What are your contrarian/"unpopular" beer opinions?

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Sirs, you are correct. I shall rephrase my statement. NEIPA is not worthy of being called beer. Perhaps they could market it to the college kids as some kind of juicy hop cooler?

Okay, I think I've fanned the flames enough for one day. :D
 
I guess I'm an oddball.
I am primarily a German lager guy (about 70% of my brewing), but I love an NEIPA too. And APAs. And English styles.
Just not a huge fan of Belgian funk.
I like a saison now and then (Allagash being the best example I know), but you can keep the rest.
It's almost like "we can't keep our beer from going bad, so we're just going to roll with it and act like it's intentional and drink it anyway".

There's a contrarian opinion for you.
 
rhys333 said:
** Trigger warning **

NEIPA is not beer! :D
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NEIPA is mostly a business decision, not a brewing decision.
Small breweries have to make money, so instead of making a nice clean lager or a stout that needs time to condition, they cram it full of hops and convince consumers they have to drink it within two weeks. It's about cash flow management and inventory turnover, not brewing aesthetics.

Edit: Though like I said, I do enjoy them every now and again. I just don't think *every* brewery needs one.
 
True, the best way to make money is to add heaps more of an expensive ingredient (hops) in to your product and then make it in a way to ensure that it expires quickly ;)
 
Nomofett said:
True, the best way to make money is to add heaps more of an expensive ingredient (hops) in to your product and then make it in a way to ensure that it expires quickly ;)
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If you can create artificial demand and turn the whole inventory over in a week, then yes, that's a great way to make money.
 
Truthfully I don't care either way, any beer that tastes good in my book, trends come and trends go and in two years only the good ones will still be there. But one thing is for sure, the demand isn't artificial. I'd love to have the problem of too many breweries adding a beer to their long lists. I live overseas and we don't have those over here yet, heck we barely have any breweries, and the ones we do have cost 10$ a pint and aren't that great. :( (Japan)
 
Nomofett said:
Truthfully I don't care either way, any beer that tastes good in my book, trends come and trends go and in two years only the good ones will still be there. But one thing is for sure, the demand isn't artificial. I'd love to have the problem of too many breweries adding a beer to their long lists. I live overseas and we don't have those over here yet, heck we barely have any breweries, and the ones we do have cost 10$ a pint and aren't that great. :( (Japan)
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Come visit. My town has 65,000 people in it and at least 18 breweries. And every single one has at least one NEIPA. (At least one has an NEIPA, a Session NEIPA, a Double NEIPA, and a rotating single-hop NEIPA.)
 
Sounds great! My town has a few million and we have maybe 5 breweries, the fanciest IPAs we have are.. well... IPAs
But I'm moving back home to Portland soon (Oregon) so I got a lot of lost drinking to make up for! :)
 
Mainer said:
Come visit. My town has 65,000 people in it and at least 18 breweries. And every single one has at least one NEIPA. (At least one has an NEIPA, a Session NEIPA, a Double NEIPA, and a rotating single-hop NEIPA.)
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I guess I'm officially behind the times. I had no idea what an NEIPA was before I just looked it up after reading this thread. I've had some of those beers before. I guess I just never realized it was it's own style. The IPA (unofficially) covers a wide range of styles and tastes, almost as broad as saying "white wine". I never really thought of "NEIPA" as anything different than another IPA.
 
OK here is mine..
If your a home brewer why are you still buying other peoples beer? or even caring about it?..especially when it comes to who owns it or who sells out to whom? Other then drinking it at the occasional outing with friends or family its someones else dream/success, move on and build/perfect your own. Or get out of the game.
 
Stillraining said:
OK here is mine..
If your a home brewer why are you still buying other peoples beer? or even caring about it?..especially when it comes to who owns it or who sells out to whom? Other then drinking it at the occasional outing with friends or family its someones else dream/success, move on and build/perfect your own. Or get out of the game.
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That's kind of like telling a novelist that they shouldn't bother reading other people's' books - if they want to read a certain story they should just write it themselves.
Or a musician don't bother listening to the music of others.
 
My gripe is with the people who worship Grimm brewing. I live in Rochester and people literally stalk distribution trucks, lurk around outside beer stores before they open and then rush the coolers that had been stocked with Grimm only moments before. Don't get me wrong Grimm has a handful of superb offerings but I honestly believe you could put hop water in a Grimm can and people would snatch it up, slurp it down, and proclaim it liquid gold just because the can reads Grimm.
 
Stillraining said:
OK here is mine..
If your a home brewer why are you still buying other peoples beer? or even caring about it?..especially when it comes to who owns it or who sells out to whom? Other then drinking it at the occasional outing with friends or family its someones else dream/success, move on and build/perfect your own. Or get out of the game.
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I don't drink other people's beer at home. But I have 2-3 work meetings a month at bars, and meet friends for dinner in town fairly frequently, and the missus insists on the occasional date night. So yeah... I drink other people's beer. When I do, I'm occasionally disappointed, frequently impressed, and, very rarely, inspired.
 
Mainer said:
I don't drink other people's beer at home. But I have 2-3 work meetings a month at bars, and meet friends for dinner in town fairly frequently, and the missus insists on the occasional date night. So yeah... I drink other people's beer. When I do, I'm occasionally disappointed, frequently impressed, and, very rarely, inspired.
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I still enjoy trying local offerings and supporting the local brewers, just picked up some good pilsners to take home from a local guy yesterday while the wife was antiquing, can't honestly remember the last time I bought a case of BMC though
 
Stillraining said:
OK here is mine..
If your a home brewer why are you still buying other peoples beer? or even caring about it?..especially when it comes to who owns it or who sells out to whom? Other then drinking it at the occasional outing with friends or family its someones else dream/success, move on and build/perfect your own. Or get out of the game.
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Because 99% of it is better than mine. It's hard to perfect your game when it's a part time hobby with limited equipment, especially compared to pros who spent years/decades studying, experimenting, etc..
I cook, but I still go to restaurants (chefs are better cooks than me) I work on my car but sometimes I take it to a mechanic, etc...

Actually that brings me to my contrarian opinion, almost all my homebrew friends have said their beer is better than pro beer, and I've seen that alot here. But it's not. Sometimes people make really good ones, and obviously I haven't tried people's on this forum, but I doubt it's better. Generally professionals do things better than amateur hobbyists. Sorry but that's just the way it goes.
 
Nomofett said:
Because 99% of it is better than mine. It's hard to perfect your game when it's a part time hobby with limited equipment, especially compared to pros who spent years/decades studying, experimenting, etc..
I cook, but I still go to restaurants (chefs are better cooks than me) I work on my car but sometimes I take it to a mechanic, etc...

Actually that brings me to my contrarian opinion, almost all my homebrew friends have said their beer is better than pro beer, and I've seen that alot here. But it's not. Sometimes people make really good ones, and obviously I haven't tried people's on this forum, but I doubt it's better. Generally professionals do things better than amateur hobbyists. Sorry but that's just the way it goes.
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I'll piggyback on that: there IS such thing as good/bad beer, or better or worse beer. But MOSTLY it's about preference. I don't like many IPAs, so many craft IPAs are "worse" than most commercial beer.
 
Another one: there is a huge variety in the taste of mass produced yellow lagers. Miller High Life, PBR, Bud, Coors, Old Style, etc. They all taste different.
 
Nomofett said:
Because 99% of it is better than mine. It's hard to perfect your game when it's a part time hobby with limited equipment, especially compared to pros who spent years/decades studying, experimenting, etc..
I cook, but I still go to restaurants (chefs are better cooks than me) I work on my car but sometimes I take it to a mechanic, etc...

Actually that brings me to my contrarian opinion, almost all my homebrew friends have said their beer is better than pro beer, and I've seen that alot here. But it's not. Sometimes people make really good ones, and obviously I haven't tried people's on this forum, but I doubt it's better. Generally professionals do things better than amateur hobbyists. Sorry but that's just the way it goes.
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I hate every comment on here that says "I tried to make "......" clone, and honestly, mine is way better."

You might be one of the few homebrewer's I'd like to get a beer with
 
Mine... really sour beers are gross.

I like slightly tart beers... think Gose, Berliner Weiss..etc.
 
Nomofett said:
Because 99% of it is better than mine. It's hard to perfect your game when it's a part time hobby with limited equipment, especially compared to pros who spent years/decades studying, experimenting, etc..
I cook, but I still go to restaurants (chefs are better cooks than me) I work on my car but sometimes I take it to a mechanic, etc...

Actually that brings me to my contrarian opinion, almost all my homebrew friends have said their beer is better than pro beer, and I've seen that alot here. But it's not. Sometimes people make really good ones, and obviously I haven't tried people's on this forum, but I doubt it's better. Generally professionals do things better than amateur hobbyists. Sorry but that's just the way it goes.
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Not THAT hard to beat the pros in Korea since imported beer is often old and badly treated and a lot of the pros are newbies themselves. Simple freshness has a lot going for it.

Helps if you have tastes that diverse from the standard as well. I tend to like beers where I can taste both the hops and the malt but that isn't too strong. For example the homebrewed porter I had with a good bit of centennial at flameout just hit the spot in a way that the commercial beers I can find don't.
 
Stillraining said:
OK here is mine..
If your a home brewer why are you still buying other peoples beer? or even caring about it?..especially when it comes to who owns it or who sells out to whom? Other then drinking it at the occasional outing with friends or family its someones else dream/success, move on and build/perfect your own. GOr get out of the game.
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I buy way too much commercial beer, because I want to keep my finger on the pulse of the industry I want to be part of. And to get ideas. Try things I may not want to make myself. Sometimes discover something new to try in my own brewing. Sometimes nostalgia. Sometimes a brewery just makes something I really like and I would rather make my own thing than copy it. And finally, I can't can my own beer and I love to take it on hikes and camping.
 
bford said:
Mine... really sour beers are gross.

I like slightly tart beers... think Gose, Berliner Weiss..etc.
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Wait, wait, wait. Berliners are about as sour as they come! What are you drinking that's more sour than a Berliner? Is it straight vinegar?
 
Mainer said:
Wait, wait, wait. Berliners are about as sour as they come! What are you drinking that's more sour than a Berliner? Is it straight vinegar?
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I drank a sour a couple weeks ago that was so sour it might have qualified as vinegar. It gave me heartburn! And yes, it sucked!
 
Stillraining said:
OK here is mine..
If your a home brewer why are you still buying other peoples beer? or even caring about it?..especially when it comes to who owns it or who sells out to whom? Other then drinking it at the occasional outing with friends or family its someones else dream/success, move on and build/perfect your own. Or get out of the game.
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Meh. Silly. Enjoying craft/local beer and brewing beer are two distinct interests, but they do often overlap. I have buddies who are big into the craft beer scene but have no interest in home brewing at all. I will say I enjoy trying new local commercial beers, but I definitely buy less now that I brew my own. I care about buy outs because at it's most basic it's limiting the variety of beer available to me. At it's worst it's shady business practices that destroy local businesses. Same reason I try not to shop at Walmart Target Amazon etc
 
Mainer said:
Wait, wait, wait. Berliners are about as sour as they come! What are you drinking that's more sour than a Berliner? Is it straight vinegar?
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Maybe its a combination of funk and sour that I hate.... stuff like Jester King in central Texas brews... I keep trying their beer and blech.... though many people love it obviously.
 
Nomofett said:
Because 99% of it is better than mine. It's hard to perfect your game when it's a part time hobby with limited equipment, especially compared to pros who spent years/decades studying, experimenting, etc..
I cook, but I still go to restaurants (chefs are better cooks than me) I work on my car but sometimes I take it to a mechanic, etc...

Actually that brings me to my contrarian opinion, almost all my homebrew friends have said their beer is better than pro beer, and I've seen that alot here. But it's not. Sometimes people make really good ones, and obviously I haven't tried people's on this forum, but I doubt it's better. Generally professionals do things better than amateur hobbyists. Sorry but that's just the way it goes.
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I like having my own beer more than having professionally-brewed beer.
I like it because I know what went into it.
I like the anticipation of making up a recipe and wondering how it'll come out.
I like being able to give beer to my friends.
I like adding things I grew or foraged myself.
I like keeping a case over the course of a year or two and see how it ages.

In some ways, I think that makes my beer more special [to me] than the pros' beer.

But better? No, my beer's not better than the pros.
 

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