Highly anticipated ......... yet utterly disappointing beers.

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SamuraiSquirrel

SamuraiSquirrel

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Since venturing into the depths of the beer world beyond bud light and coors light, I have wanted to try any and every new craft beer I can get my hands on. (It's not that I never wanted to try them before. It's just that my wallet couldn't afford 8.99 for a six pack back in college)

So just about every weekend me and some friends take a trip to the local Binny's (largest liquor store around with the largest beer selection I have seen around here) and buy approximately 3 to 4 six packs each. We cannot wait to get home and sample all of the new beers we have just purchased. In order to cut down the time between purchasing, cooling, and drinking our new beers, We bring a cooler with ice to the liquor store so that by the time we get home our beers are that much closer to being cold.

Along this journey i have been absolutely amazed by some of the beers I have tried (Hop devil comes to mind here) and completely and utterly dissapointed by others (the wild devil & the jewbilation twelve come to mind here).

In hopes of potentially saving myself the 8.99 - 11.99, or at least trying to get to the amazing beers first, I figured I would ask what are some of best and worst others have had......... :tank:
 
Well the problem is, Taste is subjective....What I may like, others may absolutely hate.

We have a commercial review section here in the forum, you might want to read some of what people have written...I have posted write ups of a few beers there.

And also this thread will give you some ideas too...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f38/right-now-im-drinking-8426/

But we can't really tell you what you will like.

If you can though, find a beer store that will allow you to mix a six pack for a decent price. I have a place that has one cooler that is mixed sixers for 9.99...that way rather that buying 6 of the same beers and maybe being disapointing you can get a selection. I sometimes can do a mix of different examples of 1 style, like 6 different IPAs, or stouts....

Hope this helps. :mug:
 
Yes, I agree that taste is subjective. However, .................

My point is ........ If it is YOUR favorite beer then I will most likely want to try it.

And if it is the worst you have had ........ well I might just want to see how bad it really is depending on the day lol. :drunk:
 
yeast_infection said:
Yes, I agree that taste is subjective. However, .................

My point is ........ If it is YOUR favorite beer then I will most likely want to try it.

And if it is the worst you have had ........ well I might just want to see how bad it really is depending on the day lol. :drunk:
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With this attitude you are setting yourself up for just what you are trying to prevent. Disappointment. Some people love high hoped IPA's while others want a balanced beer.

As Revy said watch the review threads and look for someone that has similar taste in beers as yourself. Then ask them directly what else they would recommend you try.
 
weirdboy said:
I frequently go to BevMo and buy bombers of beers I haven't tried yet to see if I'll like them.
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My local BevMo has beer tastings every Friday afternoon. I'm headed that way again tonight. $0.99 is a good price to pay to drink several tastes of beer and it saves me from buying stuff that I think is C-R-A-P!

I'm just waiting for them to have Firestone Walker tastings again. They can't get me to leave the tasting table on those days! :cross:
 
Beernip said:
With this attitude you are setting yourself up for just what you are trying to prevent. Disappointment. Some people love high hoped IPA's while others want a balanced beer.

As Revy said watch the review threads and look for someone that has similar taste in beers as yourself. Then ask them directly what else they would recommend you try.
Click to expand...

Don't worry about dissapointment. If you don't drink something you don't like from time to time, you simply aren't trying enough new beer!!

Ya, taste is subjective. But I want to try new things, not stuff I know I'm going to like. I love english ales, but that's not all I want to try. That would be boring as all hell.

We've all been burned recommending stuff to people that then turn around and say "this sucks!", and then we feel like idiots. But I think Yeast_Infection just wants some beers we highly regard and we should be proud to say what we like.

Anyway, with that in mind:

North Coast Red Seal
Pliny the Elder from Russian River
North Coast Old Rasputin
Rodenbach Grand Cru
Dupont Saison Vielle Provision


These are all some of the best examples of the style category they are in. If you don't like them, I might suggest you don't like those particular styles.
 
EricCSU said:
I would also recommend Beer Advocate. Most beers have quite a few reviews, so you can get a decent idea of what a beer is all about.

Eric
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I was gonna say the same thing- Beer Advocate has quite comprehensive reviews, at least to point one in some direction. As with all matters of taste, the rest is up to the individual.....
 
lucky2balive said:
My local BevMo has beer tastings every Friday afternoon. I'm headed that way again tonight. $0.99 is a good price to pay to drink several tastes of beer and it saves me from buying stuff that I think is C-R-A-P!

I'm just waiting for them to have Firestone Walker tastings again. They can't get me to leave the tasting table on those days! :cross:
Click to expand...

I'm aware of the tastings. In fact, the wife and I just got back from a grand opening of a new BevMo near us that had a whole bunch of tastings going on. Earlier they were doing Lost Coast, and then switched to Stone at lunchtime. Unfortunately the tastings I've been to usually only cover beers that I've already tried.


On the flipside if you like Firestone and are in Central CA, they have a tasting menu at the brewery in Paso Robles.
 
lucky2balive said:
My local BevMo has beer tastings every Friday afternoon. I'm headed that way again tonight. $0.99 is a good price to pay to drink several tastes of beer and it saves me from buying stuff that I think is C-R-A-P!

I'm just waiting for them to have Firestone Walker tastings again. They can't get me to leave the tasting table on those days! :cross:
Click to expand...

hmm.... which Bevmo would that be?
 
Turlock. It's on my way home from work. I actually didn't stop by this evening, but I did almost run out of gas! Newcastle in hand now. Filling out forms to renegotiate our 3 mortgages. :confused: Waiting for a friend to come over before we dive into the Evil Twin and Surly Sow IPA homebrews! :tank:
 
yeast_infection said:
So just about every weekend me and some friends take a trip to the local Binny's (largest liquor store around with the largest beer selection I have seen around here) and buy approximately 3 to 4 six packs each. We cannot wait to get home and sample all of the new beers we have just purchased. In order to cut down the time between purchasing, cooling, and drinking our new beers, We bring a cooler with ice to the liquor store so that by the time we get home our beers are that much closer to being cold.
Click to expand...

Binny's has beer tastings almost every week. Get on their mailing list, its worth it.
 
Man, guys, this isn't that hard.

Beer that blew my mind:

Stone's Cali-Beligique IPA. We were at the brewery and got the beers on the table mixed up. I kept arguing this had to be something Belgian (yeast) while a friend was saying IPA (hops). Turns out we were both right, although I felt like an idiot arguing that something with 77 IBUs "wasn't that hoppy."

Beer that left me cold:

DFH 90-minute. Tooooo sweeeeeeet.
 
if you came from the land of bud light (as did I), i would recommend starting in with some of the different german lagers... vienna, oktoberfest/marzen, schwarzbier, bock... as well as other german beers dunkelweizen, kolsch, alt, weizenbock... personally, i absolutely love the german offerings... after all, they have been brewing an awful long time, so they must be doing something right!

kostrizer schwarzbier is a favorite for brands.
 
I will bet that if you take careful note, you will find that the ones that taste "best" are the ones that were brewed closest to where you live. Beer is pretty fragile stuff to transport and real "cold chain management" is expensive and difficult, and not likely to be seriously undertaken by beer transporters. Plus, six packs sitting out under the lights is not the best way to maintain flavor, even in a chilled environment like a reefer case in a store.
 
Few who are recently exposed to beers beyond the American Lager have a tounge for beers that are leaning hard on the bitter side. Some take years to appreciate them. I did. Now, love em.

do a bit of reading on styles and taste accordingly. Ease into the IPA world. English style are a lot more mild then those from the western US. (in general)

Buy bombers with buddies and do tasting nights. That way you're not stuck with a 6-pack you don't like

but you can send those to me for disposal.
 
I have had beers I didn't like......yet liked later....the mood you are in/food you are eating/beer you just drank has alot to do with it..

sample the IPA's last.:p


I love to try new beers.
 
davefleck said:
do a bit of reading on styles and taste accordingly. Ease into the IPA world. English style are a lot more mild then those from the western US. (in general)
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The OP said he liked Hop Devil, so I doubt that the issue is that the beers are too hoppy and bitter for him.
 
lol ....... this was a largely misunderstood post. Over 300 views and only 2 or 3 suggestions. I wasn't hoping for a discussion on taste but rather hoping that everyone who opened this would list the first beer that jumped into their head when they think of an "amazing" or "god aweful" beer.

I just want to try a lot of beer. I will not be offended the beer you rant and rave about is "not for me"
 
One of the sites that I use most often to get an idea of a beer's quality is Ratebeer.com. It has nearly every beer...and so many people have reviewed each beer that you get a good consensus opinion. So you are not just trusting one person's idea of a good beer but the average of hundreds. Just be careful to look at the "Style percentage" ranking rather than a beer's "overall percentage" ranking to get an idea of how it stacks up against other beers within the same style. I have found this site to be incredibly useful.

Sometimes when I am at the beer store I'll write down a bunch of beers that I really want to try, then I will come home and look them up. That has ended up saving me a lot of money on beers that pretty much everyone agrees are crap!

To answer your question, I usually trust the brewery...if they make a few well-crafted beers then I'll be willing to try all their beers. The latest one that I've gotten into is Ninkasi Brewing (Oregon) - not sure of their distribution though. Probably my overall favorite is Russian River Brewery.
 
yeast_infection said:
lol ....... this was a largely misunderstood post. Over 300 views and only 2 or 3 suggestions. I wasn't hoping for a discussion on taste but rather hoping that everyone who opened this would list the first beer that jumped into their head when they think of an "amazing" or "god aweful" beer.

I just want to try a lot of beer. I will not be offended the beer you rant and rave about is "not for me"
Click to expand...

That was what I was trying to say! Anyway I gave you 5!
 
yeast_infection said:
lol ....... this was a largely misunderstood post. Over 300 views and only 2 or 3 suggestions. I wasn't hoping for a discussion on taste but rather hoping that everyone who opened this would list the first beer that jumped into their head when they think of an "amazing" or "god aweful" beer.

I just want to try a lot of beer. I will not be offended the beer you rant and rave about is "not for me"
Click to expand...

I understood when I read your post yesterday so I'll bite. I wouldn't say these were highly anticipated but definitely beers I had higher hopes for.

First one, Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout. I think this ended up being one of the most bashed beers on BeerAdvocate last year. I had it on tap and it was great though I don't think I could drink more than one in a sitting. It tasted exactly like creme brulee and is definitely a dessert beer. My girlfriend fell in love with it so I picked her up a 22oz bottle and it was horrible. Cloyingly sweet and nothing like it was on tap. Drainpoured, and I hate wasting beer.

Next, Great Divide Titan IPA. I love IPAs and Great Divide makes good beer so it's gotta be good beer, right? No. It was so piney and had this weird taste. I couldn't drink it and ended up dumping it.

I know there are others but those are the first two that pop into my head. Oh yeah, somewhat related, I went to a beerfest at the end of last summer. Five or six breweries brought their Octoberfests and almost every single one of them was way too sweet and disgusting. There may have been one that was palatable. I couldn't believe it. The group I was with was looking forward to these beers once we were handed the Brewery and Beer list when we walked in. Thought we'd all get a sneak preview of all the Ofests but we were all let down.

When it comes to "big letdowns" I only include beers that fall into styles I'm very familiar with. For instance, I've had a lot of highly regarded Belgians that I didn't like the first time I drank them. I don't consider them to be utter disappointments because they may have been the first example of a style I'm trying for the first time.
 
Alesmith IPA tasted with much anticipation having read great things and my first thought was I can do much better than this. = Ordinary

The Immortal IPA - really did not care for the flavors and was a wee bit surprised by the hops used as I generally like them.

Rogue Brutal Bitter - in the bottle was nothing special. Poured from the tap in an Irish pub recently to the rim and was blown away by how much I liked it. Next up on the clone brew schedule for me.

Beers with spices, fruits, pumpkin and anything but hops, grain, yeast & water really turn me off. They are on the same scale for me as pineapple/ham pizza.
 
I've never had a bad beer from stone.Victory golden monkey is really good.I really like the bellhavens wee heavy.

IMHO all lambics that I have tried are nasty.like was said before.Don't take it from me.Some people love em.I just don't like sour beers.
 
Yeah I liked victory's golden monkey also. Was not impressed by their Hop Wallop. I will have to try a lambic. I don't know that I have ever had one??? Any reccomendations on a good stout? I have tried ton's of IPA's but not many of other styles. Any reccomendations on good beers from other styles would be appreciated.
 
I'd continue doing what your doing. Find out what styles you think you will like and try different beers from that style category.

For me, Lambics, or any fruit or sour beer is out. That is just nasty to me. But what I nearly threw up when I tasted, other people were raving about. Everyone is different, and even some beers that lots of people think are fantastic, others would not give a second taste, or even can't stand. I'd just keep trying them.

it might be less expensive if you could purchase them in singles, like I can.
 
I would suggest looking at the BJCP guidelines for each style and choosing one or two commercial examples from each. The examples listed are generally understood to be 'classic' examples of the style.
 
Alright.

Beers I Love and will buy over and over. Many of these are seasonals.

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine (Seasonal).
Lagunitas Hop Stupid. The smoothest 100+ IBU beer I've ever had.
Descheutes Jubelale (Seasonal)
Alaskan White (Seasonal)
Alaskan Summer Ale (Seasonal)
Widmer Brrr (Seasonal)
Descheutes Black Butte Porter


Some that I'll probably never buy again (I may have had a bad bottle, but still....)
Lagunitas Gnarlywine
Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence (The most dissapointing, yet spendy beer I've bought)
Trade Route Brewing Mango Weizen. (very sour, and not supposed to be).
 
I'm a big fan of Boon and Cantillion Guezue (unlike the other anti-lambic posts)

I also hated Delirium Tremens (which once won "Best Beer in the World")

So how's that for subjective taste!
 
Hey yeast -

I agree with Revvy. Taste is too subjective. You'll get tons of suggestions from folks here, but it really boils down to what you like.

Having said that, here's MY suggestions.

First, go to Tipsy's out on C470 & Bowles. They have a cooler full of singles you can mix. That's how I figured out what style I wanted to brew. Plus they have the most incredible selection of imported and specialty beer I've ever seen.

As for beers, honestly the only beer I really get a woody for anymore is mine, or at the micro pub. Not bottled, but right at the restaurant, tasting room, or bar. So much better fresh! Take a growler home - way better than store bought.

Breckenridge's 471 IPA was an instant orgasm.
Their Summerbright and Christmas Ales are great too.
Rock Bottom's Stout is great
Pint's Pub (near downtown) has two really good cask-conditioned ales.
Tour New Belgium and Great Divide.

Okay, for commercial (bottled):
SNPA - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
Sam Adams Boston Ale (not Lager). Don't care for the Lager, LOVE the Ale.
Anything from Bridgeport.
Pliny the Elder - Russian River. Not for the faint of tongue, but dang!

My two cents.
 
can't wait to try some of these. Especially the pliny the elder. Big IPA fan and this is one that continues to come up.
 
thedigitale said:
I'm a big fan of Boon and Cantillion Guezue (unlike the other anti-lambic posts)

I also hated Delirium Tremens (which once won "Best Beer in the World")

So how's that for subjective taste!
Click to expand...

I 100% agree with Tremens. I was stoked to try the Best Beer in the World! And thoroughly dissapointed. But I just don't like Golden Strongs. Now I love Delirium Noel!
 
I disagree with most of you, taste is not subjective. What I like is best end of story......haha kidding but for real...

Hop Stoopid by Lagunitas - still my favorite IPA by a good margin.
Yakima Glory Ale by Victory - a great surprise I didn't expect to like so much
Same for Oddside Ales Citra Pale Ale
Bell's Oberon Ale - my first craft beer love and still a summer favorite even though its not as good as years ago
Bell's Special Cream Stout - I'm not a usually a stout fan (I love porters though) this beer has the bet mouth feel of any beer I've ever had

Disappointing beers

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, tried in bomber and on tap twice and still can't figure why its so widely loved.
Any lambics or sours..i try them now and then, found a few drinkables but nothing I'd buy twice
Leinenkuegels Orange Shandy - I really like their Lemon shandy in the summer but this orange tastes like really cheap carbonated orange juice.

Not too many other disappointments, I like most beers.
 
Zoidberg said:
I disagree with most of you, taste is not subjective. What I like is best end of story......haha kidding but for real...

Hop Stoopid by Lagunitas - still my favorite IPA by a good margin.
Yakima Glory Ale by Victory - a great surprise I didn't expect to like so much
Same for Oddside Ales Citra Pale Ale
Bell's Oberon Ale - my first craft beer love and still a summer favorite even though its not as good as years ago
Bell's Special Cream Stout - I'm not a usually a stout fan (I love porters though) this beer has the bet mouth feel of any beer I've ever had

Disappointing beers

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, tried in bomber and on tap twice and still can't figure why its so widely loved.
Any lambics or sours..i try them now and then, found a few drinkables but nothing I'd buy twice
Leinenkuegels Orange Shandy - I really like their Lemon shandy in the summer but this orange tastes like really cheap carbonated orange juice.

Not too many other disappointments, I like most beers.
Click to expand...

To balance your opinions, I hate Hop Stoopid, I think SNPA is very good for what it is (a nice pale that doesn't go over the top with hops) and I will drink all the lambics and sours you don't want.
 
Anything from Cigar City if you can get it will be great. I just had Gillian from Goose Island last night and it was worth every penny.
 

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