the world's best beers??

[LouBrew13]

I'm putting this out there for General discussion.

Perhaps it's me and my palate but do the most highly rated beers just still taste like beer? What I mean is, are they really worth the hunt and the money? Now don't get me wrong, they are great. However,I feel that their hoopla over shadows the beer itself.

I'm currently drinking a bomber of 3 floyds dreadnaught...while delicious, if I had driven 8 hours round trip, I'd have been disappointed.

I had some heady topper recently too. It's delicious yes...but that much better than my favorite ipa??

Annual KBS release sold out in seconds...

I could go on but I've found recently with various beer fests and tap takeovers that they're great beers but the hype about these elusive brews was the majority of it.

Thoughts??

 

[chawn]

Actually, IMO the world's greatest beer is in my kegerator. Taste very subjective.

 

[joshesmusica]

i guess that's one of the fun parts of homebrewing for me. although some normal IPAs are good, i still prefer the ones i'm brewing to those, and i would only consider mine average. i'm still either doing extract with steeping grains, or partial mashes. i know i can perfect the ones i've made to the point where i would wanna keep that one on tap all the time, but even still i prefer it to ones i've bought in the stores that were highly touted.
we all perceive things so differently when it comes to the flavor aspects of beer, it's gonna be hard for one beer to be great for everybody. it's all about the advertising.

 

[day_trippr]

The spousal unit and I were tooling around near Foxboro and decided to pop over and grab lunch and a beer at the CBS Scene.

I noticed they had Maine Beer Company's "Lunch" on tap.
This beer ranks a 98 on BA. "World Class"

It tasted like a 20, and that would be stretching

I haven't been that disappointed in a beer in some time.
Really, that was not a good beer, never mind World Class.

I brew to the Federal limit so I don't buy much beer, save when we're out to dinner or traveling. So I try to be selective with what I do buy, looking for well regarded brews that I've never had just to see what's out there and get ideas on recipes.

But, based on similar events like today's, I would not get in the car to drive more than 20 minutes just to try a new beer, never mind 8 hours...

Cheers!

 

[Ariza-Poet]

At this moment in my craft beer drinking I'm at the opposite end.

I'm hesitant to home brew because there's some amazing beers out there
Especially BA imperial stouts that I don't believe I could replicate or make better ones.

There's only a few beers that weren't worth the hype if you will.

But there's some of u guys that are at a brewing level that u can make beers at home better than most breweries so I can def appreciate where the op is comin frm

 

[LouBrew13]

I love brewing, think about it all of the time. I really enjoy serving up my versions of classic beers as well as new twists. I'm not a pro though so I'm always looking for feedback beyond my own personal criticisms of my beer.

But what I'm talking about is standing in line for hours for dark Lord or something similar only to find it's a great beer but not earth shattering

 

[1977Brewer]

I like my beer a lot. I love some commercial beers a lot more. I'll get better, they probably won't.

 

[catdaddy66]

I would love to taste a Westvleteren 12 just to say I'd had one. But the closest I'll get (to the monastery in Belgium) is the clone I'll make next month.

 

[brick_haus]

I've traveled, I've searched the country, I've waited in LOOONG lines... World class beers are just that,very good. Are the beers themselves worth the time/energy/associated cost? No! But SWMBO and I enjoy the hell out of chasing them down.
I've made some very significant improvements in my brewing having experienced these world class beers and talking to the people that brew them on a daily basis.

 

[Kiichi]

What I can contribute to this discussion is that I have had Westveleteren XII twice now. One 3 year old and on fresh. My favorite beer ever? No. Best beer I have had? Yes. Absolutely.



For the record, my favorite beer ever I only had once and it was 1 1/2 years ago, so I´d have to have it again: Mikkeller Spontancherry Frederiksdal.
Craftbeer juggernaut teams up with THE cherrywine experts...the result had the barkeep asking me if I was alright since I was so visibly shaken, while trying to keep it together (if I would not have been in a bar I would have just had a full on breakdown). Growing up my family had this sour cherry tree in our yard and that brew took me right back there. Was during my early college years living in another country and it was the first, and only, time I felt homesick. The barkeep was such a gentleman he even had that brew go on the house.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

My current favorite is from a local microbrewery so it technically is a commercial beer although it is only available in central CT. It is brewed by Firefly Hollow in Bristol, CT. The beer is an IIPA called Cone Flakes. Super malty to go with super hoppy. Tastes so much smoother than any other IPA I've ever had with that much hops.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I'm with the OP. A lot of the "whales" are damned good, but that's it. Even the few "whales" that I've had (like Westy 12) I wouldn't call life-changing beer.

I suppose it's all about context. For me, a beer to reach "life changing" status has to have something specific associated with it. And if that context for some folks is the journey or effort associated with it (such as traveling across the country and then waiting 8 hours with other beer geeks for the release) then I can understand that. Am I about to participate? Probably not. But I can understand it. I waited in line in 2012 when Westy 12 was released in the US (and finally had my last bottle in January), and I'll wait in line every year for Zwanze Day, but that's because Cantillon is one of the only breweries I've found to be consistently worth waiting in line for. And one of the few where I'd be willing to make a special trip just to go there (which will happen eventually).

 

[FatDragon]

A lot of it is the unique snowflake/hipster/indie mindset. Westerners are taught from an early age that they are special and unique and nobody is like them. Hipsterism is a cultural way of asserting one's individuality - "I found this new band nobody else knows about," "I know this great bar you've never heard of," "I drank this exclusive beer, it was the best ever!" That's why hipsterism is so universally-maligned as a cultural trend: it's a trend of people believing they buck all trends, so nobody thinks, "I'm a hipster." Ask a hipster to comment on the trend of hipsterism and he'll probably say something like, "Hipsters, what a bunch of *****ebags." If two hipsters are talking behind their friend's back, the conversation goes, "Yeah, Amanda's alright, but she's kind've a hipster."

That rant aside, an eight hour line for a beer release could still be a fun experience. Make a day of it, tailgate the line, and just have a good time. That way, the beer itself is just the cherry on top. I can get behind that.

 

[Teromous]

Perhaps it's me and my palate but do the most highly rated beers just still taste like beer?

Strange how beer tastes like beer isn't it? I don't know what people are expecting from these beers when I read threads saying stuff like "what is all the hype about" or "this beer is overrated." Like they are going to pop the bottle cap and rainbows are going to shoot out and flood their room with rays of golden sunshine. Popularity in beer is a double edged sword; along with increasing the demand for a beer it also garners unfavorable opinions by people with unrealistic expectations of what the beer should taste like.

 

[oli-aus]

Well I mean we are all into homebrew and craft beer because we believe all beer isn't created equal.
...and its only natural to chase excellence and be interested by what's meant to be the best.