Most Improved Breweries & Those Losing Their Shine

Cheers/X2 too Long Trail!
A lot of very awesome releases in packaging that is inciting lately, the illustrations themselves may lean toward a more narrow demographic, but the packaging is colorful, cleverly named, reasonably priced (in my area) and it is a quality product all of those things are appealing to all demographics.

Had Fresh Slice the other night and that beer was amazing, unripened bananas, kiwi, mellon, citrus zest, so pithy and fluffy, soft on the pallet, incredible beer in my opinion. I could and very well may consume a good amount of that beer.

East End:
While I agree with the fact there is a lot that could be done, these guys are part time brewers and full time teachers that spend a lot of time enriching the community around them. They do what they do well and I think adjusting to a part time schedule especially when your opening a second location is probably rough. As long as they are doing what they like, making my home town a better place, and teaching kids I'm happy with there pace.
Should the decide to bottle or can, maybe contract with River Town and do some moderate scale statewide release and start making that a regular occurrence I would be ecstatic. Launching a canning/bottling line however and having a full scale production facility is a much larger investment of time and capital than renting out a place and throwing 5000 bucks at a new growler fill station and staffing it so you have time to grade Timmy's paper instead of getting an ulcer every time you have to drive to the strip district because a piece of the line is broke.

Starr Hill:
Seem to be stepping up their game a bit after having watched the rest of the VA market explode past them for the last 2 years give or take. Grateful is now year round which I think they should have done from the start. Yeah its "Just a pale ale" but its a start, they are repackaging which is also more colorful and attractive than before, and they have been doing 650s which in my experience didn't move well but I also haven't tried any of that format but it is a step in the right direction. I think having a limited production annual release schedule is important, it keeps people intrigued and insinuates hey buy this now cus you can't get something this high quality all year.

 

Good Vibes is indeed delicious stuff but it won't be available outside of kegs.
They are no longer planning on canning. However a new IPA called Hoo Doo is now being bottled, replacing 4 Seasons IPA in the year round lineup.

 

It's a Kolsch....I actually though that it was average to slightly above average for the style. Not bad at all.

 

I would also add that because of their expanded distro their good seasonals; KBS, Backwoods, Harvest, ect have all become so hard to find that it's just not worth the chase for a 12 oz bottle. It has turned me off on their whole lineup.

 

O'SO IMO has been brewing up a storm. Lupulin Maximus very underrated.

 

Wait, so you won't drink any of their lineup because the seasonals are hard to get?

 

Improved: Red Brick.

25th Anniversary BBA Imp Stout, Beard Envy, and Sacred Cow are on a totally different level than anything else I've had from them so far. I know they got a new brewmaster sometime last year, and they're completely redoing their packaging too, so they're making big moves. Excited to try the new Hoplanta IPA.

Fallen off: Magic Hat

There was once a time where Magic Hat actually tried to do interesting shit with their beers. It was extremely hit or miss, but at least you could pick up a seasonal pack and get two weird beers that you might like, probably hate, but at least they'd be interesting. In the past couple years, the packs have just got so bland, any sense of adventure stripped from them.

 

Penn Brewing has also impressed me, primarily traditional German styles, but done very well, and their chocolate stout is as good as any I've had.

Very much agree, I always enjoy trying things they've cooked up, especially the ancient series. The amount of R&D that goes into those is staggering, and even if the final product isn't to my liking, it's still worth trying out something so unique.

 

Yea, basically. In my opinion Founders has made the decesion to expand and use their seasonals to give an air of exclusivity to their overall brand. (Also the pricing choices and 4/6 pk discussion around Breakfast Stout, ect.) It all rubs me the wrong way so I usually don't buy anything from them. They are the anti New Glarus who I'm extremely loyal to because they take care of their existing footprint at a fair price instead of attempting world domination.

 

I get where you're coming from. I would probably be that way myself, but sometimes a lack of good alternatives has pushed me towards them. I wish I had your variety of choices. That Porter & Breakfast stout are still go to for me around here, as they big fish in a small pond around here...

 

Exactly, I've sold more of it in the past 2-3 weeks than I have in the 3 months prior that we've had it in stock.

 

Just from reading the title of this thread I knew my answer would be Otter Creek! While they have always been solid - they have really been killing it the last 6 months. Actually, when I was in college they were the best local craft around (about 10-12 years ago); stovepipe porter (or bigfoot when it was a 6er) was my go to when I had $6 or $7 ...then they kinda dropped off a bit, but are really turning it around!

Yes, I know bigfoot isn't otter creek - it was just my other go to beer best bang for the buck in college!

 

Incline: For me, call me biased, I don't care, but I have to give a shout out to Alaskan Brewing Company as their Hopothermia is quite good. Their Imperial Chile ale is awesome and for us locals they just put out an American Pale Ale called Big Mountain which was fabulous.
Decline: I hate to say this, but I'm gonna have to say New Belgium. From Accumulation to some recent Lips of Faith series, they have fallen off a bit. I used to love Fat Tire and might to have to grab a sixer in the near future to hopefully change my mind.

 

I wish I could say yes, but no. I've given the brewery more tries than just about any other since they are "almost" local.

 

I agree with that. While their Pilsner is pretty average, Kaiser Pils is one of my favorites. Penn Gold and Cool River Kolsch are also very good beers. For a balance drinkability and flavor, they are very good.

 

Fallen off: Central Waters. From a mediocre year round lineup of shelf turds to a barrel-aging program that has turned into a damn disaster. The really good seasonals have gone from 4-packs to expensive bombers. If Illumination goes to a bomber format the brewery will be dead to me.[/QUOTE]

WOW. This entirely, completely, 100% wrong.
Im Stout- excellent
1414- great
15- excellent
16- excellent
Black Gold- phenomonal
Barley wine- excellent.
Exodus- very good.

Sorry bud. You are in the wrong.

 

Agreed on Smutty. Used to drink every one of the Big Beer series, not mainly stick to Baltic Porter. I've even had some questionable batches of Finest Kind lately, which has always been my go-to IPA. Month old 12-packs that taste like they're 6 months old. Something's not right.

 

I think one of the most important things to consider is who owns the brewery, and who is making the creative and executive decisions with the beer.

Magic Hat has changed ownership several times in the past 5 years. There has been massive turnover not only at the top with their executives, but all the way down the line to the brewing staff and sales reps. Naturally, this is going to be highly disruptive to their company.

No one can deny the huge impact Magic Hat had in the early years of the second wave of craft brewers. We'll see what their impact will be like moving forward but it appears that private equity might have a different vision than what the original founders had with the brewery.

 

What if we become popular though? Will you still like us? :-)