like that. Then you have the ones that are slightly bigger, (like say Shiretown), beer is available over a wider area, but still only within the state they are in, they do have a bottling/canning line, but even then are only available within their state, or the ones very close by, my guess is with that, likely 1/2 of the remaining 1600, so now we are down to 800. You then step up to say the level of Picaroons/Pumphouse, bottled beer available over a larger area, many states east and west...maybe not quite nation wide, but getting their in due time, take another 3/4 of the remaining 800, now we are left with 200 nationwide micro breweries, the likes of Stone, Sierra Nevada, Lagunitus, Dogfish, etc, etc. ones that have larger or multiple breweries those make up about 90% of the what is left, which only leaves the brewer like Sam Adams, multiple breweries, definite nationwide coverage, and branching out slowly to international places.
So while 3200 is quite alot, a very good majority of those, are very small production, and either only available locally(Alchemist, Hill Farmstead), or only within their state/region (Russian River, Cigar City, etc, etc).
I think you would have to get a lot more of the local/state/regional micros to a level where their beer is readily available nation wide (on a level with say Sierra Nevada), before you get to the point where the bubble is getting to point of bursting.
