One of the problems here that from my perspective, there seems to be a fair deal of crossover between the "hipster" demographic and the "well off" demographic.

One of the problems here that from my perspective, there seems to be a fair deal of crossover between the "hipster" demographic and the "well off" demographic. The problem with the "hipster" pejorative is that it covers all sorts of stereotypes, but the "best definition" I can think of at the moment basically incorporates fashion trends of young whites in urban gentrification areas. By very definition, these people are going to often be better off. I've never heard hipsters thought of as much of a "working class" stereotype (maybe the starving-artists-that-are-hipsters stereotype you see sometimes, perhaps. But again "hipster" as a pejorative covers so much ground; it seems you also can be a "hipster" and vacation in the Hamptons). I've been around the "microbrew"->"craft beer" scene since the 1990s. "Craft beer" is now seen as hipster. Funny, I think some of what the original angles of the microbrewery movement were about applies to some of the core of the hipster stuff. The original motivation of American microbreweries was basically brewers and drinkers who were tired of an American beer monoculture, where you could have any beer you like as long as it was a pilsner. (There is, of course, a tie-in to the article's theme: some of this, perhaps, is indeed driven by the "enriching experiences" in the article: people who traveled to, say, Britain or Belgium, liked what they had there, and wanted to drink and/or replicate it.) From the beginning, too, there was a tie-in to the "local" angle, in that a local brewery would have a better chance of adding a "unique culinary stamp" to the area, compared to a large corporation with products tailored for national audiences. So as far as that "longing for authenticity" goes, I guess it's more the localism angle I more think of. It's less about being better / worse made, and more about the possibly unique aspects of community oriented products. In practice, is a lot of the products marketed to this group bogus? Sure. Are there a lot of me-too fads that kind of make the "unique" desire seem hypocritical? Of course. On the other hand, local flavor and custom has been known for eons; people are often genuinely proud of what their town / state / nation is famous for, way before "hipsters" was a thing. So at least this angle, I can see.