What is wrong with my local brewpubs?

[GilaMinumBeer]

The dominatrix thing, well, I can't really discuss that in public.

Point proven!

A real dominatrix would've just ordered him to shut up.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Clone yourself 1000 Times and fill all the seats...otherwise the other 999 seats will be filled with people who don't have your same tastes in beer..

Brewing is like cooking....take 1000 people and give them a Steak and a grill and tell them to cook the perfect steak..you will get 1000 variations ..everyone will believe theirs was the perfect one...Is 1/16" of pink a Medium Well or is it 1/4" or 3/8". Is 15 seconds on each side a rare or do you need to break a sweat to be rare.

This is true... But there's also an objective standard of quality to be achieved...

Think about it this way. Yes, if you give 1000 people a steak and a grill they might each have different ideas of how the "perfect" steak should be prepared.

But regardless of preparation method*, a bite of a dry-aged, well-marbled USDA Prime steak will be objectively better than a bite of an ungraded piece of crappy beef.

I like to tell people that I've reached a point with tasting of beer where I can tell the difference between "a bad beer" and "a good beer that I just don't like". I may not like a style or a brewer's interpretation on a style while being able to appreciate the fact that they make good beer.

A lot of these brewpubs are just frankly producing bad beer. A lot of people don't have sophisticated enough palates to tell the difference, just as a lot of people order steak at cheap restaurants even though the meat is not very good.

That doesn't mean that criticizing a brewpub's quality is just a matter a personal preference. Sometimes--and this is sadly not necessarily uncommon--brewpubs make crappy beer.

* Ok, preparing it well done will ruin both bites.

 

[Gerry_P]

Fair enough.
IPAs don't have that much quicker turnaround than most other styles - all depends on the yeast used.

Au contraire, mon frère. If you want a quick turnaround beer, one well-known trick is to brew something with a s***-ton of hops to mask the off-flavors that are a sign of inadequate conditioning or other issues.
When I say "quick turnaround" I mean a couple weeks or less, however long it takes for fermentation to complete. It might not be the greatest beer ever, but it can be adequate. Stouts are another example of a "quick turnaround" beer because roasted barley and black patent can also mask off-flavors.

 

[ericbw]

I think brewpubs and local places "have" to make an IPA. I always try it, but I rarely like it. Many places have several. IPA, IIPA, DIPA, etc.