How many "mulligans" do you give a brewery?

If I enjoy more the beers they offer than not, I will most likely keep going back to the well. Some breweries I also will only try certain styles. For example, Evil Twin I will try just about any of their stouts but I steer clear from the majority of their IPAs/hoppy selections (not a big fan).

 

After Voodoo Donut Maple Bacon, Rogue was completely out for me. Nobody would put that in a bottle unless they hated the person who was going to drink it.

 

With beer advocate I never write a brewery off. I can get others opinions and can pretty much tell if it is one I will purchase. I would say though that if I am visiting a brewery and have a crappy experience there will be no mulligans. I will not write off their beer, but will not visit again.

 

Depends if you're keeping score.

 

Firestone Walker is as close as I get to what the OP has described, but I'm having a hard time caring about Pivo Pils and an even harder time not outright hating 805, especially when a legitimately good beer like Walker's Reserve Porter is discontinued.

 

Unless I have a moral issue with a brewer/brewery, I will always try new offerings, even if the previous 25 were turds. Even a blind pig finds a truffle occaisionally.

 

Miss that porter

 

You're confusing them with @Sixpoint

 

It entirely depends, and is based on my personal taste.

For example, I can't tolerate hops. So, Sierra Nevada has burned through every mulligan they could ever have had, for me - I have had exactly two beers from them I have enjoyed, and they discontinued one of them except for a sampler pack filled with other beers I do not want and will not buy. Even their hefeweizen came across as hop-forward to me.

Stone, meanwhile, I continue to give the occasional shot, because of things like Xocoveza and w00tStout. I don't like most of what they produce as their staple beers, but some of the one-offs I enjoy.

If we're talking the local level, then locally in Cincinnati, I'll still give Rhinegeist the occasional shot, because Panther is a decent if not exceptional porter, and some of their one-off beers have been palatable. Meanwhile, MadTree has proven that they're hop-heavy in literally every beer they make, except their Axis Mundi stout, which is not bottled or canned - literally everything else they've had a hand in, from winter warmer to gose, is a hopfest - even a friend of mine who visited from Grand Rapids and loves Two Hearted and Hopslam disliked their PsycHOPathy IPA for being just too hoppy. They're out of mulligans. Triple Digit/Listermann gets the benefit of the doubt on almost everything, because they produce almost solely beers I enjoy.

 

speaking of them - bad experiences with a few of their beers in the past - especially Apollo - has put me off them. Plus I don't like the deceptive labeling of where the beer is brewed - or not brewed.

 

If I don't like a particular beer but like other beer by the brewery, I will still buy what I like. If its a brewery that is new to me and I do not like one of their beers, I might be less likely to try others by the same brewery. If it is a quality issue such as an infected beer I will inform the retailer and might wait awhile before trying one of their products again. To many quality control issues will keep me from coming back for good.

 

If it's either of my home breweries, then I'll give them unlimited mulligans. Fortunately, I've never had to give either one a mulligan.

If it's a brewery that I'm visiting, and it is possible that I could go back there someday when traveling in the area, I'll give them one mulligan if it's a newly-opened place, and two mulligans for experienced breweries. If I can't see any hope for either type of brewery after the mulligan(s), I won't go back until I see many reviews that the beers are good now. (If they are still in business.)

If it is a bottled beer from a brewery that I know is usually good, unlimited mulligans for them. If it is a bottled offering from a new-to-me brewery, zero mulligans until I hear many positive reviews.

 

I have a weighted system which most people probably follow. The more beers I like from said brewery, the more likely I am to pick up their newest offering. If something new is coming out from any of them, I will most likely pick it up the next time I visit a shop (budget permitting). If there is a drought of new beers coming out from my top breweries I move on down to the next tier and pick up something I haven't tried and so on. I don't completely rule out breweries whom with I haven't had great success, but the chances are slimmer that I pick something up from that brewery. If it's a new brewery to me, I mix it in with my top tier breweries to try them out. I never completely rule out a brewery or at least I haven't yet.

 

Ha ha, they're solid too, hometown love for each right?

 

The OP really hit on a definite distinction. I will give DFH many, many mulligans because they have made so many beers that I think belong in the top tier.

On the other hand, I will likely adopt something closer to a three strikes rule for a new brewery especially if the beers that I sample are among my most favorite styles.

 

I'm a firm believer in beer being tasted at every step of the process, and that it should be common practice that breweries have tasting standards as part of their QA/QC right out of the gate. There are too many breweries at this point shucking for our limited attention span that this should be of paramount importance. Take the hit now if it's not up to the task, and dump it instead of absorbing the impact of bad product that hits the market, and turns people off permanently.

 

I'm glad that my palate developed a little more & I started to discern which hops, or combo of I liked, because I was much the same way 5 yrs ago. Now I'm much better w/hops, I had a buddy start as a hophead & totally burned out. I feel for anyone that's not down w/the hop because now is the age of the hop & everything seems to be "triple hops brewed" like Miller Lite claims to be.
As far as Mad Tree, have you had their Gnarly Brown? It was definitely my favorite of their stuff that I've tried. Really hoping to see Rhinegiest make its way to NE Ohio before 2015 is out.

 

one

 

I have so little capacity for trying new beers, i say 2. if you blew it twice (infected, flat, overcarbed, bad, boring) it will take a lot for me to throw money at you again.

 

It's been ten years of drinking craft for me, complete with full-bore attempts to like hops right down to drinking entire growlers by myself in one evening, chugging vs. carefully swishing, and so forth. Founder's Porter still hits me as a one-note wall of Pine-Sol with no other flavors discernible at all, Habanero Sculpin has no spice, pepper, or heat, just a one-note wall of Chanel No. 5 Concentrate, and SN Kellerweis was also perfume. Hops just aren't for me, the same way paintings relying on shades of red aren't for the color-blind. Lol.

I have had the Gnarly Brown, and it's one of the reasons I dislike MadTree for hopping everything - along with Thunder Snow and Madmann. Rhinegeist has Panther, which I don't mind - I won't buy a sixer of it when it's next to Ed Fitz and priced a dollar higher per six pack, but I'll order it when I see it on tap. At least Triple Digit puts out multiple Chickow! variants and Aftermath, so not all is lost for me!