Eight craft beer trends to look for in Colorado in 2013

5) Low ABV beers
Sometime this spring or summer, Avery Brewing is expected to start canning a new beer, 3Point5, a session lager with a name that says it all. The beer could be the first of a trilogy of low-alcohol beers from Avery, which is know more for its boundary-pushing big beers than their smaller counterparts. But Avery won't be alone. Odell and Breckenridge have both been experimenting with lower-alcohol beers and it's likely that there are other brewers out there who are flirting with the idea of making and packaging beers that their customers can drink three or four of without getting drunk.

6) Craft beer Co-ops The craft beer industry has always been community minded - not to mention budget conscious. Although, there are many big craft brewers, there are many more tiny ones, and many of them only came about because someone risked everything by maxing out their credit card and cashing in their 401k, savings account and parental points. Which is why the idea of brewery co-ops and incubators is beginning to catch on in places like Texas (like the one above) and Washington and Michigan - and possibly in Colorado. Although each model is different, the idea behind these co-ops and incubators is that they are collaboratively run by people with different skill sets who all pitch in knowledge, work, money, equipment or other resources. There are two groups looking to form in Colorado right now, an incubator model that could spin off several different nanobreweries, and a co-op, which would operate as a brewery, as well as a meeting place for craft-minded drinkers.

7) Trademark battles
Denver's Strange Brewing got the most attention last year in the trademark arena when it was threatened by a Massachusetts hombrew shop with a similar name (a situation that is ongoing), but many other trademark battles and skirmishes were fought - some of them with bitter consequences and others with happy endings. They won't be last. As the number of breweries in Colorado (more than 160) and across the country (more than 2,260) continues to rise, so will the quantity of legal tussles over brewery names, beer names and even concepts and logos on labels.

More than 100 people lined up outside TRVE Brewing to join its growler club last May.

8) Oversaturation or Undersaturation?
How much craft beer is too much. Everyone has a different opinion on the issue. Are there too many breweries, too many cans and bottles in liquor stores, too many festivals, too many taps? Every time I think that craft brewers might be getting close to saturating the market, another new taproom opens with lines out the door, another existing brewer finds a way to get its bottles or cans on liquor store shelves, another festival sells out in minutes. Demand for craft beer is very strong, and I don't think its going to go away this year - or next year. Some of its popularity may be due to trendiness, but most of it comes from the fact that locally-made beer feels good and tastes good, and if every neighborhood in Denver can support a couple of local bars, then they can support a local taproom as well. And don't get me started on how fast GABF will sell out in 2013.

---

Follow Westword's Beer Man on Twitter at @ColoBeerMan and on Facebook at Colo BeerMan