Craft Brewery Explosion (no, a brewery didn't explode)

I've been into craft beers for three years now. I used to go to local beer store and be pretty comfortable selecting what I wanted to drink that weekend. Then I got into brewing and made the vast majority of the beer I drank. Recently I've been visiting beer stores because I haven't had time to brew.

OMG the selection is now daunting. Every time I go now an end cap is occupied by some new brewery I've never heard of. The flavor of the month appears to be Pyramid Brewing. I had their blonde at a bar, I'm just going to call it their "bland".

I'm at the point where I am almost intimidated to experiment with new breweries now, and stick to my usuals; Great Lakes, Sierra Nevada, Flying Bison, Southern Tier and Miller Lite ;-)

Is anyone else getting lost in the sea of microbreweries?

I have seen a lot of different brews. But i brew enough to keep the pipe line full

I have been tying to keep up and have still fallen behind. I travel 6 state for business and it can be overwhelming. I have decided to use some apps for my iPhone to try and keep some order to my "want to try list". Here is in addition to HBT and Beer Advocate what apps I use.

Find Craft Beer
Beer Buddy
Pintley

Yeah, it's a double edged knife, young beer grasshopper. There's some amazing new breweries popping up, seems like more each month. But for every great brewery or brew, there's bound to be some not so great ones to go along with it. Personally, I love it, my wife and I have always enjoyed finding and drinking beers we haven't had before, so 'the more the merrier', I say.
But I get what you're saying, with so many choices, how is one to know which ones are worth it? Drink 'em all, let your palate sort 'em out!

My local grocery store has jumped on the craft brew microbrew wave. I like to try new breweries and their take on beer styles I like.
That being said, i've made some bad decisions.- I'm looking at you 'Shiner Hefeweizen'

I've kinda gotten over it already and started focusing more on my homebrew and less on the craft hype.

I'm very glad to have all these options but I gotta wonder when the market will saturate and breweries pull-back their distro range.

If I am going to buy beer, I will usually stick to a brewery I am well versed in or something which is relatively local. When I go to Wegmans, there is just too much choice.

Rule of thumb: When shopping for craft brew, if the cool looking bottle has a 'Born On' date, put it back and look at another brand. LOL!

Spartangreen said:

That being said, i've made some bad decisions.- I'm looking at you 'Shiner Hefeweizen'

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^^^^ THIS X 10

I too was expecting something completely different from this. Heck I was just expecting a hefeweizen and what I got was no where near MY definition of a hefeweizen...

My most recent favorite hefeweizen is Flying Dog Brewery's - In Heat Wheat.
That is MY definition of a hefeweizen... Good stuff... I want to make a clone of that as soon as I find a good replica recipe.

I'm just trying to stay as local as possible now. With Flying Bison finally making an IPA (which is quite good, but only a seasonal) now it hasn't been too difficult.

The craft beer boom was well under way when you started drinking craft beer 3 years ago. Yes there are a lot of craft brewers out there. Sadly, there are far fewer great ones than not.

Can't seem to find better than Miller Lite though? You a big DMS fan or something?

When I hit a craft beer store I generally try to grab a release I haven't had by a brewery I know I like and just browse around and grab something that looks interesting. I've been burned before on it, but I've also discovered some tasty brews that way. If I end up with something not so great I just chalk it up to experience and look forward to the next one.

I find myself checking if a beer has a twist off cap, if it does I don't buy it. If I don't like the brew, I can still use the bottle!

CBXBob said:

I find myself checking if a beer has a twist off cap, if it does I don't buy it. If I don't like the brew, I can still use the bottle!

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That's a really good point. I do the same thing. I was a little annoyed when I realized that my wife's Blue Moon is in twist offs.

I like Shock Top, but sadly it's a twist off

A little. It's pretty awesome though. I always like trying new beers and I usually never buy the same beer twice. I could spend hours browsing in binny's. I got a beer app for android to keep track of everything.

petep1980 said:

I've been into craft beers for three years now. I used to go to local beer store and be pretty comfortable selecting what I wanted to drink that weekend. Then I got into brewing and made the vast majority of the beer I drank. Recently I've been visiting beer stores because I haven't had time to brew.

OMG the selection is now daunting. Every time I go now an end cap is occupied by some new brewery I've never heard of. The flavor of the month appears to be Pyramid Brewing. I had their blonde at a bar, I'm just going to call it their "bland".

I'm at the point where I am almost intimidated to experiment with new breweries now, and stick to my usuals; Great Lakes, Sierra Nevada, Flying Bison, Southern Tier and Miller Lite ;-)

Is anyone else getting lost in the sea of microbreweries?

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I'm fortunate to be living in what I like to consider a mecca of really good craft beer. Most of the breweries I like to drink when I buy craft are well known to me, RR, Green Flash, Lost Abby, Deschutes, Rogue etc.

I only feel lost when I start looking at imported Belgians & English ales.

Spartangreen said:

My local grocery store has jumped on the craft brew microbrew wave. I like to try new breweries and their take on beer styles I like.
That being said, i've made some bad decisions.- I'm looking at you 'Shiner Hefeweizen'

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I lol'd. The idea of Shiner Hefe sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. I'll admit though I still really enjoy a Shiner Bock.

I like stores that allow for mix sixers, or sell by the bottle, that way you can grab several different beers without a huge outlay. I think half the fun of this hobby is trying new things. I've never been one who stops buying beer, even though I brew quite heavily. heck I prolly buy more beer than before I started brewing. Personally I like to broaden my palate.

This is why I love the Untappd app on my iPhone. I can search a beer or brewery and quickly see how other people rate the beer. Unless it's a really obscure brand you can usually find a one paragraph writeup on the beer telling you about the style and taste.

I like Untppd, but I've never seen an paragraph descriptions of beers on the app, I usually just go to google for that.

I'm with Revvy. I love the stores that let you mix and match a sixer (or twelver for that matter). If I buy a mixed six I will usually buy two safe bets (a brew I have had before and enjoyed) with the remainder being a craps shoot (usually a favorite style from an unknown to me brewery or a style of beer that is outside my normal drinking box that I have been meaning to try in order to expand my palate).

I guess to answer your original question about feeling lost in the sea of microbreweries, I would say absolutely not. I have embraced the fact that there is a huge scary sea of unknown brews; some are gonna be great, some are gonna be just there, and others are gonna leave a bad taste in my mouth. I do my best to swim among the various choices out there and if at some point I feel like I am drowning I head for my life raft and drink something I am familiar with. After a little rest I am ready to go and I jump back in the water. If anything I think back to the days before there was a lot of choice and generally appreciate that there is abundance of good beer out there. I have come to the conclusion that there are good new beers out there but I may not find them unless I am willing to taste a couple of grenades.

Jukas said:

I'm fortunate to be living in what I like to consider a mecca of really good craft beer. Most of the breweries I like to drink when I buy craft are well known to me, RR, Green Flash, Lost Abby, Deschutes, Rogue etc.

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I didn't realize how bad off I am until I took a trip up to Santa Rosa. Even your Whole Foods is full of amazing beers. BTW, the experience of sitting down at a bar inside a grocery store and having The Abyss on tap is one of the most surreal things I've ever done.

CBXBob said:

I like Shock Top, but sadly it's a twist off

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Why wouldn't it have a twist top, it comes from AB.

ktblunden said:

I didn't realize how bad off I am until I took a trip up to Santa Rosa. Even your Whole Foods is full of amazing beers. BTW, the experience of sitting down at a bar inside a grocery store and having The Abyss on tap is one of the most surreal things I've ever done.

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Yeah, I like the WF taproom, though I rarely get to drink a pint there. What's really cool is that WF has all the basic homebrewer base malts, specialty malts, leaf hops and white labs liquid yeast.

Saved my brew day on t least 1 Sunday when I realized I was short in something and the lhbs is closed.

Jukas said:

Yeah, I like the WF taproom, though I rarely get to drink a pint there. What's really cool is that WF has all the basic homebrewer base malts, specialty malts, leaf hops and white labs liquid yeast.

Saved my brew day on t least 1 Sunday when I realized I was short in something and the lhbs is closed.

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I was amazed at that as well. Ended up taking home half a pound of Simcoe from that trip.

SavoryChef said:

Why wouldn't it have a twist top, it comes from AB.

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Shock Top comes from AB? Couldn't find anything on the bottle, or website indicating that. Not that it would matter, if it tastes good I'll drink it, but I'll drink it less if I can't reuse the bottle

CBXBob said:

Shock Top comes from AB? Couldn't find anything on the bottle, or website indicating that. Not that it would matter, if it tastes good I'll drink it, but I'll drink it less if I can't reuse the bottle

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Check for Michelob. I think that is who makes it. Some of their craft beers actually are not too bad (I am sure I will catch heat for saying that but I am not that much of a beer snob)

CBXBob said:

Shock Top comes from AB? Couldn't find anything on the bottle, or website indicating that. Not that it would matter, if it tastes good I'll drink it, but I'll drink it less if I can't reuse the bottle

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http://www.anheuser-busch.com/s/index.php/our-beers/#!ShockTop

Hmm, Pyramid has been around a while. Maybe it is a west coast thing. I like most of their beers. Never had the Blonde though.

I would love to find a store that can do the mix and match a sixer.

Wow Just went to the AB website, they must be on a quest to acquire the beer market in total! Shock Top, Kirin, Beck's, Landshark, Stella Artois, Goose Island, Bass, Lowenbrau, Rolling Rock. I'm afraid to check Miller, and Coors. I guess if you can buy the competition, there is none. What's next, BMC Inc.?

I personally think there might be too many choices on the shelf these days. I wish more places would focus on local sales, or at least stick to a state like New Glarus does. I don't see how any of these breweries make money with so much competition for a fairly small percentage of the market.

I just wish I could go to a nicer beer bar and get something besides IPAs and stouts. Bar nearby with 40+ beers on tap but literally 25 are just IPA and stouts. Tack on the requisite BMCs and there really isn't much of a style option.

Lately, I've only been drinking my own or buying local, with the exception of Deschutes.

CBXBob said:

Wow Just went to the AB website, they must be on a quest to acquire the beer market in total! Shock Top, Kirin, Beck's, Landshark, Stella Artois, Goose Island, Bass, Lowenbrau, Rolling Rock. I'm afraid to check Miller, and Coors. I guess if you can buy the competition, there is none. What's next, BMC Inc.?

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It's amazing. The big two either own or have distribution deals with many of the brands out there.

Yep.. I try to keep it local.. Great thing is my local store has tastings on a theme each Friday so I get to try before I buy...

cyclogenesis said:

Yep.. I try to keep it local.. Great thing is my local store has tastings on a theme each Friday so I get to try before I buy...

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Local's great, I drink a ton of local and regional beer. But there's so many amazing beers from everywhere that I try not to focus on one thing. I, for one, am glad AB-InBev has the distribution deals they do. Not that they're the reason we get so many great imports, but they're the ones getting many of them here. Without that and smaller guys like Merchant du Vin, we wouldn't get the amazing selection of beer from around the world that we do.