In defense of OG breweries.

[lowtones84]

I see a lot of hate/"meh" about breweries that used to serve us well. Bells, Stone, Boulevard, Sierra Nevada, Ommegang, Allagash. There are more for sure.

Sound off in support of these breweries (No time for hate)! I'm not an Anti-NEIPA guy, but I'm sorry, breweries seem to be just jamming hops into stuff now and sending it out even if it's oxidized and not a good product.

 

[RobbieOByrne]

*chirp**Chirp*... of course Stone, Sierra Nevada and a lot of “independent Craft breweries” are awesome. I have a problem with companies who sell out, I notice changes in flavors and lack of care about product when that happens.

 

[Bassman2003]

Craft brewing is too big of an industry now for me to fight for any underdogs. Supporting is a broad term. I do not buy a lot of beer because I brew my own. So I am not their best customer! When I go out I have one or two but that does not dictate what shows up in the taps.

Looking at the beer landscape right now, it would be tough not to "sell out". Too much, too loud, too many is what I see on the supermarket aisle. My cousin and I have always joked about starting a brewery but it makes me cringe. It seems your packaging and social media strategy is more important than your beer to succeed. So I do not see it as selling out. It was and is a business venture that involves making a cool product we all love. Not a fan of buyouts and flavor flattening but this is an expensive business/world and sadly the money does the talkin' even at the distributor/bar level.

 

[Pappers_]

I see a lot of hate/"meh" about breweries that used to serve us well. Bells, Stone, Boulevard, Sierra Nevada, Ommegang, Allagash. There are more for sure.

Sound off in support of these breweries (No time for hate)! I'm not an Anti-NEIPA guy, but I'm sorry, breweries seem to be just jamming hops into stuff now and sending it out even if it's oxidized and not a good product.

I had an excellent Sierra Nevada Ovila Quad recently, as well as an interesting Dogfish Head Dragon Yum Yum. I would buy a beer made by any of the breweries you listed.

Like others above, I brew so don't buy much/any beer to drink at home, it's when we go out. I am also a fan of local taproom.

@lowtones84 What does 'OG' stand for in this thread's title and what is your take on the question you pose?

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Is this a sellout thread?
First two posts seem to suggest that. No idea what "OG" stands for....if so...

I could gives a rats ass who own the brewery. If I like the beer I like the beer, if I dont I dont.

I find it laughable when I hear someone say they "used" to love the beer but instantly wont buy it if they sell the company....for a little thing called profit and enjoy the fruits of their labor...God Forbid

Those folks need to get off their high horse....your silly little protest ain't gunna change the world

If its about to much hops in a beer I agree. I'm more a fan of traditional IPa's then hop bombs

 

[Pappers_]

I could gives a rats ass who own the brewery. If I like the beer I like the beer, if I dont I dont.

I find it laughable when I hear someone say they "used" to love the beer but instantly wont buy it if they sell the company....for a little thing called profit and enjoy the fruits of their labor...God Forbid

Those folks need to get off their high horse....your silly little protest ain't gunna change the world

So you oppose consumers expressing an opinion by choosing to buy or not buy a product?

I'm teasing a little, just trying to point out that the free market argument goes both ways - both for business and consumer.

 

[TheMadKing]

I could gives a rats ass who own the brewery. If I like the beer I like the beer, if I dont I dont.

I find it laughable when I hear someone say they "used" to love the beer but instantly wont buy it if they sell the company....for a little thing called profit and enjoy the fruits of their labor...God Forbid

Those folks need to get off their high horse....your silly little protest ain't gunna change the world

Cheers

Just spent the day at Blue Point yesterday.

It's owned by AB Inbev but you know what I was doing there? I was at a big brew day hosted by the brewery to support all the local homebrew clubs. The head brewer was there in person giving away free hops to everyone brewing, and free beer to anyone that walked up.

He worked there before the buy out and he still works there and he said this and I'm paraphrase but it's pretty close:

"ABI was the best thing that ever happened to me. The owners made sure they were not allowed to change the recipes as a term of the sale, so from my perspective the buy out gave me access to the resources of 13 other breweries, a new bottling and canning line that we couldn't have afforded otherwise, benefits and raises for all of the employees, an improved brewing system, and set hours. Now instead of humping grain around until I'm 70 and dropping dead from a heart attack, I'll actually be able to retire one day."

Great guy, great brewery, they do a ton to support their local homebrewers and there are 4 other independent breweries within a mile.

 

[kh54s10]

I find that I like some of the beers by most breweries. And I don't like others. Some of the ones that were not available and highly touted were a disappointment when I finally got one. Fat Tire was one. I had my expectations raised from reading about it. When I finally got one I thought "What's the big deal" Other beers by New Belgium Brewing, IMO, are better than Fat Tire.

 

[Pappers_]

@TheMadKing I live close to Goose Island in Chicago, go to their taproom, and am friends with a few of their brewers. You're right, in many ways ABInbev is a good thing for us who live nearby.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Just spent the day at Blue Point yesterday.

.

Blue Point Brewery on Long Island? Thats 10 minutes from my house.
They were the fist craft brew on Long Island serving tap beer. The toasted Lager was their only beer sold on tap at local bars and the the ONLY craft beer on tap next to bud and coors.....looong before 15 craft beers on tap at every bar. That lasted for years.That beer single handedly got me into craft beer and away from Bud. Which led into homebrew. So I guess you could say they got me into brewing beer

But they sold to AB so I guess I should hate them now

 

[TheMadKing]

Blue Point Brewery on Long Island? Thats 10 minutes from my house.
They were the fist craft brew on Long Island serving tap beer. The toasted Lager was their only beer sold on tap at local bars and the the ONLY craft beer on tap next to bud and coors.....looong before 15 craft beers on tap at every bar. That lasted for years.That beer single handedly got me into craft beer and away from Bud. Which led into homebrew. So I guess you could say they got me into brewing beer

But they sold to AB so I guess I should hate them now

Yep I'm in town for work, so I thought I'd check out the local homebrew scene. You guys have a good crew up here

 

[lowtones84]

Yeah y'all took it totally somewhere else... OG stands for "original gangsta" c'mon now! This was intended as a thread to show support and talk about some of those 90's and early 2000's breweries that really helped kick this whole thing off.

 

[Pappers_]

Yeah y'all took it totally somewhere else... OG stands for "original gangsta" c'mon now! This was intended as a thread to show support and talk about some of those 90's and early 2000's breweries that really helped kick this whole thing off.

Got it. Ok, one of my fave OG beers is Old Rasputin imperial stout by North Coast. I know it can seem quaint compared to some of today's big stouts, but I appreciate the balance.

@lowtones84 You're still avoiding your own question

 

[TheMadKing]

Yeah y'all took it totally somewhere else... OG stands for "original gangsta" c'mon now! This was intended as a thread to show support and talk about some of those 90's and early 2000's breweries that really helped kick this whole thing off.

You mean like Blue Point? [emoji23]

I'm a big fan of Avery in Colorado though. Hog Heaven double red IPA is one of my all time favorite beers.

 

[shoengine]

My OG beer is Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve, so my dog in this fight has hip dysplasia and is currently sleeping.

 

[Bassman2003]

Your thread did get off track towards buyouts. I do not feel a lot of love or support in general outside of liking the beers and breweries. If they were local I would go drink there. I am not in tune enough to sense the hate. Stone is Stone in my eyes. They are great at what they do.

 

[kh54s10]

The first craft brew that wow'd me was Long Trail Brewery's Pale Ale. It had an amazing aroma. Unfortunately they don't make it any more and they have a limited distribution range so I can't get any of their beers here. They did publish the ingredients and I have tried to clone it with some success, but not quite there.

 

[MaxStout]

My decision as to whether I like (and will continue to buy) a beer is binary. Do I like it? Or not? Without any regard as to who owns the brewery.

There are some things I passionately believe in standing up and fighting for. Whether a brewery is owned by a big guy or little guy isn't one of them.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Yep I'm in town for work, so I thought I'd check out the local homebrew scene. You guys have a good crew up here

The first craft brew that wow'd me was Long Trail Brewery's Pale Ale. It had an amazing aroma. Unfortunately they don't make it any more and they have a limited distribution range so I can't get any of their beers here. They did publish the ingredients and I have tried to clone it with some success, but not quite there.

I think I remember buying Long Trail. Didnt it come in a variety 12 pack?

 

[kh54s10]

I think I remember buying Long Trail. Didnt it come in a variety 12 pack?

I think it was at one time in one of their variety packs, I think it was also sold in six packs. But that was a long time ago. I think they stopped making the pale ale about 6 years ago.

 

[grampamark]

I'm in the "I don't care who makes it as long as it's good” camp.

Craft beer is up to 25% of the beer market. The BMC folks want to capture as much of that market as they can. Their marketing people are savvy enough to realize that the reason for the growth of craft beer is that more consumers are discovering the joy of having choices. Turning every acquired small brewery's product into a Bud Light clone will just drive the "real beer" buyers back to the smaller, independent brewers. So, the big guys aren't likely to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

 

[JHulen]

I agree that most of the OG beers are lackluster compared to the new guys. With a big exception for Stone...they still innovate.

 

[MaxStout]

Summit has been here since 1986 and they still put out some solid beers. Their Extra Pale Ale has been the gateway beer for many.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

I still love Allagash and Ommegang. Ommegang I have gotten to see them grow from tiny spot to large output. Beautiful location, delicious beers, really good food. Getting bigger doesn't have to mean giving up quality.

 

[lowtones84]

I still love Allagash and Ommegang. Ommegang I have gotten to see them grow from tiny spot to large output. Beautiful location, delicious beers, really good food. Getting bigger doesn't have to mean giving up quality.

I still think Allagash innovates, too. Their coolship series stuff is really coming around and they're making the American version of geuze and stuff like that, and doing it quite successfully.

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

I still love Geary's, Allagash, Sierra Nevada, Smuttynose, and Long Trail.

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

Cheers

Just spent the day at Blue Point yesterday.

It's owned by AB Inbev but you know what I was doing there? I was at a big brew day hosted by the brewery to support all the local homebrew clubs. The head brewer was there in person giving away free hops to everyone brewing, and free beer to anyone that walked up.

He worked there before the buy out and he still works there and he said this and I'm paraphrase but it's pretty close:

"ABI was the best thing that ever happened to me. The owners made sure they were not allowed to change the recipes as a term of the sale, so from my perspective the buy out gave me access to the resources of 13 other breweries, a new bottling and canning line that we couldn't have afforded otherwise, benefits and raises for all of the employees, an improved brewing system, and set hours. Now instead of humping grain around until I'm 70 and dropping dead from a heart attack, I'll actually be able to retire one day."

Great guy, great brewery, they do a ton to support their local homebrewers and there are 4 other independent breweries within a mile.

I have been drinking their beer for a long time I live 15 minutes away and I have to call BS on this the beers noticeably changed after the sale took place he can say what he likes but it's true. The Blueberry taste totally different no question, it used to be amazing now I wont even consider it. Glad you enjoyed it though, I hope you hit Sand City while you were around

 

[lowtones84]

Got it. Ok, one of my fave OG beers is Old Rasputin imperial stout by North Coast. I know it can seem quaint compared to some of today's big stouts, but I appreciate the balance.

@lowtones84 You're still avoiding your own question

Oh yeah, Old Rasputin was a favorite for sure. Wait, I asked a question?

I would say some of mine are probably Bell's, Allagash, Boulevard, Stone, Founder's...hmmm...

 

[eric19312]

I'm a big fan of Sierra Nevada. The rest of your list are also reliable choices when I'm looking at a menu. My gateway to craft was Anchor Steam, but did drink quite a bit of Henry Weinhards back in the day.

 

[bleme]

I'm a big fan of Sierra Nevada. The rest of your list are also reliable choices when I'm looking at a menu. My gateway to craft was Anchor Steam, but did drink quite a bit of Henry Weinhards back in the day.

I used to buy Anchor pretty regularly but got ticked off at them after the second Anchor bottle busted while capping. Ggggrrrr!

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Allagash is one of the best breweries in the world and I'll stand by that. They release primarily White and other "safe" beers to the market but they make so many great beers. Their Coolship line are some of the best beers I've ever had. Coolship Red and Resurgam are especially nice, but so is Belfius, on a more traditional fruit sour in Pick Your Own. What was James Bean and is now Barrel and Bean is a fantastic beer for it's style.

All those breweries are great. Personally I try and drink local. Support people who live near you. It doesn't hurt that I live Close to Hill Farmstead, The Alchemist, Burlington Beer Co. and Schilling which provide me with a steady supply of top shelf beer.

 

[applescrap]

I see a lot of hate/"meh" about breweries that used to serve us well. Bells, Stone, Boulevard, Sierra Nevada, Ommegang, Allagash. There are more for sure.

Sound off in support of these breweries (No time for hate)! I'm not an Anti-NEIPA guy, but I'm sorry, breweries seem to be just jamming hops into stuff now and sending it out even if it's oxidized and not a good product.

Just had Sierra hazy little thing or whatever, i liked it. Plenty of love here for my hometown, new Belgian, odells, coopersmiths, hc berger (now ft Collins brewery, and further out avery, left hand and Oskar blues. I remain very sad that new Belgian seemed to reinvent themselves to safe. The new beers are meh comparatively and I wish they would have upped it a little. Oskar blues remains relevant, milk stout has kept left hand relevant. They could do better imo. But yeah sure lots of love for some og breweries.

Why the ab sidebar? But yeah I ll say it again, I stand with the 230,000 red blooded ab employees most of whom are American. Never understood why all the love for the single brewery owner, at least a couple I have met are pricks.

 

[Nubiwan]

Craft brewing is too big of an industry now for me to fight for any underdogs. Supporting is a broad term. I do not buy a lot of beer because I brew my own. So I am not their best customer! When I go out I have one or two but that does not dictate what shows up in the taps.

Looking at the beer landscape right now, it would be tough not to "sell out". Too much, too loud, too many is what I see on the supermarket aisle. My cousin and I have always joked about starting a brewery but it makes me cringe. It seems your packaging and social media strategy is more important than your beer to succeed. So I do not see it as selling out. It was and is a business venture that involves making a cool product we all love. Not a fan of buyouts and flavor flattening but this is an expensive business/world and sadly the money does the talkin' even at the distributor/bar level.

Local smaller brewery caters only to our small town, but is upping their volume, both for local, and national distribution plans. If it is on tap, then good chance I'd buy it to support the local economy. Plus they have a good selection of tastes, as opposed to the commericals. I buy their bottle stuff and they are quite consistent as well for taste. Not sure I should be surprised by that, but I am.

I mentioned in a different thread how I was recently at their tap room, which is very popular, yet there was something very odd about each of the three pints I tasted. A dull bitterness that simply tasted like their pipes had not been cleaned throughout the 3 beers I sampled. I thought it was bad form to be honest. I had another of their pints (same style) in a different location the same evening, and it was delicious.

Now, I am just a part time beer drinker, at best, but I do notice how, even with the simple extracts I make, my bottled beer is much fresher tasting than almost anything I buy in a bar. I enjoy it a lot more, and I have been complimented on it by friends who care to try it.

 

[Nubiwan]

Half a dozen of these smaller breweries have opened up within an hour of where I live, and we drove out to one about 3-4 months back. It too appears to be quite popular, and well supported - at least locally. This was back when I was just getting back into my own brewing.

They had your standard mix of stout, pale, wheat, and something else, and sold the obligatory sampler trays. I have to say, I did not like a single one of their beers, and honestly wonder what they were doing to make beer taste so bad. Perhaps they were just trying to be too fancy with their brewing, but I found none of them palatable at all. I can accept just about anything remotely beer like, as long as it has a little fizz., but here I'd honestly have settled for a budweiser before drinking any of their ale. I was with 4 adults, and none of us liked the beer. My wife asked for a wine. They didn't have any.

If we did not leave our individual beers on the table, at least half full, then I am betting I finshed them all off out of a sense of duty.

 

[deadwolfbones]

Sierra Nevada, Founders, Deschutes, Odells, Allagash, Lagunitas, and Bell's are all still amazing breweries in my book. I love Ommegang too, but the GoT stuff feels a bit tacky (even if the beer is good).

 

[deadwolfbones]

I used to buy Anchor pretty regularly but got ticked off at them after the second Anchor bottle busted while capping. Ggggrrrr!

Unless you've got a bench capper, don't bother with the Anchor bottles.