What are your contrarian/"unpopular" beer opinions?

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Bilsch said:
Contrarian? I couldn't agree more.
Except that Radeberger part. I loves me some fresh Radeberg lager!
And apparently Vladimir Putin does too. So there is that.
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There's a picture floating around the Chinese internet of Xi Jinping drinking Greene King IPA and looking more or less dissatisfied. Greene King has sold a ton of beer in China since then. Imagine if he were smiling into his pint...

What other beers do semi-authoritarian leaders around the world endorse? We know that Trump doesn't drink beer because he can't pull a ring tab or work a bottle opener with his tiny hands, but who else?
 
Cavpilot2000 said:
Then you're either drinking the wrong Pilsners, or your palate has been wrecked by getting used to too much hops.

For most American Pilsners, I would agree with you. Even a lot of German and Czech Pilsners aren't that great (I'm looking at you, Radeburger).

Find yourself a good Bavarian Pils and try it with an open mind and a fresh, attentive palate, and you will find plenty going on.

Unfortunately for that experience, you have to go to Germany or find someone here making really good Pilsners (not easy to do).

A GOOD pilsner is pretty much the pinnacle of brewing craft and one of the most difficult styles to brew well (along with Kolsch and Munich Helles).
As I've said before, IPAs are the Sesame Street of brewing. Nothing wrong with IPAs, but they are about the easiest style to make a decent version of.
Even NEIPAs (which I love). I don't know why there are so many threads with so many people asking advice on making them. They are actually super easy.
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You're right! You see, I live in Belgium. We have multiple well known pilsners ( genre stella) but I really don't like those European style pilsners. There's nothing going on inside the glass. Maybe it's been a while since i had a good one or maybe they're just really not my thing. I've always enjoyed a good Westmalle, Omer, Orval or a Brugge tripel (that last one is an AMAZING beer).

Maybe I just prefer complicated flavors and pilsner flavors are to simple for me. For example: Brugge tripel has hints of banana, cuberdon, caramel, chocolate and cranberry ALL IN THE SAME GLASS :)
Sadly the only thing known about the recipe is that they use pale malt, spring water and kent golding and a yeast that adds roasted/smoked flavor.

But my absolute favorite beers are the saisons I brew at home and Rodenbach, brewed in my hometown.
 
Kee said:
I only drink Pilsner when something with more flavor is not available. That would never be the case in Bruges.
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I actually don't live in Bruges but in Roeselare (where they make Rodenbach). When I made this profile I couldn't pick My city so I took the closest one. Maybe I should check if I can change it now
 
Bilsch said:
Contrarian? I couldn't agree more.
Except that Radeberger part. I loves me some fresh Radeberg lager!
And apparently Vladimir Putin does too. So there is that.
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That wasn't my contrarian opinion (because it's not contrarian) - that was my response to the contrarian opinion that Pilsners are boring.

A German friend of mine who is from Bitburger country makes fun of Radeburger. He calls it "That East German Beer" and says East Germans forgot how to make good beer after so many years under the Soviet Union's thumb. lol.

I dunno, I bought a sixer of it recently because I'd never had it before, and I think it's okay, but nothing special (but it has admittedly suffered from importing).
I think pretty much ALL beer made outside the US suffers from shipping and importing and none are what they are actually supposed to be like.
Except Heinekin - They intentionally skunk it because Heinekin drinkers apparently think skunky beer is the norm.
 
jan_b19 said:
You're right! You see, I live in Belgium. We have multiple well known pilsners ( genre stella) but I really don't like those European style pilsners. There's nothing going on inside the glass. Maybe it's been a while since i had a good one or maybe they're just really not my thing. I've always enjoyed a good Westmalle, Omer, Orval or a Brugge tripel (that last one is an AMAZING beer).

Maybe I just prefer complicated flavors and pilsner flavors are to simple for me. For example: Brugge tripel has hints of banana, cuberdon, caramel, chocolate and cranberry ALL IN THE SAME GLASS :)
Sadly the only thing known about the recipe is that they use pale malt, spring water and kent golding and a yeast that adds roasted/smoked flavor.

But my absolute favorite beers are the saisons I brew at home and Rodenbach, brewed in my hometown.
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Yes, well, you do have a lot of great local beer to choose from, and there's no arguing the complexity of them.
I believe, however, that a good Pils, while perhaps not as complex, has some very interesting flavors going on (fresh cereal grains, subtle noble hops. etc). However, you will not find that in pretty much any of the big mass-produced European light lagers like Stella, Heinekin (horrible, at least in the US), Warsteiner, Becks, etc.

I don't even really care for Pilsner Urquell. I can't say it's a style thing, because it's supposed to be the progenitor of the style, but my palate likes Bavarian Pils better than Czech Pilsner.
 
I think I am almost too new to have any controversial opinions developed, yet, but I have a story of my adherence to a name of a piece of equipment that was decently frowned upon in the former brewing forum I used to post on.

41kvBqAd8ML._SL500_AC_SS350_.jpg


Here they are. They were listed on Amazon as what was called "Ball Lock Cornelius Keg Pigtails".

I had been super stoked to find these as I wanted to get into kegging and I already had my own kegerator with a top mounted faucet/tap. I needed something to wash out my kegs with and push air through, etc, so I found these and was super stoked. I decided to post about them calling them "Pigtails".

Other brewers believed them to be better referred to as "Ball Lock Corny Keg gas out and picnic tap."

I thought this was kinda ridiculous and indicated I would be using "pigtails" instead.

Someone also posted this picture as something it could be confused with

14815536731_2b1a338bb2.jpg


This is a brewer's pigtail. Singular. Not confusable.

*puts on flame jacket*
 

Actually I'd say that's more of a ball lock gas-in line ("in" to a keg from a CO2 tank) and a picnic spout.
You can call them whatever you want.
You can even call them magical blue unicorn horns if you like, but nobody in brewing calls them pigtails.
 
Bilsch said:
Contrarian? I couldn't agree more.
Except that Radeberger part. I loves me some fresh Radeberg lager!
And apparently Vladimir Putin does too. So there is that.
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I'm drinking a Radeburger now as I write this.
The base flavor is pretty decent. Definitely that "German" Pils flavor.
But there is a metallic twang, kinda like when you drink from a bottle and you can taste the metal from the cap on the lip of the bottle.
It's off-putting.
(I have friends who think I'm snobbish about wanting my beer in a glass rather than a bottle, but I don't like tasting the cap on the mouth of the bottle (yes, I remove the cap before drinking... ;-)).
 
Cavpilot2000 said:
A GOOD pilsner is pretty much the pinnacle of brewing craft and one of the most difficult styles to brew well (along with Kolsch and Munich Helles).
As I've said before, IPAs are the Sesame Street of brewing. Nothing wrong with IPAs, but they are about the easiest style to make a decent version of.
Even NEIPAs (which I love). I don't know why there are so many threads with so many people asking advice on making them. They are actually super easy.
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Not sure I agree with this. IPAs have a lot going on and it's easy to throw hops at wort, but so many breweries and homebrewers manage to make subpar IPAs all the time. It takes a good process and brewing skill to make a remarkable IPA. I don't think off-flavors are as easily masked by the hops as people think. That being said, I'd say making a passable IPA is easy.
 
Subpar IPAs are made by adding too many hops. Even a bitter IPA can be balanced.
 
Fruit doesn't belong in beer. Not in the fermenter. Not as garnish. Especially not as garnish. Definitely not as artificial fruit flavor.
 
schematix said:
Fruit doesn't belong in beer. Not in the fermenter. Not as garnish. Especially not as garnish. Definitely not as artificial fruit flavor.
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Right on. Similarly, if I wanted a jalapeno IPA, I'll order up some jalapeno poppers and wash it down with an IPA. I see no point in making a beer taste like not a beer.
 
schematix said:
Fruit doesn't belong in beer. Not in the fermenter. Not as garnish. Especially not as garnish. Definitely not as artificial fruit flavor.
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98% of the time I would agree about fruit beer, except for citrus - lemon and orange definitely have a place in SOME styles (wit, Weissbier, etc).

And I normally dislike all other fruit beers, but I have one guilty pleasure fruit beer: Harpoon Camp Wannamango. It is the only example I know of a fruit beer well done enough that I will repeat it (again and again).

If you have an opportunity and you can do the mental gymnastics to have an open mind about it, give it a try. If it helps, just don't think of it as "beer" - think of it as boozy malt-derived fruit juice.
 
schematix said:
Fruit doesn't belong in beer. Not in the fermenter. Not as garnish. Especially not as garnish. Definitely not as artificial fruit flavor.
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Incorrect on all counts except the artificial flavor. (But to each his or her own.)
 
daveMN said:
Right on. Similarly, if I wanted a jalapeno IPA, I'll order up some jalapeno poppers and wash it down with an IPA. I see no point in making a beer taste like not a beer.
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Couldn't agree more. Local brewery recently made a beer using ghost peppers and coffee. It was hands down the worst beer I've ever tried (and I've tried my own infected brews). I then complained about it to my friend/fellow home brewer, who was shocked at my disgust. He and his wife absolutely loved it.
 
Coathanger said:
Couldn't agree more. Local brewery recently made a beer using ghost peppers and coffee. It was hands down the worst beer I've ever tried (and I've tried my own infected brews). I then complained about it to my friend/fellow home brewer, who was shocked at my disgust. He and his wife absolutely loved it.
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I was at a beerfest a few weeks ago and a new brewery had some of the strangest brews I have ever seen:
Dill Gose (everyone said it tasted like pickle juice)
Smoked Gouda Porter (tried this one and you really had to imagine Gouda)
Hibiscus IPA (I hate hibiscus!)
Coffee Kolsch
Blue Cheese IPA (this one was actually pretty tasty!)
 
bleme said:
I was at a beerfest a few weeks ago and a new brewery had some of the strangest brews I have ever seen:

Dill Gose (everyone said it tasted like pickle juice)

Smoked Gouda Porter (tried this one and you really had to imagine Gouda)

Hibiscus IPA (I hate hibiscus!)

Coffee Kolsch

Blue Cheese IPA (this one was actually pretty tasty!)
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For me, it's a fine line. I don't do well with anything spicy, so all that jalapeño ghost death circus pepper crap is automatically a no-go. Everything you listed, to me, is pushing the "boundary" a bit much...but I'm open to trying anything (hence my regrettable aforementioned consumption of the coffee pepper beer).

I guess I am more apt to agree with flavours being introduced to exaggerate or compliment the naturally imparted flavours offered by whatever hops, grain etc that was used. If that makes any sense.

Edit: Smoked Gouda Porter actually sounds pretty appetizing right about now... lol
 
I'm weird in that I like going out of my way to make beers that don't fit with BJCP styles without using adjuncts. Stuff like my Munich malt-heavy Steam Ale or my strong pale Mild. You don't need to put weird **** in your beer to make something unique.
 
1. If your beer doesn't taste good out of primary, aging is a bandaid and you just make ****ty beer.

2. Miller High Life is a well done, enjoyable american lager with clear hints of it's german origins.
 
drunkEnough4U said:
1. If your beer doesn't taste good out of primary, aging is a bandaid and you just make ****ty beer.

2. Miller High Life is a well done, enjoyable american lager with clear hints of it's german origins.
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Yeah! Tell me about it, I had to dump a keg yesterday to make room for some good beer.
 
schematix said:
Fruit doesn't belong in beer. Not in the fermenter. Not as garnish. Especially not as garnish. Definitely not as artificial fruit flavor.
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Eh, couldn't disagree more. Except maybe the artificial flavoring, but natural extracts are fine. Lots of old beers were flavored with all kinds of fruits and herbs. I don't really believe in "rules" for beer making. Experimenting and enhancing is the best part of homebrewing. I think the majority of your Fermentables should be from grain but otherwise put in whatever you want.
 
I drink commercial. I drink hb and craft as I have the opportunity, but it s something really expensive here in Italy. So the classic everyday beer is always a commercial one, and when I can I drink something special like a good craft beer or a new beer that I don't know yet. Or one of mine ^^.
And, guess what? I enjoy my commercial one. Not as much as I enjoy craft, but it s a different type of joy, not necessarily worst.
Cheers buds!
 
I don't like sulfate in my IPAs/Pale Ales.

For years I chased after an off-flavor in my IPAs. I tried everything: Use no crystal/use a little crystal, add wheat/don't add wheat, add some munich, add some Vienna, use ALL Vienna, use all Briess Pale Ale malt, use dextrose/don't use dextrose, mash low/mash high, whirlpool/don't whirlpool, use 001, 1007, 1084, Denny's, 1272, use 300 mg/L sulfate/use 100 mg/L sulfate (I'm thorough, you see ...)

Anyway, this unpleasant off flavor was ALWAYS present and I hated it. Why don't my other beers have this same off flavor?! It was driving me crazy. Then it hit me - I don't put gypsum in anything else that I brew so maybe that's it? I brewed EdWort's Haus Pale Ale recipe with RO water and only 5 g CaCl in the mash, no gypsum or Epsom salts. Guess what? That was it. From now on, zero mg/L sulfate in my IPAs and pales.
 
JonM said:
I don't like sulfate in my IPAs/Pale Ales.

For years I chased after an off-flavor in my IPAs. I tried everything: Use no crystal/use a little crystal, add wheat/don't add wheat, add some munich, add some Vienna, use ALL Vienna, use all Briess Pale Ale malt, use dextrose/don't use dextrose, mash low/mash high, whirlpool/don't whirlpool, use 001, 1007, 1084, Denny's, 1272, use 300 mg/L sulfate/use 100 mg/L sulfate (I'm thorough, you see ...)

Anyway, this unpleasant off flavor was ALWAYS present and I hated it. Why don't my other beers have this same off flavor?! It was driving me crazy. Then it hit me - I don't put gypsum in anything else that I brew so maybe that's it? I brewed EdWort's Haus Pale Ale recipe with RO water and only 5 g CaCl in the mash, no gypsum or Epsom salts. Guess what? That was it. From now on, zero mg/L sulfate in my IPAs and pales.
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I feel like gypsum is what helped my IPAs. Just a teaspoon. I have only brewed a few styles but I've used gypsum in the last IPA and also in my tripel. The tripel seems to taste pretty good, albeit only a week old. I haven't had my water tested for sulfates but culligan tested most of the other items. If it works I'll keep doing it.
 
JonM said:
I don't like sulfate in my IPAs/Pale Ales.

For years I chased after an off-flavor in my IPAs. I tried everything: Use no crystal/use a little crystal, add wheat/don't add wheat, add some munich, add some Vienna, use ALL Vienna, use all Briess Pale Ale malt, use dextrose/don't use dextrose, mash low/mash high, whirlpool/don't whirlpool, use 001, 1007, 1084, Denny's, 1272, use 300 mg/L sulfate/use 100 mg/L sulfate (I'm thorough, you see ...)

Anyway, this unpleasant off flavor was ALWAYS present and I hated it. Why don't my other beers have this same off flavor?! It was driving me crazy. Then it hit me - I don't put gypsum in anything else that I brew so maybe that's it? I brewed EdWort's Haus Pale Ale recipe with RO water and only 5 g CaCl in the mash, no gypsum or Epsom salts. Guess what? That was it. From now on, zero mg/L sulfate in my IPAs and pales.
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Interesting. How would you describe that off-flavor from sulfate?
 
drunkEnough4U said:
1. If your beer doesn't taste good out of primary, aging is a bandaid and you just make ****ty beer.

2. Miller High Life is a well done, enjoyable american lager with clear hints of it's german origins.
Click to expand...

Well, bandaid or not, the prospect of improvement with age has kept a couple of my beers from getting dumped. Temperature control is what seemed to make the most difference in my "young" beers though. My last couple haven't really changed much from the first gravity sample to the last bottle.
 
JonM said:
I don't think I can describe it - it was just kinda ... off.
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I've noticed when I lean on the gypsum, my beers tend to have a little something that's just off somehow. My last APA has 2:1 SO4 to Cl ratio, and shows signs of it. I might have to test the same recipe with a reverse ratio.
 
Yakima 300

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