What are your contrarian/"unpopular" beer opinions?

schematix said:

I'll stir the pot a little with another opinion.

I don't think most home brewers have the skill to execute a half decent ale, let alone a half decent lager, and even fewer who have the technical background to make a LoDO the way it needs to be done.

And those are the people who rip on lodo the most. Enjoy your bucket fermented, oxidized, hazy, bottle sedimented beer that still hasn't cleared after 4 weeks on the cake and another 2 months in a carboy.

Click to expand...

So... you seriously don't see how this abrasiveness turns people off? If the proponents of an idea could just present the idea with the same open mind that is expected from the audience they'd be a lot better off. But coming into a presentation with the attitude that the audience is filled will substandard people is not going to go very far. After all, there's very little difference in people. But the little difference there is actually makes a big difference in the end. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it's good or bad.

Like most, I will decide for myself it if any technique new or old fits my process. I recommend you allow others the same liberty to do likewise without insult.

Cheers!

Really? Some day I hope to reach the enlightenment of the snobs in this thread. Until then? Who the hell cares?

As stated in my sig, Do what you like, Brew what you like. Don't be a tool.

Good point. I guess with 20 years Army I tend to protect freedom to "Do what you like, Brew what you like. Don't be a tool." Cheers to 30 CG years!

brewbama said:

So... you seriously don't see how this abrasiveness turns people off? If the proponents of an idea could just present the idea with the same open mind that is expected from the audience they'd be a lot better off. But coming into a presentation with the attitude that the audience is filled will substandard people is not going to go very far.

Click to expand...

I get it. I really do. I think the intro to the PDF should have taken a more direct and professional tone, but I disagree that it was snobbery. I read the tone as excitement.

brewbama said:

After all, there's very little difference in people.

Click to expand...

Completely disagree. I believe people are all equal in the eyes of the law, and after that there is great divergence. That's why we have this great thread.

brewbama said:

Like most, I will decide for myself it if any technique new or old fits my process. I recommend you allow others the same liberty to do likewise without insult.

Click to expand...

Glad to hear you have an open mind, but what insult are you referring to exactly?

CGVT said:

As stated in my sig, Do what you like, Brew what you like. Don't be a tool.

Click to expand...

So why are you being close minded and ripping on LoDO?

schematix said:

I'll stir the pot a little with another opinion.

I don't think most home brewers have the skill to execute a half decent ale, let alone a half decent lager, and even fewer who have the technical background to make a LoDO the way it needs to be done.

And those are the people who rip on lodo the most. Enjoy your bucket fermented, oxidized, hazy, bottle sedimented beer that still hasn't cleared after 4 weeks on the cake and another 2 months in a carboy.

Click to expand...

So which half of my beer do I have to discard to retain the good half?

Hops are meant to be used as a seasoning, not a blunt weapon.

So why are you being close minded and ripping on LoDO?

Click to expand...

I'm not. I ripping on you being a ass about it.

I really don't give a **** about it. If you think it is the be all and end all of brewing, more power to you.

I think I make pretty good beer. You think you make pretty good beer, but really, it is after all, only beer.

Cheers

beermanpete said:

So which half of my beer do I have to discard to retain the good half?

Click to expand...

That's your choice. If you like it, drink it. If you don't, do whatever you want.

But I know you're just trolling. I haven't said anything about throwing away beer.

techbrau said:

Remember, there's extremely significant genetic differences in the way that individual humans taste a lot of foods. Cilantro to most people tastes like a fresh herb that goes well in salsa. But about 10% of the human population has a specific set of genetic mutations that causes cilantro to taste like bath soap.

Click to expand...

I'm one such mutant. Cilantro and coriander are one in the same to us weirdos. That is why I turn inside out on a Belgian beer. The yeast gives me that soapy taste. When I do a Saison, I use the French 3711 yeast, a malty backbone, and dry it down a lot to kill the coriander flavor. Sucks because I know I'm missing out on a lot of food and beer experiences due to it.

arcorey said:

I'm one such mutant. Cilantro and coriander are one in the same to us weirdos. That is why I turn inside out on a Belgian beer. The yeast gives me that soapy taste. When I do a Saison, I use the French 3711 yeast, a malty backbone, and dry it down a lot to kill the coriander flavor. Sucks because I know I'm missing out on a lot of food and beer experiences due to it.

Click to expand...

My fiance is also such a mutant.

I have an odd thing where Belgian yeast phenols taste like cooked beans.. Especially hoegaarden. I'm sensitive to it, and can almost always tell when a Belgian yeast is used in a beer. I have a very hard time liking Belgians because of it.

schematix said:

Glad to hear you have an open mind, but what insult are you referring to exactly?

Click to expand...

I think reasonable people in the home brewing community would consider this comment insulting:

"I don't think most home brewers have the skill to execute a half decent ale, let alone a half decent lager..."

If you don't agree then we are at an impasse and I leave you to your brewing.

However, if the folks interested in presenting new ideas would treat those who have yet to adopt them respectfully the idea may catch on. It may not but it would at least have a better chance. Comments like the one above and others I've read here and elsewhere on this and other forums lately have no place in a respectful exchange of ideas. Disagreement does not have to include disrespect. The message gets lost in the delivery.

brewbama said:

I think reasonable people in the home brewing community would consider this comment insulting:

"I don't think most home brewers have the skill to execute a half decent ale, let alone a half decent lager..."

If you don't agree then we are at an impasse and I leave you to your brewing.

However, if the folks interested in presenting new ideas would treat those who have yet to adopt them respectfully the idea may catch on. It may not but it would at least have a better chance. Comments like the one above and others I've read here and elsewhere on this and other forums lately have no place in a respectful exchange of ideas. Disagreement does not have to include disrespect. The message gets lost in the delivery.

Click to expand...

You are receiving a message that was never sent. My statement was in essence that a lot of home brewers aren't really experts. This is very evident when you read the posts around here. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good brewers around, but there are a lot of bad ones too. LoDO requires a good bit of knowledge to pull off right. If that's an insult then yah, we're at an impasse.

I see everything here is just as I left it.

Great beer (subjective) was made before LoDO, therefore it cannot be the only way to make good beer. Qualitatively Different? Probably. Quantitatively Better? impossible.

Everyone chill and brew what makes you happy.

TheMadKing said:

I see everything here is just as I left it.

Great beer (subjective) was made before LoDO, therefore it cannot be the only way to make good beer. Qualitatively Different? Probably. Quantitatively Better? impossible.

Everyone chill and brew what makes you happy.

Click to expand...

What does "LoDO" mean. Not sure I ever heard of it before. Thanks!

Brownalemikie said:

What does "LoDO" mean. Not sure I ever heard of it before. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Low Dissolved Oxygen, refers to practices aimed at minimizing oxidization of wort, even on the hot side.

I guess here is my contrarian opinion: Just because LoDO guys may present their procedures in an a-hole kind of way, doesn't mean there is no validity to them. I mean it's not in any brewers best interest to reject advice just because you don't like the attitude of who gives it.

That being said I think that when you pursue perfection, it's easy to lose why you brew beer in the first place. Me personally I can just about enjoy drinking anything if its in the right company!

I'm not convinced that kegging is better than bottling.

Yes, washing and filling bottles is a bigger pain. However, the cost of getting in to kegging in any sort of reasonable way is pretty damn steep. Bottling only requires empties, caps, and some way to close up the caps. Heck, if you use flip-tops, you don't even need caps (although you sometimes need replacement seals).

Also, maybe I'm a weirdo here, but I rarely drink more than one or two bottles in a given night (and that's if I have any at all), and rarely are they two of the same. I like interspersing my homebrews with stuff I've bought. Kinda hard to justify all the hardware for an occasional pint.

I think the craft beer market is oversaturated. Everyone and their mom has a brewery now. This means a lot of mediocre beer, and way too many labels to sift from at the market or bottle shop.

@mmiddleton You are a weirdo.

Proof: Personal knowledge. I use fliptops, and drink about one beer a day alternating between homebrew and commercial. And my homebrew drinking is in rotation; so currently each brew once every 24 days. Besides bottling is easy.

DromJohn said:

Proof: Personal knowledge. I use fliptops, and drink about one beer a day alternating between homebrew and commercial. And my homebrew drinking is in rotation; so currently each brew once every 24 days. Besides bottling is easy.

Click to expand...

Holy ****

theowlman16 said:

I think the craft beer market is oversaturated. Everyone and their mom has a brewery now. This means a lot of mediocre beer, and way too many labels to sift from at the market or bottle shop.

Click to expand...

I get it, but I disagree. It's pretty easy to do some quick research and know what to avoid if you're not feeling adventurous. Or you can always ask someone at the store for a recommendation (which is how I stumbled into Almanac's San Francisco IPA).

What I really enjoy about the current market is that in most towns of a reasonable size, I can drop in on a small brewery and have a pint of the local brew. It's pretty great. And I imagine it's what America was like pre-prohibition.

theowlman16 said:

I think the craft beer market is oversaturated. Everyone and their mom has a brewery now.

Click to expand...

I've been meaning to talk to you about your mom's beer

I have probably ten I could be at in les than 30 minutes, half of them don't make anything decent. They will be gone in 5 years.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is an IPA, not a pale ale.

theowlman16 said:

I think the craft beer market is oversaturated. Everyone and their mom has a brewery now. This means a lot of mediocre beer, and way too many labels to sift from at the market or bottle shop.

Click to expand...

Hopefully it will slim down, the cream will rise to the top and the crappier ones will be forced to shut down.

TastyAdventure said:

Hopefully it will slim down, the cream will rise to the top and the crappier ones will be forced to shut down.

Click to expand...

On the other hand in a lot of places like Korea the boom is just getting underway, with it only really starting here in 2014. Despite the ludicrous prices (often over $6 for a 330ml bottle of stuff like Ballast Point or Stone in a bottle shop and frequently in terrible condition) imports are way up. Also for the first time you're getting stuff that's actually interesting instead of the very typical lineup of a mediocre 90's brewpub with stuff like the truly excellent citron gose I had last month.

This means that a slice of craft brewers are going to see a bigger and bigger percentage of their sales being international and the hop farmers are going to see increasing demand.

But yeah, a lot places are going to end up as glorified brew pubs or die but internationally the market is going to boom like never before in the next ten years.

theowlman16 said:

I have probably ten I could be at in les than 30 minutes, half of them don't make anything decent. They will be gone in 5 years.

Click to expand...

There are 17 in the city where I live, and one more under construction.
The population of my city is 64,000. That's roughly one brewery for every 3800 people.

If their food is good and the prices are OK brewpubs can survive just fine on very mediocre beer.

Mainer said:

There are 17 in the city where I live, and one more under construction.
The population of my city is 64,000. That's roughly one brewery for every 3800 people.

Click to expand...

Wow. I didn't know folks could connect to HBT in heaven now.

Barley_Bob said:

Wow. I didn't know folks could connect to HBT in heaven now.

Click to expand...

And they all have lines all the time.

I think beer is simply one of the many things that enhance life, it is not life itself. We should have fun and enjoy brewing, not super stressing over it.

People need to walk up escalators. Your lazy ass needs the excrcise anyway. Not really beer related but I'm sitting in the airport drinking my $10 freaking pint so I'm gonna *****. Don't run from the train to the escalator just to stand there! Valuable preflight beer drinking time lost forever......

I don't know, sometimes I think we take ourselves to seriously and we just need to lighten up a little. I mean I like what I like to drink, and I like my brewing process and system and it really works well for me. Who am I to tell you what you should like, what brewing process is the best, or this way is the only way to get the best whatever.....

Offering advise is great and this forum is an excellent resource for that. I myself have gained so much knowledge from all of you over the years. I take what I think is good advise here and what works for me and I leave out what doesn't work as sometimes there is bad info here, but you can weed out the bad info if you read enough. So we should keep up the good advise and chime in when we can without offending anyone, or getting uppity and snobbish about it. We are better than that. That's my two cents, now I am going to have a pint of some home brew and tweak my next awesome recipe!

John

GPP33 said:

People need to walk up escalators. Your lazy ass needs the excrcise anyway. Not really beer related but I'm sitting in the airport drinking my $10 freaking pint so I'm gonna *****. Don't run from the train to the escalator just to stand there! Valuable preflight beer drinking time lost forever......

Click to expand...

+1000, one of my pet peeves! Living in a small town, there are no escalators so that particular peeve is rarely aggravated 🍻

I think pilsners are generic beers - I have had quite a few and not a one ever impressed me. That and brown ales are my least favorite styles. Both leave a lot of be desired IMO. How is that for contrarian?

Oh, and I never had a DogFishHead beer that lived up to the hype. I find their beers too malty. If I wanted malt I'd order one instead of a beer.

Bosh said:

If their food is good and the prices are OK brewpubs can survive just fine on very mediocre beer.

Click to expand...

My unpopular opinion is that ^this^ is bringing down the overall quality of beer in the world.

Bilsch said:

My unpopular opinion is that ^this^ is bringing down the overall quality of beer in the world.

Click to expand...

My opinion is that I'd be wonderful if brewpub cared more about their food and less about their beer. It's damn hard getting my wife into a brewpub when the food is limited or sucks.

My standards aren't too high, if there's an APA with some citrus flavor and no glaring off flavors I'm happy. I can make the weird **** at home.

But then I care about commercial beer a lot less than most people. This week I bought one bottle of Stone Delicious IPA and last week it was one bottle of Big Eye IPA. If every commercial beer disappeared off the face of the earth but my homebrew store stayed nicely stocked it'd be just a minor inconvenience.

Bilsch said:

My unpopular opinion is that ^this^ is bringing down the overall quality of beer in the world.

Click to expand...

One more place selling mediocre IPAs is better than one more place selling BMC.

I agree with some stuff earlier - the brew pub does not need to be a mecca for beer. It is very hard work to create and consistently deliver a top notch product. Then again, I do not really like to have food with my beer - it gets in the way of the flavor. If I am going for good stuff, it is always on a clean palate. If a brew pub does decent beer and has good food, I am in.

Oh, one more contrarian idea:
"Extract twang" is a hoax. You're making **** up so you can feel superior about being all-grain.

I don't care if InBev bought NB and if they walked in and bought my LHBS I would say, "good for them...hope they made some coin and buy something shiny and expensive for the wife!"

And I don't care if somebody likes BMC and all they drink is Bud Light, Miller Lite, or the Silver Bullet!