Let's talk good beer

[BDBohnzie]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

Ironically, I wrote that post slightly drunk last night...

I'll elaborate more since I'm coherent today. Bohnzie and OTM, I definitely enjoy many different aspects of many styles of beers. Thank God the craft beer movement is in full swing, because I think the trends also lead to lack of creativity. I have some friends (and the bartender at my favorite watering hole) say, "Hey man! Check this out. ULTRA hoppy!" I deeply respect their opinions, and after tasting it, my palate was absolutely ruined. Pure pine notes, zero balance. I don't want someone saying, "Taste this! It's DEFINITELY got the characteristics of THIS type beer." I want someone to say, "Taste this! DELICIOUS."

One of my top five beers is considered "hoppy" but it's hoppy with balance. Recently the bar has started putting a lot of Sculpin on tap (huge fan!) so I can now stop bitching about the over-hopped offerings. And Bohnzie, maybe that's why the new offerings are so bad. If they're rushing them out due to trends, maybe they're not letting them age properly or sacrificing quality for quantity.

Chico, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Guinness. There's still a few macro-ish brews out there that hold a soft spot in my heart (Labatt being one of them for some reason).

I love a good Guinness...some of these stouts and porters craft breweries are putting out are neither sometimes...still good, but not what they are labeled to be...

Yeah, there is a different between ultra hoppy balanced and ultra hoppy INYOURFACETOBEBITTER!!! Some folks take the real bitter stuff and drink it and like it because BA has it rated as a 98 so it must be good. The beers I got into that really showed me that you don't have to be in your face bitter but can be super hoppy is Laguintas. They figured out how to hop the hell out of a beer but not taste like it.

But in all honestly, I think sheeple tend to go with the popular notion of a beer instead of really trying and determining whether they like it or not. Between BeerAdvocate and Untappd, you'll see a trend among the top beers, that their ratings don't fluctuate too much. Whereas lesser known beers will have a lot of leeway in ratings. Don't hate on a sub 85 beer just because a bunch of hipsters on BA didn't care for it because it wasn't "hoppy" enough.

It's funny you said "Taste this! DELICIOUS." because the small group of guys i drink with...that's what we do. We don't try to sell anyone on ABVs or hoppiness or whatever. We say, you have to drink this because it's good. And then we talk about it from there. And if we're trying something new, we'll compare notes. It helps that our palates are similar, and we'll disagree from time to time. But that whole selling it based on gimmick words bites.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Originally Posted by BDBohnzie

I love a good Guinness...some of these stouts and porters craft breweries are putting out are neither sometimes...still good, but not what they are labeled to be...

Yeah, there is a different between ultra hoppy balanced and ultra hoppy INYOURFACETOBEBITTER!!! Some folks take the real bitter stuff and drink it and like it because BA has it rated as a 98 so it must be good. The beers I got into that really showed me that you don't have to be in your face bitter but can be super hoppy is Laguintas. They figured out how to hop the hell out of a beer but not taste like it.

But in all honestly, I think sheeple tend to go with the popular notion of a beer instead of really trying and determining whether they like it or not. Between BeerAdvocate and Untappd, you'll see a trend among the top beers, that their ratings don't fluctuate too much. Whereas lesser known beers will have a lot of leeway in ratings. Don't hate on a sub 85 beer just because a bunch of hipsters on BA didn't care for it because it wasn't "hoppy" enough.

It's funny you said "Taste this! DELICIOUS." because the small group of guys i drink with...that's what we do. We don't try to sell anyone on ABVs or hoppiness or whatever. We say, you have to drink this because it's good. And then we talk about it from there. And if we're trying something new, we'll compare notes. It helps that our palates are similar, and we'll disagree from time to time. But that whole selling it based on gimmick words bites.

Totally agree. I've just recently discovered Beer Advocate over the past few years and some of their ratings I just flat-out disagree with. People were hating on Voodoo Donut offerings, but I find those to be some of the most unique beers I've ever tried. Would I drink a bunch of them? Hell no, but part of drinking beer (sometimes ) is enjoying the experience.

Anyways, can you guys get Blue Mountain Barrel House in your area? It's about an hour northeast from here and they have a GREAT beer in Hopwork Orange. Sometimes you'll have an orange beer taste like "citrus", but you could give a blind taste test of this and people would instantly say "orange", not lime, not lemon. Really nice warm weather beer.

And while we're on the subject:
A Hopwork Orange | Blue Mountain Brewery | BeerAdvocate

[BDBohnzie]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

Totally agree. I've just recently discovered Beer Advocate over the past few years and some of their ratings I just flat-out disagree with. People were hating on Voodoo Donut offerings, but I find those to be some of the most unique beers I've ever tried. Would I drink a bunch of them? Hell no, but part of drinking beer (sometimes ) is enjoying the experience.

Anyways, can you guys get Blue Mountain Barrel House in your area? It's about an hour northeast from here and they have a GREAT beer in Hopwork Orange. Sometimes you'll have an orange beer taste like "citrus", but you could give a blind taste test of this and people would instantly say "orange", not lime, not lemon. Really nice warm weather beer.

And while we're on the subject:
A Hopwork Orange | Blue Mountain Brewery | BeerAdvocate

Yeah, I love Hopwork Orange. Great summer drinker. Last time I had this was my daughter's birthday party last August. Time to stock up again.

And the whole Budweiser thing is funny. They are laying their claim for sure. I have a few buddies I play softball with that drink just about nothing but 'Murrica, so I'll have to ask them about it.

[over the mountain]

Originally Posted by BDBohnzie

I love a good Guinness...some of these stouts and porters craft breweries are putting out are neither sometimes...still good, but not what they are labeled to be...

Yeah, there is a different between ultra hoppy balanced and ultra hoppy INYOURFACETOBEBITTER!!! Some folks take the real bitter stuff and drink it and like it because BA has it rated as a 98 so it must be good. The beers I got into that really showed me that you don't have to be in your face bitter but can be super hoppy is Laguintas. They figured out how to hop the hell out of a beer but not taste like it.

But in all honestly, I think sheeple tend to go with the popular notion of a beer instead of really trying and determining whether they like it or not. Between BeerAdvocate and Untappd, you'll see a trend among the top beers, that their ratings don't fluctuate too much. Whereas lesser known beers will have a lot of leeway in ratings. Don't hate on a sub 85 beer just because a bunch of hipsters on BA didn't care for it because it wasn't "hoppy" enough.

It's funny you said "Taste this! DELICIOUS." because the small group of guys i drink with...that's what we do. We don't try to sell anyone on ABVs or hoppiness or whatever. We say, you have to drink this because it's good. And then we talk about it from there. And if we're trying something new, we'll compare notes. It helps that our palates are similar, and we'll disagree from time to time. But that whole selling it based on gimmick words bites.

I agree with much of what you said. Ive really started drinking craft beer and following closely the last 2 years and just now have a strong idea of what i like and look for in any style of beer.

I bolded the sheeple part bc when it comes to imperial stouts, I am a sheeple. I just dont have palate or experience to really judge an imperial stout. for goose island bourbon county stout, I really didnt like it but i still gave it a 4.75/5 on untappd bc it is a 100 rated beer. What I did like about Bourbon County was how smooth it was. for KBS i also rated it higher bc i was sheeple. I liked it, found it complex and the taste profile evolved 2-3 times from one sip. I go sheeple on highly rated imperial stouts bc I am in no position to rate them yet but untappd has a rating bar and thats what you do.

Im starting to better understand imperial stouts bc ive started to drink enough of them to compare and see what i like and dont likie. I like coffee, chocolate nib and a spice or some heat from cayenne peppers or something.

I love praire BOMB. I also loved the Dc brau/cigar city collab of "the wise and lovely". i did not like the barrel aged BOMB, reminded me a lot of bourbon county stout.

I think sours are the next unchartered beer territory for me. i dont know what a good sour or bad sour tastes like and will probably go sheeple for a while until i trust my own judgment. but that takes time and experience trying various offerings so that I can compare and then judge.
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Beer Camp variety 12 pack is soooo effing good. highly recommend.

[BDBohnzie]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

One thing I've learned recently is while they've done some awful takeovers, their recent purchase of Devil's Backbone has been nothing more than, "Can't beat 'em, join 'em." I've said in this thread a thousand times how awesome they are. I'm obviously biased since they're from Lexington, but we know a few of the brewers and AB was like, "So what do you need?" Brewer Friend: "Ummm, the world's...most...rare hops? I know it's expensive, but I can make..." AB:"How many pounds do you need?" Brewer Friend: "400". AB: "It'll be there tomorrow."

Obviously things can change and everyone is worried they'll become another Goose Island, but overall everyone we've talked to has said nothing but positive things about the people they're dealing with. That being said, it's going to be so weird to go into Devil's Backbone and see Budweiser on tap.

That's pretty cool about the ingredient story. You hope that AB leaves them alone and lets them grow and sell their own styles of beer. But yeah, at the end of the day, after watching Goose Island go down, it may be inevitable. However, good on DB. They worked hard to build their brand and were able to reap the rewards.

Originally Posted by over the mountain

I bolded the sheeple part bc when it comes to imperial stouts, I am a sheeple. I just dont have palate or experience to really judge an imperial stout. for goose island bourbon county stout, I really didnt like it but i still gave it a 4.75/5 on untappd bc it is a 100 rated beer. What I did like about Bourbon County was how smooth it was. for KBS i also rated it higher bc i was sheeple. I liked it, found it complex and the taste profile evolved 2-3 times from one sip. I go sheeple on highly rated imperial stouts bc I am in no position to rate them yet but untappd has a rating bar and thats what you do.

Im starting to better understand imperial stouts bc ive started to drink enough of them to compare and see what i like and dont likie. I like coffee, chocolate nib and a spice or some heat from cayenne peppers or something.

I think sours are the next unchartered beer territory for me. i dont know what a good sour or bad sour tastes like and will probably go sheeple for a while until i trust my own judgment. but that takes time and experience trying various offerings so that I can compare and then judge.

It is easy to be swayed by the ratings and rankings. I can be swayed as well. But those ratings are there as a turn off point on styles to figure out what you may or may not like.

Imperial stouts are harder because you can have a nice clean imperial (Ten Fidy) that isn't barrel aged and have a damn fine beer. Right now the trend is to age everything in bourbon/whisky/rum barrels. Which if done right, adds character. If not, it's too boozy and you lose the flavors in the beer. First time I had BCBS I was blown away at the smoothness. I still like it a lot, but KBS gives it a run for its money.

Sours are great for the summer because of how light they are. However, just like overly hoppy IPAs, some sours can be palate wreckers. If you're going to do sours in a session, stick with them or make sure to clear your palate before switching over. Wicked Weed makes some excellent sours, as does Burley Oak. My favorite sours are Union's Old Pro Gose, Westbrook Gose, 4 Hands Passion Fruit Prussia, and DFH Festina Peche. A buddy of mine went to San Fran a few weeks ago and is shipping back several bottles of Russian River's sours.

I'm heading to the MD Craft Beer Festival tomorrow in Frederick. 200+ beers for sampling. 45 breweries. Hopefully the rain holds up. But if not I'll be sampling in the rain.