How far is too far with flavors?

I had the same reaction to the first batch from Stone a few years ago (on tap at Stone). I just picked up a new bottle from this years release and it seems to be better (doesn't taste like soap). I don't know if they changed anything but it is more drinkable.

 

As long as you don't get the yeast from your own beard to make beer I have no problem with flavors being pushed. If I don't like it, I don't buy it again.

 

Trying to utilize every product sold at the grocery store has turned me against American beer even more, I can't imagine being able to taste the beer in these concoctions.

I stick with water, yeasts, hops, and malts, amazing what good brewers do with such a small set of ingredients. I mix in an occasional low-key barrel-aged, smoked, spiced, or fruited beer, but even these seem simplistic compared to what American brewers are concocting these days.

Seems the American beer industry and its consumers are prone to crazes.

 

smoked tomato beer......ummm........none for me,thank you

 

Damn. I really want to try an Imperial Fluffernutter Stout now. I wonder if Slumbrew has something in the works...?

(FYI: Slumbrew is based out of Somerville, Massachusetts -- the birthplace of Fluff)

 

Absolutely.I've been drinking for a very long time and can truthfully say that I've often tried flavoured beers and wondered why on earth they made it.And truthfully say I've never had a beer and thought "This would be nice with XXX (insert any additive you can think of) put into it"
If you can't make outstanding beers using the normal ingredients then you're in the wrong job.

 

While it's all well and good to appreciate what can be done under a given set of restraints, it seems silly to dismiss everything else. A well-written sonnet can be a beautiful thing, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate free verse.

(And just as there's both good and crap poetry regardless of meter or rhyme, there's both good and crap beer regardless of whether the brewer follows tradition)

 

Based on my experiences the odds of one of these concoctions suiting my tastes is low, so why waste my money?

I might not be at the end of my rope now had the early spice-shop, candy store, deli, etc. beers matched up with the descriptions on the bottles and the tasting notes.

 

i thought the smoky off flavor in GI dipa ruined it.

 

All flavorings of beer were once new, including many people's beloved hops!

 

I'd try almost any beer once. Staying away from that Chelada, although I would try that applewood smoked tomato beer you mentioned. I'm all for experimentation, but beard / vag yeast beer? No thank you.

For me, the chili beer fad is too far. I don't like chili flavor on it's own, but I have tried a few chili beers. As expected, I didn't like them. But as long as there's someone out there who does like whatever they're experimenting with, I say breweries should go for it. If people don't end up liking the experiment, it won't catch on.

 

I agree with the cost statements. If brewers are flooding the markets with hit or miss flavors, they have to make up their losses somewhere. Some of the beers out there shouldn't have made it past a five gallon experiment bucket.

 

I wish more breweries would put out crazy stuff so I, as a homebrewer, don't have to take a chance myself.

 

When it tastes crappy.

 

Brewers have the porcine nailed down with smoked malt. Beef and chicken still to go before the venture into bison, alligator, emu, and rabbit.

 

I think an egg salafd sandwich beer would be going a bit too fare even tho i really like egg salad

 

I've been waiting for an egg salad sandwich beer for years now...from multiple breweries so we can all compare

 

I really don't have any problem with flavorings in general as long as it complements the beer itself. I'm sure I'm in the minority on this but a brew that takes flavoring ingredients too far is Frangelic Mountain Brown. The hazelnut coffee flavor so completely dominated that I would have never known it was supposed to be an American brown ale except for a bit of alcoholic warmth. I love Founders brews, and was really looking forward to this one, but it was a big disappointment. Founders so skillfully has used coffee to complement the natural flavors of the beer in FBS, KBS, CBS, etc., but this one is the big exception, not to mention the gross nutrasweet-like taste at the beginning of the finish.

Ultimately, even with the use of flavoring ingredients, a beer should still taste like beer.

 

There is no too far in my opinion. There will always be consumers like myself who will try just about anything once. I appreciate innovation and taking chances in beer even if the outcome is horrible.