The Official Beer Appreciation Thread

[SwampD]

I'm not a huge fan of Victory. They were good when others weren't making better beer but while others have turned up their game I think Victory has rested on its name.  It's certainly don't think of them when it comes to that style.  Of course, if you don't like sour then you're not going to like that style anyway.  :)

 

 

 

 

Wait.. I can play this game.

 

IPAs are awesome.  I said it, therefore it must be so.

One thing I can say for IPAs, there sure are a lot of them. IMHO, there are very few that are actually good. I've had good IPAs. They can be good. But I find that most seem like the brewers were just overly hopping bad beer to try and hide the fact that it is dirty dishwater.

[That Aud Smell]

One thing I can say for IPAs, there sure are a lot of them. IMHO, there are very few that are actually good. I've had good IPAs. They can be good. But I find that most seem like the brewers were just overly hopping bad beer to try and hide the fact that it is dirty dishwater.

 

This is a real risk nowadays.  There are SO many -- it's easier to encounter bad ones.

[LTS]

One thing I can say for IPAs, there sure are a lot of them. IMHO, there are very few that are actually good. I've had good IPAs. They can be good. But I find that most seem like the brewers were just overly hopping bad beer to try and hide the fact that it is dirty dishwater.

 

Certainly.  If there is one thing that the market has seen is that far too many people are getting financing to open breweries who have no idea how to brew quality beer.  It's a situation where there are plenty of financial backers who want a part of the market and if you can make a good sales pitch you'll be brought on as the brewer (or worse, you thought you were good from your homebrewing days).  The scaling of recipes from homebrew to professional is not 1:1.  It's not like doubling a batch of chocolate chip cookies or even making 10x the amount.

 

Tack on the market being so over saturated with beer that it's devolved into who can turn out a "new" style to grab the attention of beer drinkers this month.  Most brewers now operate on 3-5 of year round beers and then just keep creating new beers to stay relevant.  Of course, if the government upped the labeling fee of beers this would stop pretty quickly.  They lowered it to allow more competition, but it's gotten out of hand.

[darksabre]

Certainly.  If there is one thing that the market has seen is that far too many people are getting financing to open breweries who have no idea how to brew quality beer.  It's a situation where there are plenty of financial backers who want a part of the market and if you can make a good sales pitch you'll be brought on as the brewer (or worse, you thought you were good from your homebrewing days).  The scaling of recipes from homebrew to professional is not 1:1.  It's not like doubling a batch of chocolate chip cookies or even making 10x the amount.

 

Tack on the market being so over saturated with beer that it's devolved into who can turn out a "new" style to grab the attention of beer drinkers this month.  Most brewers now operate on 3-5 of year round beers and then just keep creating new beers to stay relevant.  Of course, if the government upped the labeling fee of beers this would stop pretty quickly.  They lowered it to allow more competition, but it's gotten out of hand.

I think if you were to ask me who out there is making the best craft beers well and consistently, and with a wide variety, it would be Bell's Brewery. Those guys make a great selection of beers and they focus on quality over being different or exciting. 

[That Aud Smell]

I think if you were to ask me who out there is making the best craft beers well and consistently, and with a wide variety, it would be Bell's Brewery. Those guys make a great selection of beers and they focus on quality over being different or exciting. 

 

Good candidate - they don't make mistakes.

[LTS]

I think if you were to ask me who out there is making the best craft beers well and consistently, and with a wide variety, it would be Bell's Brewery. Those guys make a great selection of beers and they focus on quality over being different or exciting. 

 

 

Good candidate - they don't make mistakes.

 

 

I am, and have always been, a fan of Bell's.  I used to have friends who would pick up cases of Bell's beer for me when they were driving through Michigan.  Ed Bell had once stated that he would never do business in NYS because of its backwards laws.  He finally caved and thankfully NYS has actually made some good changes to its alcohol laws as well.

 

There are quite a few breweries that are top notch in my opinion.

 

Firestone-Walker

Allagash

Bell's

Oskar Blues

Great Divide

Lost Abbey

Sierra Nevada

Singlecut

 

Hell, I know I am missing quite a few.  There are a few others that are just below that and then a massive ton that are 50/50 for me.  There are only a few that I simply avoid 100% as opposed to not drinking because I chose someone above them on the list.

[MattPie]

Regardless of flavor preferences, I'm glad this thread has finally gained some steam again!

 

Ugh, that beer is terrible.

 

I'm not a huge fan of Victory. They were good when others weren't making better beer but while others have turned up their game I think Victory has rested on its name.  It's certainly don't think of them when it comes to that style.  Of course, if you don't like sour then you're not going to like that style anyway.  :)

 

Victory is my local, so I should be offended. But realistically, I haven't had a new beer from there that has completely wow'd me in awhile. That used to happen a lot. There could be other factors in that for me; I rarely get wow'd by any beer these days. I'm inclined to think I've either become jaded, depressed, and/or old. Victory's food was certainly better years ago, I think that's objective truth.

[LTS]

Ugh, that beer is terrible.

 

 

Victory is my local, so I should be offended. But realistically, I haven't had a new beer from there that has completely wow'd me in awhile. That used to happen a lot. There could be other factors in that for me; I rarely get wow'd by any beer these days. I'm inclined to think I've either become jaded, depressed, and/or old. Victory's food was certainly better years ago, I think that's objective truth.

 

Local doesn't make it great unfortunately.  We have a few local breweries here and they are hit and miss.  Even the most popular have their fans but it doesn't make their beer fantastic.  I'm with you on wow factor.  There are very few beers that get me truly excited.  I used to be a bigger Victory fan but some of the beers just fell of the table relative to others that came to market.  For example, as Bell's Two-Hearted made its way into Rochester I noticed less Hop Devil and I preferred that.  The same is true with some other Victory beers.  It used to be that Prima Pils was on everywhere and now I rarely see it.  There are a lot of reasons and perhaps none of them have to do with a decline in the quality of the beer but it happens.

[hsif]

Bell's Hopslam, and Two Hearted Ale are wonderful in my book.................

[sabills]

Well. The New England IPA hasn't totally died out. Granted it's being adapted with the tropical IPA and other styles.

 

I had a new type at Resurgence the other day called a "Milkshake IPA" which I thought was just the name, but turns out is actually a style? It was a super creamy NE style IPA. It was kind of odd.

I think if you were to ask me who out there is making the best craft beers well and consistently, and with a wide variety, it would be Bell's Brewery. Those guys make a great selection of beers and they focus on quality over being different or exciting. 

Bells is great, I'd put a vote in for Great Lakes, though they don't come out with a lot of new stuff. But I've yet to have a GL beer I didn't like, and there's a lot of variety. 

 

Sad beer news: SmuttyNose is going up for auction soon. Hopefully the new owner is benevolent, and isn't InBev

[LGR4GM]

Not Gose. ###### those beers.

Never had a watermelon gose on the beach?

[LGR4GM]

Local doesn't make it great unfortunately. We have a few local breweries here and they are hit and miss. Even the most popular have their fans but it doesn't make their beer fantastic. I'm with you on wow factor. There are very few beers that get me truly excited. I used to be a bigger Victory fan but some of the beers just fell of the table relative to others that came to market. For example, as Bell's Two-Hearted made its way into Rochester I noticed less Hop Devil and I preferred that. The same is true with some other Victory beers. It used to be that Prima Pils was on everywhere and now I rarely see it. There are a lot of reasons and perhaps none of them have to do with a decline in the quality of the beer but it happens.

Just found a new brewery called pressure drop. It's pretty solid. But you are right, I don't like all their stuff or all of any breweries stuff. I like styles and and breweries have beers in those styles I like more. The point is we can get great beer everywhere now and that's awesome.

[josie]

I used to work with a guy who had worked at Victory- had it tattooed on his arm. He always brought it to the office, so I got to try whatever he could find. Yeah.. I never really had one I loved. 

 

I agree with the upthread love for Bells. Dammmmn that place is good- never had a bad Bells. The saving grace of my friend's wedding was her kegs of Two Hearted... And I'm with sabelvillheim on Great Lakes. I'm definitely a bit biased, but one of my favorite go-to's will always be Edmund Fitz. 

 

I dig Breckenridge, and if I'm not feeling too fancy, I reach for Shiner. And I love Rohrbach's scotch ale over all other scotch ales. 

I hate to admit it but might as well, when it comes to wine or beer, if I don't know the brewery, I definitely tend to buy based off label design. I know it means absolutely nothing, but it's the artist in me. There's some kickass beer label art out there. One of my former best friends from college does all the art for Saranac now. Neat gig. Utica native- they chose well. 

[That Aud Smell]

Never had a watermelon gose on the beach?

 

I am so not a fighting type. I might even be fairly described as somewhat effete.

 

But if some motherfunkster ever tried to give me a gose -- knowing how I feel about them -- I would have to throw hands.

 

The first one I tried was very well reviewed. Like I said, it was thrust into my hand during a pub crawl. It was disgusting. 

 

At the insistence of a friend, I tried two others a week or so later. They were as bad or somehow worse than the first.

 

I'm not sure if any of them were flavored with a fruit. (I have little use for such beers, fwiw.) NFW am I ever tippling a goddamned gose ever again. Ever.

[sabills]

I used to work with a guy who had worked at Victory- had it tattooed on his arm. He always brought it to the office, so I got to try whatever he could find. Yeah.. I never really had one I loved. 

 

I agree with the upthread love for Bells. Dammmmn that place is good- never had a bad Bells. The saving grace of my friend's wedding was her kegs of Two Hearted... And I'm with sabelvillheim on Great Lakes. I'm definitely a bit biased, but one of my favorite go-to's will always be Edmund Fitz. 

 

I dig Breckenridge, and if I'm not feeling too fancy, I reach for Shiner. And I love Rohrbach's scotch ale over all other scotch ales. 

 

I hate to admit it but might as well, when it comes to wine or beer, if I don't know the brewery, I definitely tend to buy based off label design. I know it means absolutely nothing, but it's the artist in me. There's some kickass beer label art out there. One of my former best friends from college does all the art for Saranac now. Neat gig. Utica native- they chose well. 

Oh same. Good labels draw my eye, and if the style fits what I'm feeling I'll buy. I'm a sucker for new brews too, I'll buy something new over something I know I like. Gotta chase that dragon.

[SwampD]

I am so not a fighting type. I might even be fairly described as somewhat effete.

 

But if some motherfunkster ever tried to give me a gose -- knowing how I feel about them -- I would have to throw hands.

 

The first one I tried was very well reviewed. Like I said, it was thrust into my hand during a pub crawl. It was disgusting. 

 

At the insistence of a friend, I tried two others a week or so later. They were as bad or somehow worse than the first.

 

I'm not sure if any of them were flavored with a fruit. (I have little use for such beers, fwiw.) NFW am I ever tippling a goddamned gose ever again. Ever.

:lol:

[That Aud Smell]

Re pretty labels: Oh hell yeah.

 

The brewery Collective Arts has taken that whole thing to another level.

 

[LGR4GM]

I had Genesee dark chocolate scotch ale yesterday and was impressed. Really good sipping beer.

[darksabre]

Re pretty labels: Oh hell yeah.

 

The brewery Collective Arts has taken that whole thing to another level.

 

I love Collective Arts

[LTS]

I love Collective Arts

 

Indeed.  And they are eye catching.

 

Three Heads in Rochester has really good labels as well.  Their artist is a cool guy.

[hsif]

And some great beer at Three Heads........ I'm sad to see the Spruce Tip IPA has just left their "on Tap" listing............ 

[sabills]

Someday I'll have my own brewery* and Josie can do my can art.

 

 

 

                                     *I will never have my own brewery because it is way to much work 

[LTS]

And some great beer at Three Heads........ I'm sad to see the Spruce Tip IPA has just left their "on Tap" listing............ 

 

Absolutely.  I had the Spruce TIPA and it was excellent.  Although I think it triggered an allergic reaction for me... (it was still worth it).

 

But I am not a fan of all 3HB beers.  The Kind is one of the last beers I will order.  I like Too Kind, and Gorilla Dub, but not the Kind.  There are others as well, but no need to get into it.  

[darksabre]

Bock is back!

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BeJeCSUHCFl/

[Ogre]

Someday I'll have my own brewery* and Josie can do my can art.

 

 

 

*I will never have my own brewery because it is way to much work

Waaaaaay too much work. When I consider the idea I multiply the PITA for my 5 gallons by X gallons and realize that it would be an monumental PITA. Fun. Yessir. Profitable? I don’t see how.