Simplicity; or, What America Has Done to Beer

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Batinse

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Perhaps this post would be better framed if you pictured it delivered by a drunk (i.e. Me) who has just stumbled up to the bar, drained his half-full pint glass, slammed it down on the countertop, and after giving his lips a good wipe with his sleeve, eyes you deliberately, if a bit wobbly, and says: "Let me tell you something about America." He may or may not fall off his barstool at that point.

Ok. But seriously. This is what makes beer beautiful: grain, water, hops, yeast. Perfect! The elegant Czech Pils, the youthful German Hefeweizen, the bold India Pale Ale. One grain, one hops, one yeast--magic. Add just a touch of complexity and you get the subtle English Mild, the assertive Irish Stout, the glorious Trappist Ale.

Then, someone "discovered" America. Probably a good thing, on the whole.

Now, let me first say that America basically created the craft brewing movement. They revitalized the IPA, excavating it from the sweet, watery piss it had evolved to. They remembered classic styles like the Oatmeal Stout. They got creative and innovative, establishing new classics and new techniques. They diversified, micro-sized and beat back the behemoths that, in fairness, they had created. The brand names like curse words and blasphemes to the craft brewer: Bud, Miller, Coors (and Labatts, Molson, Tennents, lest I be mistaken for an anti-Yankee firebrand). For all this, I owe my southern neighbour my immense and eternal gratitude.

But srsly, wtf America? Imperial Pilsners? Chocolate Chili Porters? Pumpkin, Porcini and Spelt Ale? (Ok, I made that last one up.) I just got invited to a Hombrewer's Valentine's Day Party who is serving, and I quote: Vanilla-Mocha Porter, Red Hot Cinnamon Spice Ale and Aphrodisiac-Brown Ale infused with herbal contributions from the Urban Shaman! Like the British Office, America has taken a good thing and made it bigger, more extreme, more caricaturish (and funnier, it must be said) but, ultimately, worse.

Am I wrong? Probably. But sometimes I think the quest for the perfect Pilsner has been overrun by a 360 min Black IPA with 450 IBUs. (Disclaimer: I have tasted a Vanilla Coffee Stout that I hope will be served on tap in heaven.) I know there are a lot of brewers on here who distinguish themselves through their dedication to simple, elegant recipes. I guess what I'm saying is, I salute you, scions of simplicity. Thank you for keeping beer great. To the rest of you, please excuse this self-indulgent rant, and tell me why you love to brew the clusterf*cks you brew.

Love,
Batinse
 
I have worshipped German Beer for years. While I have not had "real" German Beer what I have had that is available has been so clean and pure it reminds me of my first wife...wait, strike that.
I love hops and from time to time truly enjoy having my face melted by an acre of fresh hops, but what really gets me going is the complexity of simplicity.
O Sir, from the land of No Snow for the Winter Olympics: I encourage, nay beg, you to take a drive to Bellingham, find Chuckanut Brewery and have Will Kemper's (yes, that Kemper) Kolsch, Schwartz and Alt.
It is all that is currently right in the world of beer.
Oh, and quit bagging on us all you've got is Molson.
 
Perhaps this post would be better framed if you pictured it delivered by a drunk (i.e. Me) who has just stumbled up to the bar, drained his half-full pint glass, slammed it down on the countertop, and after giving his lips a good wipe with his sleeve, eyes you deliberately, if a bit wobbly, and says: "Let me tell you something about America." He may or may not fall off his barstool at that point.
... Thank you for keeping beer great. To the rest of you, please excuse this self-indulgent rant, and tell me why you love to brew the clusterf*cks you brew.

Love,
Batinse

Soo..., you have been drinking tonight, eh? Me too. Hence this counter-rant.

For a long time we were drowned in the bland beers of BMC. I think because of this extreme deprivation, the US of A emerged with a resolve to make the best beers in the world. There is no reinheitsgebot here to stifle our imagination, no overbearing beer culture to dictate what a beer must be like, no limits on imagination. It is a given that this climate will produce some wild excessive beers, but in the middle you will find the new standard for beer, in the US and elsewhere. Right now, the best place in the world to have a good beer is right here. So says the late great Michael Jackson, and as the years go by, so says I. Skål! :cross:
 
I have no poblem with -what was quoted as- clusterf*cks and salute the brewer who takes on the challenge but there is something about the simpliticity of a beer that is very basic and delicious. The comcept of a SMaSH beer is awesome. Making something with the most basic of ingredients and having it be so much better than the swill sold to the masses is heartening and inspiring!! also the fact that these simple ingredients have made this bverage for untold amount of years makes me truly enjoy this hobby that to people such as us is much more an artform!!
 
My porcini mushroom brown was god damned delicious.

There's a room for everything. Creativity ups the bar on the good beer, and keeps people talking. It is all part of the process, and we should be happy that so many things are being created, no matter our palates and no matter how damn silly they sound. What it comes down to is that we have more beer and better beer than any other time in history. And if one red velvet chocolate mocha porter-ccino gets someone new into good craft beer, I call it a win.

I still love the basics, and I still appreciate the oddballs. I love that we have the option.
 
I salute any homebrewer who makes a good beer, no matter how simple or complicated it is. If it tastes good, it tastes good. It's all the crazy names and dog face labels that drive me nuts!
 
My Marris Otter and Amarillo brew has been one of my favorites of all times. Just because these myriad beers are out there, doesn't mean you have to buy them or drink them.
 
would have to agree with the crazy canuck! I've been teaching some home brewing classes in my little town here and I would say half the students ask be about all the cherry chocolate double stouts, and vanilla raspberry porters, ect. I tell them to lean to brew a classic style, get your techniques down, MAKE A GOOD BEER, and then experiment with off the wall combination. They also seem upset at me when I tell them I hardly ever in my ten years try to brew these beers. I had one student attempt to brew a Berliner Weiss on his second batch, he asked for pointers and I told him to brew something a little easier so he wasn't disappointed (he never even had a commercial Berliner). Needless to say when he gave me one to try I was honest with him and told him it was not very good, you live and learn.
I am a traditional English ale guy, who also loves German beers; call just old fashion or that’s but me boring what I like. That being said I do brew Belgians, and American styles but the majority of my beers are English.
I was going to write a blog some time back about the extremeness (is that a word) of American beers, I do appreciate some of them but it seems everyone is getting in on the act and not really putting out the best products. Growing up on east coast Dogfish Head was always available and as far as my drinking history goes were the first extreme beers to be put out. They do it well, but they also strike out sometimes. So if they can miss I think others who are throwing one of these beers into their lineup will also have a hard time.
I am a tradional English ale guy, who also loves German beers, call me boring or just old fashion but thats what I like. That being said I do brew Belgians, and American styles but the majority of my beers are english.
I was going to write a blog some time back about the extremeness(is that a word) of american beers, I do appreciate some of them but it seems everyone is getting in on the act and not really putting out the best products. Growing up on east coast Dogfish Head was always available and as far as my drinking history goes were the first extreme beers to be put out. They do it well, but they also strike out sometimes. So if they can miss I think others who are throwing one of these beers into their lineup will also have a hard time.
 
There was a great article in BYO a few months back on Mild ales. The author was praising the simplicity and session quality of Milds, and lamenting the fact that there are not too many session strength beers in the market (below 4% and easy to drink in quantity). He also said that as craft brewers, we had to push the limit, to go over the top to find our limit. The beginning of the craft movement was to make beer as different from BMC as possible. While there will always be room for the giant Oak Aged Imperial Stouts and other over the top beers, I think the craft movement on whole is starting to embrace session beers.
 
The American craft beer umbrella contains the best and worst beers I've ever had. Extremeness probably has a lot to do with that. My biggest bone to pick is with shifting definitions. Today's Pale Ale is what an IPA used to be. And today's IPAs make the old Sister Star of the Sun recipe took tame. Many stouts are stouter than their old imperial brethren. And you certainly can't trust fruit to be subtle anymore. I love trying new beers but the noise to signal ratio in American craft brewing is huge and only getting larger. For every great craft beer I find, there are 5 or 6 others that are decent at best, and 3 or 4 that make me wish I had just bought a 6er of Coors instead.

I'm all for being as simple or extreme as you'd like. This is America, right? But what I don't like is pushing the boundaries and not being clear about that on the packaging. Dogfish does a great job of letting me know right from the start that they're a little extreme. Dale's Pale Ale? That should be labeled an IPA before someone puts their eye out.
 
They remembered classic styles like the Oatmeal Stout.

First, I think that it was Samuel Smith who reintroduced the Oatmeal Stout, and they're a British company, assuming they ever stopped making them.

Second, I like simple beers, that's what I brew, and I think that a lot of other people do too, but you're going to see a lot of posts about extreme beers on forums and the like because that's what gets the attention.

Finally, I think that the urge for extremes is a newbie sorta thing. I see it in a lot of different hobbies, the people who are new want to explore, try new things, set their mark. They really don't understand things completely, or see the challenge in truly doing something simple well, instead of something complex poorly. A triple vanilla chocolate chili IPA sounds as hard as a "boring" brown ale, but a LOT more interesting.
 
When I think weird/clusterf*ck beers, I think Dogfish Head. And some of their weirder ones are VERY miss. But - they're cool to try, and they open the market for other breweries to experiment. DuClaw in MD recently released Colossus in 22 oz bottles. It's a 20% "hybrid ale" (how the brewery describes it), and it's got honey, spices, they used like 3 different yeasts to get it to 20%....and it's surprisingly good. I don't go in for a bunch of spices in my beer (strong ones I mean, orange peel and coriander don't count here), or anything that's super sticky sweet. But it was an experiment gone right, and I get to enjoy it (only because I didn't pay for it - $20 for 22 oz!!! Still cheaper than Utopias.)
 
There's obviously room in the market and in drinkers' palattes for both. Good old Sam Adams Boston Lager is a pretty straigtforward beer, and Utopias is about as extreme as it gets. I tend towards the simpler styles (best beer I've had in a LONG time is Dale's Pale Ale), but there are some interesting things done in the "extreme" end of things too.

I'm not quite sure what my point is... :drunk:
 
I'm don't typically care for beers with added ingredients (unless it's an Imperial Stout), but my favorite styles are big Stouts, big IPAs, and Irish Reds. I don't care for Hefes too much, they're just kinda "meh", Pils are always bland and boring to me. I like big flavor. I'm with you on beers with all kinds of other random ingredients, however, if it's just grains, water, hops, and yeast, I don't care for bland and boring. I want flavor and complexity. Do you eat a burger with nothing on it? A plate of rice and nothing else?
 
As a whole, Americans are making the most complex and innovative beer on the planet. Considering that our international reputation in beer is lackluster due to horrid macro brews we produce, the micro brewing phenomenon should be a welcomed by any beer fan. We produce everything from the simple to the ultra complex and everything in between, and that's fine with me.
 
people were making crazy herb/chocolate/spruce beers well before the germans started telling people how to make "beer"

look up Midas Touch from dogfish head. reinheitsgebot is like the american union; originally set up to protect the drinker, now used to hinder the drinker (in some respects)

i pity the german brewer who can't explore his creativity because some a$$hats in the 15th century tried ripping people off.
 
Ive been brewing for over two years now and the first year was over the top everything. now I love my dry hopped pales so much that I have been making them at 4%-5%. This lets me drink and enjoy more without getting drunk.

I think the craft beer Ind. is the same,they go big,push the bounderies. try new things to get a name. but will still put out a good ale.

as soon as they start putting more money in adds than the beer then its over.
 
I'm not saying these beers are not good, I was saying sometimes it is taken to far, or better yet, not executed well. Some brewers are doing it because it is the IT thing to do.
 
people were making crazy herb/chocolate/spruce beers well before the germans started telling people how to make "beer"

look up Midas Touch from dogfish head. reinheitsgebot is like the american union; originally set up to protect the drinker, now used to hinder the drinker (in some respects)

i pity the german brewer who can't explore his creativity because some a$$hats in the 15th century tried ripping people off.

I've heard tell that Reinheitsgebot was actually set up to prevent brewers from avoiding taxes on these ingredients by using alternatives...


Anyway, I feel that we are now starting to be able to enjoy, not just beer that used to be available, but beer that defies classic definitions. I think God that there is enough variety, and enough sharing of information, to allow brewers of all size and ability to make beer ranging from "bland", to "gross".

You choose what you like. At least it's there.

And some people will never be satisfied with what is already out there. They will want to do what has never been done before. Good on em, I say! I may never want to try another Chili Pepper Coffee Stout, but someone is sure to like it.
 
Ha. Thanks for your responses guys. Anyway, the America thing was pretty much tongue in cheek--I really wanted to praise the humility and grace of simple beers. I was looking at my usual stock of homebrew, and realized that while brewing an extreme beer might be fun, the beers I like to drink are always "boring." And by boring, I mean beautiful: a Pilsner (or, in my case, a Kölsch, since I can't lager ;) ), a Stout (Oatmeal or Dry only, please. Leave your milk at home.) A Pale Ale/Bitter, and a SM IPA. Probably a Hefeweizen in the summer, while supplies last. I'll usually have one "specialty" beer at all times, but even these will be elegant in their simplicity: an Oktoberfest, an Imperial Stout (my one weakness, the exception that proves the rule, but a classic style nevertheless), a Dunkelweizen. I've added fruit only a handful of times (all with delicious success, I should say) and only then sparingly.

I do want to say, however, when it comes to beer ideology, the Imperial Pilsner is akin to the gulag. Why? Just: why?
 
as soon as they start putting more money in adds than the beer then its over.

me thinks buzzkill might be on to something here.

don't get me wrong, there are times when I will gladly accept a BMC, especially if its a schlitz, but they just aren't the same.

I'd never seen an ad for sierra nevada, stone, great lakes,weasal boy, bells, two brothers, founders, lagunitas, etc. the beers sell themselves, as it should be
 
me thinks buzzkill might be on to something here.

don't get me wrong, there are times when I will gladly accept a BMC, especially if its a schlitz, but they just aren't the same.

I'd never seen an ad for sierra nevada, stone, great lakes,weasal boy, bells, two brothers, founders, lagunitas, etc. the beers sell themselves, as it should be

You need to open your eyes, I've seen ads for most of those beers in various publications.

Marketing in a saturated and easily "me-too" market is the only way to differentiate. You can make the greatest product in the world, but if no one knows about it I rate your chances of success as very low.

Beers do *not* sell themselves.
 
There was a great article in BYO a few months back on Mild ales. The author was praising the simplicity and session quality of Milds, and lamenting the fact that there are not too many session strength beers in the market (below 4% and easy to drink in quantity). He also said that as craft brewers, we had to push the limit, to go over the top to find our limit. The beginning of the craft movement was to make beer as different from BMC as possible. While there will always be room for the giant Oak Aged Imperial Stouts and other over the top beers, I think the craft movement on whole is starting to embrace session beers.

Good post. I hope that last part is true because I grew tired of trying craft brews in the stores that always seemed to be competing with each other for over the top character.
 
The only thing I have against session beers is they are usually priced the same as their stronger brethren... until you get really stronger.

$4 for a Bitter or $4 for a melt you face IIPA or a massive RIS. Um.... not that I don't like bitter, but.
 
The only thing I have against session beers is they are usually priced the same as their stronger brethren... until you get really stronger.

$4 for a Bitter or $4 for a melt you face IIPA or a massive RIS. Um.... not that I don't like bitter, but.

I agree with that.

if you're gonna charge me $12 for a 4-pack of barleywine/strong ale, don't charge me $8 for a 6-er of 4% bitter
 
I agree with that.

if you're gonna charge me $12 for a 4-pack of barleywine/strong ale, don't charge me $8 for a 6-er of 4% bitter

Someone with some actual knowledge could probably chime in here, but I'd bet the profit margins on the small beers are what keep the prices more reasonable on the big ones.
 
The American craft beer umbrella contains the best and worst beers I've ever had. Extremeness probably has a lot to do with that. My biggest bone to pick is with shifting definitions. Today's Pale Ale is what an IPA used to be. And today's IPAs make the old Sister Star of the Sun recipe took tame. Many stouts are stouter than their old imperial brethren. And you certainly can't trust fruit to be subtle anymore. I love trying new beers but the noise to signal ratio in American craft brewing is huge and only getting larger. For every great craft beer I find, there are 5 or 6 others that are decent at best, and 3 or 4 that make me wish I had just bought a 6er of Coors instead.

I'm all for being as simple or extreme as you'd like. This is America, right? But what I don't like is pushing the boundaries and not being clear about that on the packaging. Dogfish does a great job of letting me know right from the start that they're a little extreme. Dale's Pale Ale? That should be labeled an IPA before someone puts their eye out.

Completely agree with this. American craft brew has kind of jumped the style shark.

When I buy a brown ale, I want a brown ale, not an IPA with some chocolate malt in it. If you want to brew an IPA with some chocolate malt in it, great, but don't tell me its a Brown Ale.
 
I think the price has alot to do with storage and brewing capacity. The $8 six pack is only $1.33 per bottle, and the $12 four pack is $3 bucks a bottle. Looking at it from their point of view the barley wine is more malt, but more importantly is also more time in a storage tank not allowing them to brew more beer so there is a bottleneck. Also they have to make a decent profit on the smaller stuff so they have the ability to make and sell the special beers. Sam Calagione said in the documentry Beer Wars, that if it came down to it he would get rid of his biggest beers first because of the price to make them. So pay a little extra for the "normal brews" and still get teh pleasure of drinking the special ones. IMHO
 
people were making crazy herb/chocolate/spruce beers well before the germans started telling people how to make "beer"

look up Midas Touch from dogfish head. reinheitsgebot is like the american union; originally set up to protect the drinker, now used to hinder the drinker (in some respects)

i pity the german brewer who can't explore his creativity because some a$$hats in the 15th century tried ripping people off.
True, but look what they perfected in those years since then...;) :mug:
 
people were making crazy herb/chocolate/spruce beers well before the germans started telling people how to make "beer"

look up Midas Touch from dogfish head. reinheitsgebot is like the american union; originally set up to protect the drinker, now used to hinder the drinker (in some respects)

i pity the german brewer who can't explore his creativity because some a$$hats in the 15th century tried ripping people off.

Reinheitsgebot hasn't been in place for a long time. If German brewers are still sticking with it, it's because of tradition (not necessarily a bad thing).
 
wasn't it only removed in the late 80's?

but yeah, it's not there anymore. but when you get sworn in, you're sworn in for life. so it's more "sticking to their word" kind of thing.

also note, i generally despise chocolate/fruit/herb/wtf beers in general. malt+hops is good enough for me :)
 
Tradition. hmmmmm

I have nothing against all the hop bombs and malt monsters out there, each to their own. However, apart from a few exceptions such as SNPA there seems to be a lot of missing links between traditional brews and extreme brews. I think it would be nice if there were more "inbetweenys" out there.
 
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