What makes a brewery great?

By definition, if YOU think they brew great beer, then they're a great brewery. I could easily list 50+ off the top of my head.

 

I like to see a brewery that isn't afraid to try new things, put a twist on the regular

 

A great brewery makes good beer consistently IE... Deschutes, and not my home state, just says Oregon, jokes on you.

 

My response was tongue in cheek. But yeah, what you said.

 

Good beer, consistent quality, respect for their consumer base. Things like low price, distribution channels that make beer consistently available, and hosting cool events are added bonuses

 

Three Floyds

 

I took it that way, chatted with u before.
Cheers!

 

Cheers!

 

My point was that just because a brewery (Magic Hat in this particular discussion) has lots of customers, does not mean they are a great brewer. Mudbug's contention is that they are a great brewery because they have a "multitude of buyers" and I was pointing out that BMC brewerys have lots of customers too, but I don't think anyone considers them to be great brewerys.

 

I was also disappointed by centennial. Good IPA but wouldn't be worth mentioning is pout up against the best IPAs in California.

 

in a perfect world: variation in styles (sometimes), uncompromising quality, respectable prices, availability

 

Look at Sierra Nevada. Values, Quality, longevity. That is the bar for a great brewery.

Can you make a great product but more importantly, can you sustain a great product? A lot of the players in the game can't say yes to that question. Sierra Nevada paved the road, they can say yes

 

I think you're (respectfully) out of your mind here. I buy dirty bastard all the time, and I've been checking my beer finder daily for old curmudgeon to show up, it is such a great beer. I don't give a damn about KBS and if I had to pick a top american craft brewery, it would probably be Founder's. In your later post you said they were not very diverse, I don't see that either, especially when compared to Victory.

Price is a hard thing to argue too because unless you're talking about The Bruery etc., it varies by region. Founders is no more pricey here than Victory, which is right in line with other standard American craft 4 and 6 packs.

I may be completely wrong but when I read something like that I assume you are someone who mostly just drinks IPAs.

 

lol @ the alchemist. and if you haven't had the crusher, belezubb, folcal banger, el jefe, or ourobus you should try them. because they're all great. did I forget petit mutant?, oh yea there's petit mutant. go back to jersey and enjoy your boat beer. lol

 

A great brewery is a brewery that can consistently craft beer that's 8% and under and still be interesting and complex beers. I'm not saying never go above 8% (do it often, for all I care, I love me a good imperial stout), but I think there's a lot that can be masked in high ABV beers. Make world-class mid-range ABV (5-7%) beers and that makes a good brewery, to me.

 

variety, consistent quality, reasonably priced, good seasonals and one-offs, ideally none of their beers are sold in bombers or 4 paks

 

Some of my favourite breweries make either a single beer or a very small range. Zum Uerige, for example. Or Hoffman in Hohenschwaerz.

I'd prefer a brewery to concentrate on a couple of cracking beers rather than piss around with loads of hit and miss ones.

One-off beers sometimes hit the mark, but often they would have become better, had the recipe been perfected over multiple batches. But I guess the schlock of the new is more important than perfection to novelty-seeking geeks.

 

I'm more impressed with breweries that don't bother with IPAs but instead concentrate on Ordinary Bitter an Mild. Far more difficult styles to brew than all this barrel-aged shit. Any idiot can stick a beer in weird barrels and pump it full of bugs.

 

A great brewery produces at least one great beer.

Bonus points awarded for: longevity, good variety or narrow focus, admirable business or environmental practices, affordability, availability, customer relations, practical packaging, strong brand identity, house flavor.

Points deducted for overuse of the term "limited edition."

 

or for wasting the world's wax reserves