Random Beer Thoughts

[JulianB1]

Barrel Aged Beers represent the height of a brew masters talent and passion.

More like the height of a brewmaster's patience.

 

[daniel1]

The glass was aged in a barrel for two years. Can't any of you bananaheads read?

 

[archagon]

I only buy glasses with adjuncts.

 

[trickytunadicky]

Brewer psychology is one of my favorite peculiarities of craft beer. If I ever met a brewer that was like "Yep some of my beer is pretty average. Some is even below-par. And this one time, I made something nearly undrinkable and sold it anyway!" I would fall out of my seat.

Isn't eccentric ale purposely bad?

 

[RedCoffee]

Isn't eccentric ale purposely bad?

But only a brewer like me with such INCREDIBLE BREWING PROWESS would know how to make it bad in exactly that way.

 

[sacrelicio]

Brewer psychology is one of my favorite peculiarities of craft beer. If I ever met a brewer that was like "Yep some of my beer is pretty average. Some is even below-par. And this one time, I made something nearly undrinkable and sold it anyway!" I would fall out of my seat.

I always wonder how many other beers they've actually tried. Some seem to have no idea what makes a beer stand out or what people actually want these days.

 

[Gonzoillini1]

I always wonder how many other beers they've actually tried. Some seem to have no idea what makes a beer stand out or what people actually want these days.

Here is the big problem in my opinion, what "we" (IE Beer Nerds) want and what the general better beer drinking public wants are way apart. My local brewery was founded by friends who loved barrel aging, big beers, etc... Then they found out that the general public loves any kind of IPA, low alcohol wheat / Belgian style, etc...

While the Bourbon County / one off wild ales / bone dry bretted saisons are great, it's usually a lot more profitable to make a solid Belgian Blonde / IPA / Porter.

 

[sacrelicio]

Last night I rated this a 2 and said it was a poor example of the style. Meh
It is a brett saison.
This happened today. Note the head brewer (Bill) hates me. We had issues a few years ago, and I no longer assistant brew with him.

Nothing says that you're secure with your talents and life choices like arguing with dissatisfied customers on an obscure social media app.

 

[sacrelicio]

Here is the big problem in my opinion, what "we" (IE Beer Nerds) want and what the general better beer drinking public wants are way apart. My local brewery was founded by friends who loved barrel aging, big beers, etc... Then they found out that the general public loves any kind of IPA, low alcohol wheat / Belgian style, etc...

While the Bourbon County / one off wild ales / bone dry bretted saisons are great, it's usually a lot more profitable to make a solid Belgian Blonde / IPA / Porter.

Oh I totally get what you mean, but I don't mean just the super nerd hype ****. People in general are more savvy when it comes to quality in beer nowadays. A really good porter, a stand out example of the style, will probably sell better than a mediocre or average one. A brewery that can consistently knock out excellent beers in any style will do well. And oftentimes it seems like too many breweries just have a boring portfolio of average beers that you can find a dozen excellent examples of already.

Also the general public still buys a lot of hype ****, especially if it's local, styles like IPAs and stouts. Like here, people go nuts for Todd the Axeman and Darkness. And BCBS flew off the shelves here with a pretty large allotment statewide. Not just traders and super nerds chasing it.

 

[jmgrub]

Brewer psychology is one of my favorite peculiarities of craft beer. If I ever met a brewer that was like "Yep some of my beer is pretty average. Some is even below-par. And this one time, I made something nearly undrinkable and sold it anyway!" I would fall out of my seat.

I would buy so much beer from this mythical brewer.

 

[sacrelicio]

Yeah I agree. Which is why I stopped doing it, and stopped even reading them. Then I'd get friends saying "did you see what so-and-so brewery posted on your Untappd check-in to that ****** beer of theirs?" and so I figured I'd just turn it off completely and not have to deal with it at all.

The other thing that was getting aggravating was getting notifications because a brewery commented on a check-in but then it ended up being something totally generic like "Thanks Julian!" that they would post on every check-in to their beers of every person they could, I assume either through a bot or through some intern or social media employee. Bear Republic comes to mind for that.

2.5 rating: "Julian, please!"

 

[RedCoffee]

Here is the big problem in my opinion, what "we" (IE Beer Nerds) want and what the general better beer drinking public wants are way apart. My local brewery was founded by friends who loved barrel aging, big beers, etc... Then they found out that the general public loves any kind of IPA, low alcohol wheat / Belgian style, etc...

While the Bourbon County / one off wild ales / bone dry bretted saisons are great, it's usually a lot more profitable to make a solid Belgian Blonde / IPA / Porter.

It's not so much that. It's the whole idea that THEIR IPA is like the best ******* IPA on the planet. Truly incredible. Any Untappd score below a 4.5 is clearly misinformed about what the style is supposed to taste like. And you're tasting it like "Yeaaaaah. It's okay? Maybe?"

I was talking about this with powz87 and he made the excellent point that a brewer sort of HAS to be high on his own product. Because if he doesn't think it's fantastic, what are the rest of us yahoos supposed to think? Why is he brewing it if he thinks it's just average or worse? And why should you buy it?

I still think there's a line between pride in one's product/work and the stubborn refusal to accept that maybe just maybe your basic lineup IPA isn't the greatest on the planet. That if 20 people on Untappd say "yuck, tastes like butter" then maybe it's not supposed to taste that way.

 

[drbenzo1]

http://m.kissradio.ca/2015/12/02/hanson-has-a-beer-company-called-mmmhops/

 

[disapowzment]

It's not so much that. It's the whole idea that THEIR IPA is like the best ******* IPA on the planet. Truly incredible. Any Untappd score below a 4.5 is clearly misinformed about what the style is supposed to taste like. And you're tasting it like "Yeaaaaah. It's okay? Maybe?"

I was talking about this with powz87 and he made the excellent point that a brewer sort of HAS to be high on his own product. Because if he doesn't think it's fantastic, what are the rest of us yahoos supposed to think? Why is he brewing it if he thinks it's just average or worse? And why should you buy it?

I still think there's a line between pride in one's product/work and the stubborn refusal to accept that maybe just maybe your basic lineup IPA isn't the greatest on the planet. That if 20 people on Untappd say "yuck, tastes like butter" then maybe it's not supposed to taste that way.

First, what are you doing up still, second valid points, third Come over tomorrow and drink HF tomorrow evening.

 

[RedCoffee]

First, what are you doing up still, second valid points, third Come over tomorrow and drink HF tomorrow evening.

First, insomnia
Second, of course they are they're your points
Third, already have a prior engagement

 

[disapowzment]

First, insomnia

Me too. I've decided to watch blue mountain state over.

 

[JulianB1]

It's not so much that. It's the whole idea that THEIR IPA is like the best ******* IPA on the planet. Truly incredible. Any Untappd score below a 4.5 is clearly misinformed about what the style is supposed to taste like. And you're tasting it like "Yeaaaaah. It's okay? Maybe?"

I was talking about this with powz87 and he made the excellent point that a brewer sort of HAS to be high on his own product. Because if he doesn't think it's fantastic, what are the rest of us yahoos supposed to think? Why is he brewing it if he thinks it's just average or worse? And why should you buy it?

I still think there's a line between pride in one's product/work and the stubborn refusal to accept that maybe just maybe your basic lineup IPA isn't the greatest on the planet. That if 20 people on Untappd say "yuck, tastes like butter" then maybe it's not supposed to taste that way.

All this. And it doesn't even have to be that they think it's just average or worse. If you're constantly claiming your own IPAs are better than Heady Topper, Sip of Sunshine, Susan, Pliny the Elder, Abrasive, etc. you might be suffering from just a -bit- of confirmation bias.

 

[RayP]

I'm probably going to need to shield myself from the rocks that are about to be thrown at me.... But am I the only one who doesn't care for Abrasive this year? Like at all.

Loved it last year, for what it's worth.

 

[JulianB1]

Another point: often brewers/breweries have a hard time getting anything in the way of feedback that is both honest and carries some degree of authority that they respect. A small local place with a loyal group of local fans is probably going to get a lot of "yeah you're right, these beers really are the best examples of their style!" feedback. So what other options are there?

-Not medalling at GABF/WBC/etc can be brushed off with all sorts of justifications: too random, so many entries, judges were probably palate shot, BJCP standards don't matter, etc. And there's obviously plenty of truth to all of those, even if they don't actually happen to apply.

-There's no one that really qualifies as a "beer rating expert" the way there are for wine. Well, unless you count The Bros.

-Crowdsourced data is probably the best we've got in spite of all its flaws, so maybe that's why breweries get so worked up over Untappd/BA/RB ratings. A critical mass of hundreds or thousands of reviews from non-local drinkers has plenty of flaws but is better than any alternative I can think of.

 

[steimie]

I'm probably going to need to shield myself from the rocks that are about to be thrown at me.... But am I the only one who doesn't care for Abrasive this year? Like at all.

Loved it last year, for what it's worth.

Yes

 

[JulianB1]

I'm probably going to need to shield myself from the rocks that are about to be thrown at me.... But am I the only one who doesn't care for Abrasive this year? Like at all.

Loved it last year, for what it's worth.

I haven't noticed any difference in how I feel about it this year compared to last year. Still love the stuff and it provides a nice counterpoint with the cans of northeast hoppy stuff (in terms of being a different take on the style).

I really wish Two-Hearted cans weren't already 2 months old by the time they show up on the shelves here or I'd buy them more often instead of ordering stuff online.

 

[danbanana]

I really wish Two-Hearted cans weren't already 2 months old by the time they show up on the shelves here or I'd buy them more often instead of ordering stuff online.

One of the many reasons why Two Hearted is still a perfect beer after all these years is because it's pretty much the same beer at 3 weeks as it is at 3 months. Right out of the tank at the brewery is something else but I've found more than just about any IPA, it holds up really well with age, making those 12 pack purchases even better value. I've always assumed this was due to the robustness of Centennial versus your hop-of-the-month pales.

 

[JulianB1]

ABInBev being distribution dicks again, what else is new:

Craft Brewers Take Issue With AB InBev Distribution Plan

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s new plan to reverse declining volumes in the U.S.—by rewarding distributors who focus on brands like Budweiser and Bud Light—is raising alarm among craft brewers who worry it will make it harder to get shelf space for their IPAs and porters.

The world’s largest brewer last month introduced a new incentive program that could offer some independent distributors in the U.S. annual reimbursements of as much as $1.5 million if 98% of the beers they sell are AB InBev brands, according to two distributors who requested confidentiality because they were asked not to discuss the plan. Distributors whose sales volumes are 95% made up of AB InBev brands would be eligible to have the brewer cover as much as half of their contractual marketing support for those brands, which includes retail promotion and display costs.

 

[arren]

Has anyone had this year's B-Bomb yet?

 

[user 305778]

I know I could look it up, but I'm feeling lazy. What style is B-Bomb?

 

[JulianB1]

I know I could look it up, but I'm feeling lazy. What style is B-Bomb?

Old ale/barleywine. But one that I find has some "stoutish" characteristics, ala BCBBW/King Henry.

Both the regular version and the coffee cinnamon one are ******* money, that much is for sure.

 

[user 305778]

Old ale/barleywine. But one that I find has some "stoutish" characteristics, ala BCBBW/King Henry.

Both the regular version and the coffee cinnamon one are ******* money, that much is for sure.

I've heard but since I don't trade and haven't been hanging out with anyone that does in a long while, I haven't had them.

 

[owens99]

Coffee cinnamon version was amazing last year and in a blindfolded tasting I'm certain I'd identify it as a stout.

 

[JulianB1]

Coffee cinnamon version was amazing last year and in a blindfolded tasting I'm certain I'd identify it as a stout.

We opened it after FoFA around the same time as Cycle Pallet 1 (coffee cinnamon stout) and I recall they tasted really similar.

 

[chongcheesol]

Mmmmm Pallet 1