It certainly is a beautiful time for beer when a Web site is created to diversify drink menus and fill coolers with microbrews that are otherwise unavailable in particular parts of the United States and abroad.

By utilizing the “power of the people,” the recently launched Beerpetitions.com welcomes registered beer advocates to petition for anything from Sweetwater’s 420 Pale Ale, brewed out of Atlanta, to Scotland’s Traquair Jacobite Flavored Ale with coriander. The thinking is that  if enough people demand a particular beer, retailers and pub owners will be strongly encouraged to stock it.

Once logged on, site visitors are welcomed with the statement: “BeerPetitions.com is a tool for beer lovers to get the beer brands they want, where they want. No longer will beer consumers be powerless to convince retailers to carry certain craft beers, now anyone can create a beer petition and have others sign the petition so a retailer can better understand the demand for a specific brand. Support your favorite craft breweries, start a petition today and tell others!”

Following this mission statement, members are given the option to start a new petition or join existing ones launched globally. Beerpetitions.com also allows visitors to create profiles, add comments, receive email updates and other information regarding new petitions. Membership is free, leaving advertising and business partnerships as the sources of revenue for the site.

Beerpetitions.com’s founder, Brandon Turman, stated in a recent press release, "In addition to empowering purchasers, this simple tool will also help craft breweries, craft distributors, and retailers better understand the changing tastes and demands of their local consumers.

“For the site to be valuable,” he continued, “craft beer advocates must unite to create petitions for craft beer brands in retail establishments they frequently visit. We hope beer enthusiasts everywhere start a local petition today."

Beerpetitions.com is another adrenaline shot in the already burgeoning craft beer market that has seen sales spike 5 percent by volume and 9 percent by dollars in the first half of 2009, according to beertown.org. With a growing number of palates yearning for more varieties of ales and lagers including Hefeweizens, porters, India Pale Ales and dunkels, areas monopolized by macrobreweries and unadventurous retailers may soon be a thing of the past.

While beer lovers are hoping that the site helps them track down hard-to-find brands, craft brewers and purveyors are surely pulling for the new venture  as well. If enough store owners and distributors take note, the site could very well live up to its tremendous potential.

From a request for Great Divide Brewing Company’s Yeti Imperial Stout to be carried at the EastBurn Tap-Patio-Grill in Portland, Ore., to a demand for the 6 Mile Pub in Victoria, British Columbia to supply Unibroue’s La Fin du Monde, the thirst for craft beer will be taken even more seriously thanks in part to Beerpetitions.com.

Ultimately,  the site may become a key piece of the world’s new brewmocracy.

Ale Sharpton