An interesting read, which makes some good points.
For some of us, this is not news. It was a main topic if conversation at the conference last summer. What we’re seeing is that more people don’t want an obsessive lifestyle, they want an activity that fits in with the rest of the activities in their lives. It’s also a sign of an improving economy. As the economy gets better, people spend more time working and have less time to brew. They also have more money to buy beer and less incentive to brew.
I don’t really disagree, but nearly strained myself with the eyeroll at this quote (emphasis mine):
“I’m a pro brewer who literally cannot stand homebrewing since I’ve gone pro,” emails Jen Nad from Montreal. “Just doesn’t interest me, not much free time anymore, or rather it’s so time consuming and messy that I’m not willing to sacrifice my free time to do something I can do at work that’s a million times more fun and better tasting.”
Then I guess its time to start brewing some better beer at home… 
Everything goes in cycles. This reminds me of the big golf boom in the 90s. They couldn’t build courses fast enough. Now, courses are closing because there aren’t enough players. I think I read that Nike is getting out of making golf equipment.
Homebrewing took off like crazy in the last couple years. That’s not sustainable.
I saw this earlier today and I have lots of issues with the LHBS they cite as their example. Hoptron is where I bought my homebrew kit and I patronized it often.
I think a significant portion of it’s closure lies in the management of the shop. Many times I went in to purchase supplies for a brew to find out it was out of stock but “we should be getting a shipment on Tuesday.” That doesn’t help if you’re planning to brew over the weekend. After about the third time that happened I started driving a little further to a different LHBS for my supplies that they keep much better stock. I was sad to see the Hoptron brew shop close up but people cannot buy product from you if you don’t have any product to sell them.
I continue to blame the advent of the smartphone and Facebook. People waste so much effing time on this GARBAGE (myself included!) that everyday we become more and more numb to the wonders of the universe. I’ve seen it happen to me and to friends and family, and my wife just came to the same conclusion, said she’s not going to renew any magazine or newspaper subscriptions anymore because the crap just keeps piling up and it’s all because of effing tablet, smartphone and Facebook!!! I don’t care if anyone disagrees, it’s the damn truth I tell ya and even I myself am a victim of this garbage unfortunately. I could brew more often, but I don’t because I’m wasting time doing WORTHLESS other things on those things and on forums just like this one that I certainly don’t need to do but my subconscious tells me that it feels good and some part of me enjoys the numbness I guess. It’s sick and it’s wrong and I/we just allow it to happen anyway.
Ugh. Now I feel icky and comfortable at the same time. Ugh. Ahh…
that is hilarious. kind of like after the first time one masturbates.
Ha! You don’t call yourself brewinhard for nothing, eh!?! LOL! No worries. I too am prone to addictions of all sorts. TMI!
Damn Dave! You rant almost as well as I do. In all honesty I think you’re fairly close to the mark with your rant. I fortunately am a dinosaur and don’t partake of fakebook or other social media, except of course for this forum. Hell, I still use a flip phone!
Honest to God, I had a flip phone until December 24, 2015. 
Remember the good ol’ days when the internet was only good for porn…and there’s only so much of that you can look at, right?
Right???
Hello??
Agreed with things being cyclical. And there are so many new breweries, brewpubs, and beer bars that provide craft beer (albeit a lot of it mediocre or worse) that I’m sure many don’t feel the need to brew. I’d hate to see homebrewing decline to the point that access to the ingredients I want is a challenge like when I started (don’t see that happening), but past that it’s been a trendy hobby in recent years and it’s not for everybody. The people who stick with it have real passion for the process, and see the cleaning, scrubbing and too cold/too hot brew days as a labor of love, not a reason to sell their equipment and run to the nearest brewpub. And I’m also proud to say I’m social media free. Each his own.
The quotes from pro brewers who don’t want to homebrew add no value to the article. It’s no surprise most of us don’t want our hobby to be what we do for a living.
I couldn’t get the article to open, but I gather what it says, generally, from the comments here. To be honest, I think there is a saturation point, but each year there are new recruits that can be tapped. I brewed a simple pale ale for a wedding this summer and that spawned at least a half dozen 20-somethings to join the hobby after drinking it and hearing that it was made in my garage.
This article is about the decline of local homebrewing shops. Folks want fresh ingredients, lots of choices, cheap prices, and lots of customer support. These factors make it difficult for there to be lots of local homebrew stores.
Whether homebrewing follows is unclear to me.
I’m also social media free. The only hashtag I know is a tag I put on my hash that says “Pete’s Hash”.
Yeah, and I make pretty good corned beef hash.
i think it’s interesting that they use the decline of “how to homebrew” as a Google search term to show a decline in home brewing. That may have declined, but did other terms increase, like:
“best mash temp for…”
“best fermentation temp for…”
“ideal water profile for…”
IMO a decline in a generic search for a hobby doesn’t show the true picture. As more people learned about the hobby, the “Googling” grew more sophisticated and probably increased as much as the first declined.
Yes, it is following.