Brew Dogs Chicago Episode

Which is why when I use the term I typically put it in quotes AND, also, as in the case of the post of mine you quoted, I specifically wrote:

"the Brewers Association does not consider them "Craft..."

"..was not considered craft by the B.A.*"

* Brewers Association​

​

 

Based on the facts and evidence at hand, this seems to be a cut and dry snub of the GI sellout to AB - not some profoundly arbitrary "craft beer" definition issue.

Whether you agree with snubbing/boycotting GI or not, there are plenty of folks on both sides of the fence who have legitimate arguments. It's pretty clear where Brewdog stands on the matter.

 

Enjoy the show but most of the beers they brew look and sound like complete shite (particularly the wheat grass crap last week). Any time you set out to brew the "-----est" beer ever, you can rest assured that it is gonna be complete crap. Also, using equipment rigged up by Gilligan and the Professor is amusing but also likely leads to shite beer. The show is an interesting combination of entertainment and education. About 80/20 mix.

 

To be fair, that isn't always what they're trying to do. Often they are brewing a pretty normal beer using local ingredients (cactus, lobsters, seaweed) which seems like a pretty legit way to explore what beer can be. And the unorthodox energy sources make for interesting television, adding a bit of suspense whenever their Rube Goldberg-esque contraption breaks down. Yes it's formulaic and a bit gimmicky, but I think overall they have a good mix of information, comedy, and (fake) drama for a show that needs to appeal to a wide audience.

They pack quite a bit of information into each show. Including: meeting a premiere brewer in a city & his/her brewery, visiting other noteworthy locales, aspects of a city's history & culture, sampling of local beers, exploration of beer styles, demonstration of the brewing process, top 5 lists of breweries & bars, often crossing into a city's culinary scene & distilleries... a lot of info for a show that's primarily reality TV, with aspects of a travel show, instructional TV, and documentary.

 

Personally I think both the Honkers Ale and the 312 taste different. This was before I even knew about the buy out. I was excited to see more Goose Island stuff, but tasted different. Then I heard about the buyout. That being said, the stuff that comes out of Chicago the small batches like the barrel aged stuff is still pretty on point. And call it snobbery but I refuse to add to AB's pocket book. They killed the craft industry in the 70's and then again tried to do it in the 90's. All they have done is buy market share in the craft industry so as long as goose island adds to the AB pocket book I have a hard time supporting them, and frankly like I said before I heard of the buyout I quit going to their staples they didn't taste the same to me, maybe it was just the pasteurization.

 

They may not be craft, but I would rather drink Goose Island than anything Brewdog produces.

 

Is there a documentary where the Hall's hire a therapist and are revealed to be whiny bitches? Because, if there is, I need to see that!!!

 

It's also not surprising that a brewery that relies primarily on gimmicks to sell product is not in the top 250. There are far more interesting British breweries that should be in the top 250, but that's a conversation for another thread.

 

I've mentioned this before, but I was able to purchase 6 packs of Honkers Ale in the "crossover." I was able to taste beers brewed both in Chicago and New York side-by-side -- and blind. They tasted identical. Albeit, this was during the first brewing outside of Chicago, but many others have agreed that they still find the IPA and Honkers no different (can't comment on 312).

 

I wouldn't say there are that many.
BD are up there in the top 10 British brewers for me.

 

I thought the episode was good. Enjoyed the part when the made the green color for the beer and it tasted like pepper spray before it was separated.

I think Brew Dogs Hard Core IPA is a good beer, nothing wrong with it at all.

 

Watched the episode last night with friends while cracking a few beers of my own, to my surprise I was a little disappointed with the episode which I'm sad to say. Like how they hit up Revolution Brewery, which is by far one of the best if not the' best brewery in the Chicagoland area. Always have 16-18 beers on tap (Kedzie location) all of which are stellar beers. Not like GI that everyone thinks is great, outside of Bouborn County and possibly Green Line, their line of beers are horrible. I like that Brew Dogs gave love to the smaller breweries like Half Acre and Local Option though.

Pipeworks is great staple for the Chicago craft beer scene. But honestly they need to stop with the releasing of a beer every other week! At which no point and time should ANY brewery have literally 27 different bombers at one time when I walk into a Binny's. That's just dumb! I understand giving the consumer options but break it down a tad perhaps. Maybe in Spring & Summer do the Ninja's, Fall do the Unicorns and Winter do the Abductions.

But what do I know though right?!?

 

I totally agree except for the beer part. They always always always set out to brew the "---est". That's ok, it wouldn't be interesting to watch them brew the "quintessential" brown ale. Most caffeinated, most caloric, greenest, etc etc. makes for entertaining TV but it's always crap and you can tell the drinkers are being nice. Having said that I don't miss an episode. But I'm never jealous to not be drinking what they brewed. Give me the quintessential-est any day.

 

The episodes & beers so far (grabbed from here):

• San Diego — James and Martin set out to make a quintessential Southern California brew by using ingredients they harvest themselves, including kelp and the world’s hottest chili — brewed while traveling 70mph on a train up the Pacific coast.
• San Francisco — The BREW DOGS get “foggy” in San Fran by making the world’s first vaporized beer. You don’t drink this beer, you inhale it!
• Seattle — James and Martin brew the world’s most-caffeinated beer — a big, bold, chocolate-coffee imperial stout — on the top deck of the Bainbridge Island Ferry.
• Denver — The guys brew the ultimate Western beer — a solar-powered, cactus-infused, meat pale ale — at 14,000 feet, using only the sun’s rays to boil the brew
• Philadelphia — James and Martin make The Most American Beer Ever Brewed. It’s brewed on a float during a Fourth of July parade — and the final ingredient is added as fireworks light up the Philadelphia sky. The beer is also DNA digitally encoded with 328 million copies of the Declaration of Independence. (No, we’re not kidding.)
• Portland — The BREW DOGS create a uniquely Oregonian beer — a fresh-hopped, blackberry-infused Berlinerweisse — while floating on a beer-keg raft down the Willamette River.
• Boston – Along with Sam Adams’ proprietor and legendary craft beer entrepreneur Jim Koch, Martin and James brew a Boston Clambake beer, infused with lobsters and clams and brewed on a tall ship sailing through Boston Harbor.

Durham was the most caloric beer (made with bacon & maple syrup and served over ice cream), Chicago the greenest beer (made with locally-grown jalepeno extract & coloring and fermented in a Koval whiskey barrel with whiskey added.) I think we agree that the show is fundamentally not about making ideal beer -- it's about beer as a canvas to show off some features of a city, or to force the guys to brew in some bizarre situation. There's an idea that good beer should have a good story behind it -- at minimum, their beers have that in common.