Breweries that might need to step it up?

khargro2 -- send me some great divide man...

 

Buncha chameleons! Shoulda stuck to their guns instead of giving customers what they wanted!

GD is always a steal, when you see the type of beer you're looking for. The price never hurts either way. Their model will pan out for them, and the fancy beers will keep getting fancier. Colette 6pks are so necessary in the summertime.

 

I love Great Divide, haven't met a Yeti I don't like.

See my problem with Stone is that I've been looking for a "knock out" punch from them. I wouldn't say I disliked any of their beers, and many of them are quite good, just none that I would classify as world class.

Pipeworks is a brewery that is constantly trying new things and sure many of these are failures, but every so often a Galaxy Unicorn, Game of Jones, Ninja vs. Unicorn Pajama Party comes along and reminds me why I'm willing to try so many different brews from them.

 

This again? Hurricane Irene...

 

Probably an unpopular answer and one I hate to say, but Bell's.
I've never even seen Expedition, Oracle, or Consecrator, and the only six pack of TC old ale I've seen was pretty dusty to say the least. Beers like Christmas ale, winter white, Smitten, and Oarsman could all do with replacing, IMO. And we haven't seen or heard about anything out of the ordinary since the Blacknote release, although I do hope they have something up their sleeve.

 

Fair enough. But I still think a bunch of their overrated (unpopular opinion I know) oh well, more for the rest of you

 

Anchor Brewing... This is an intervention. I love your beer. I have posted on this site a thousand times how underrated liberty is and I will fight anyone who says other wise. Anchor steam got me into craft. Breckel's brown is ridiculously good. Your porter is on point! Old Foghorn is delicious! But listen Big leaf maple was terrible, Bock beer was alright, and your upcoming IPA scares me. If you guys want to be a classic line up brewery literally don't change but if you guys want to expand your line up you guys are going to have to step up. I'm only doing this because i love you so!

- Bergbeer

 

Anderson Valley
Mendocino Brewing Co
Lost Coast
North Coast

 

As much as I love their usual offerings, I would like to see Troegs roll out more brews. I don't need anything extravagant, I would at least just like to see their takes on more than what they do now. Maybe an RIS given how much I like the couple dark brews they do or even a saison or what have you.

 

I liked the two beers I had of Draai Laag guys' but nothing from the typical guys in the area - Penn and Church Brew - get me going. I think the Helltown guys are capable of some really great stuff, just need to find the ability to expand a bit. I think that's the rub in that mostly everyone in the area is still fledgling. First we could probably use more breweries in the area and then as the hobby grows and gets more competitive we can start seeing more upping of the ante.

 

What's the magic number of new breweries for somebody to up the ante? There has been quite a few new breweries open recently. So far it's same shit different fermenter.

 

I don't think anyone needs to step it up. Granted, there are breweries that I pass up, but I'm sure they have their own following. Take Breckenridge for example, I really don't care for the beers they make but at one time I loved them. To someone else they might be the best brewery to that individual. Who am I to judge. DFH is far and away my favorite brewery and they only have a handful of beers I love by them. I like what they stand for. They push the envelope while maintaining a staggering core line. They make what they like. If you don't like it fine, if you do great. I will never talk bad about any brewery because if some brewery helps a person get to that next level then they are vital to the craft beer world.

 

There are a few other beers that I think are very solid but overall New Holland has never been all that exciting. Outside of a few limited kegs that were amazing, they have always been holding steady. I am not saying they couldn't step it up but at some point they are what they are.

Short's is putting out thirty some beers a year, many of them new beers. With the amount they are putting out there is going to be a few that you are bound not to like. I am not personally a fan of the hop profile used in a handful of their IPA/IPLs but I can't hold that alone against them. I just struggle to see how Short's can do more to step it up at the moment.

I am the poster boy for homers (specifically Michigan and Bell's) on this site in more than a couple peoples minds. It is true, I am a homer, but I can still be objective when needed. I may be able to see how Bell's, when looking at distribution only, may leave some wanting more. It is hard for me to see how locals or those who have access to Cafe only or limited run kegs can feel that way.
There was a point in time a couple years back where Bell's was kinda skating by locally, especially in the Cafe. It felt like Bell's knew all they had to be was Bell's and that was good enough. This has changed dramatically over the past couple years. The trials, the experiments, the barrels, Bell's is pushing out a ton of different beers with most of them being top notch. From where I sit Bell's has already stepped it up and it is only getting better.

 

California Lager was a very pleasant surprise, and I'm hoping it becomes a big success for them. I really admire how they are following their own muse, and am happy with them just Anchor-ing along. I'm disappointed that we lost Humming (which was vastly underrated), but think they can make up for with the IPA.

 

Haha, how ironic. Alchemist Brewpub probably made more world class offerings of varied styles than any other brewery one could name. Irene changed all that, hopefully not permanently. I understand they just brought back Ouroboros, which is as fine, if not finer, than Heady.

http://beeradvocate.com/search?q=The+Alchemist+Pub+&+Brewery&qt=beer

 

All but one seasonal is an IPA. And frankly, their IPAs are merely decent. Brux is a good example of branching out, only it wasn't a very good beer.

 

Unfortunately I rely on SE MI distro and what they bring to festivals.
While there are some amazing things in their catalog, and to answer the OP, year round beers that get good distro tend to sit at most places I go to. Same thing with Dark Horse and a few other MI breweries.
I guess I just think that instead of making more of the same old stuff why not scale back on a couple of those, and make room for more of what people will gobble up. And I say that as I know what they are capable of.

 

Their biggest problem is that they use the same malt bill for most if their beers, and pils malts are not that versatile.

Their Spring IPA is rather awesome tho

 

I would be happy if they could just figure out how to brew their own beer instead of relying on contract brewing. Kind of odd that they would invest in a brewery in another country and let their flaships suffer in quality back home. I've had enough bad Brooklyn Lager to know to avoid it which is a shame since it has so much potential.