Pittsburgh - New Beers & Local Breweries

I tend to agree with it tough but would gratitude be as popular if it was not for sites like this I would say no.

 

He's not wrong.

 

He's not wrong, but nor is Grodd. I kind of doubt that EE would have a line around the block to pick up Gratitude if not for the hype that it too once upon a time received from the people here. That's why I always say that the breweries who DO frequent BA need to learn to filter out the obvious trolling and focus on the people who are giving legitimate, constructive feedback. Just saying a beer "sucks" and that you poured it isn't constructive or helpful to those guys and should be ignored accordingly.

 

To me it is an athlete who does not read the paper or the radio.

 

Nice find. A good read. And I agree. But it isn't just about beer. Restaurants, movies, businesses in general. If you can prove wrong all the trolls (no names mentioned here) you can overcome. But there is definitely a hivemind mentality...

 

He's not wrong, and there are plenty of people here who do not need to be so harsh when talking about various breweries (I'm probably guilty of this myself), but have some thicker skin. I respect the brewers who - for some godforsaken reason - wade through all of our bullshit here, gather some criticism, and try to make better beer.

 

I think the beer hype train has definitely transcended BA and our dumb quasi-anonymous forum. Look at all the last Draai Laag releases. Barely mentions of the Briars and Pienture bottles here, but sold out in an hour. There are lurkers sure, but there are also plenty of people that just want to go out and support a local place. Granted I don't know what all you guys look like, but the people that fill up Roundabout and Voodoo on a given night aren't on here.

 

You're not wrong Walter, you're just an asshole!

This excerpt from the article is BA in a nutshell:

Online beer communities and reviewing sites can also feel like “a detached little bubble compared to the rest of the beer world,” says Mosher, in which imperial IPAs, lambics and barrel-aged stouts reign at the top of the list and members obsess over tracking down rare beers

 

BA = Mark Madden
TB = Bill Simmons
RB = blogger with 13 subscribers
r\craftbeer = official team website message boards
Podcasters = Rob Rossi
Facebook group = ESPN hockey coverage

 

Don't disagree that reviewers who don't offer details are unhelpful and that there are some who are unnecessarily harsh just for the sake of being so/or to troll, but it doesn't seem difficult to separate them from the majority, who truly dig good beer and advocate for it.

It's naïve to pretend that no other industries are held to potentially unfair feedback mechanisms. I'm in the healthcare industry and there are numerous such mechanisms, and they are imperfect and often seen as unfair--for instance a Medicare star rating system that plucks a few outcome measures from hundreds of metrics, and which allows much larger companies to manipulate data to stay to the right on a bell curve. Servers get stiffed on tips because the kitchen sucks, etc. Some feedback mechanisms are more immediate than others and more overt than others.

Using verbiage like "sweating" or "bleeding" or "pouring your soul" into beer, in efforts to bulletproof a product that might not be received by everyone as awesome, is tiresome. There are probably not many small business owners who don't build their business on sweat equity.

 

A day after praising Spoonwood's Freemang, I stumbled upon an upcoming beer dinner they are hosting:

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/spoonwood-brewing-beer-food-pairing-dinner-tickets-18471567957

Not sure if this is indicative of the demographic or a continued ceiling-searching when it comes to ticketed beer events, but it seems pricy. Fat Heads and Mad Mex charge less for their beer dinners (at least in the recent past), and they often have money going to a charity. While the menu for this SW event looks good, $220ish (once you add tax and tip) to get my wife and I out the door is a bit much.

 

I wouldn't pair scallops with an Oktoberfest either

 

It's certainly a double edged sword. A medium like BA is going to provide a platform to share both positive and negative thoughts, ratings, and critiques of beer. If not for BA, would anyone in here be familiar with where Greensboro Bend, VT is? How about Decorah, Iowa? BA and other similar platforms have made those breweries as popular as they are. They have also helped breweries go belly-up. But, the cream rises to the top and if you are pumping out top shelf beer with regularity, the rating are going to reflect it. It's not some massive conspiracy to keep you down. There are outliers in any statistical sample but the peak of the bell-curve is going to be pretty accurately representative.

Looking only to "expert" opinions is incredibly short-sighted in my opinion as they are not your core customer base. They are .0000001% of it. On that same coin, BA and the like may account for only 10% but it's a much more representative sample than "experts." The semi-anonymity of BA also has a greater threshold for honest opinions. Removing the anonymity creates a more sugar-coated critique more often than not. With the sole exception of an infected bottle of Homewood Reserve being the outlier, I've never had a flat out bad or poorly made beer from East End (that I can recall anyway). Simply put, more often than not, my tastes don't align with their flavor profile or goals in what they are brewing. I do enjoy several of their beers and rate them according. I also don't love several of their beers and rate them accordingly. But, at this juncture, BA and similar mediums are one of, if not the best platforms for feedback in an imperfect system.

 

$220!?!?!? You know what kind of amazing meal I can get at a BYOB for that!?!

 

Very good article. I love watching the people looking through beer while looking at ratings. They almost inevitably give up looking then grab some attractive packaging. I'll ask, "Is there anything that I can help you find.", "Are you looking for a good IPA, stout, etc?" I about half of the time get a "No, I'm fine" but sometimes it comes with a look of "How could YOU help ME?" These people usually leave with BM or Leinie, "great IPAs".

 

I can't remember if it was The Publican or The Girl and the Goat in Chicago, but one of them had a Three Floyd's beer dinner that was like $300+ a person. I'm pretty sure that Dark Lord variants were being served but still, that's absolutely absurd.

 

The Green Flash Silva Stout rumors went out of control on this site. Everyone started tasting a butter instead of barrel character.

 

It is the Oktoberfest. I actually think I saw a post on facebook that Homestead said they were getting it this weekend. Aren't you out of commission yet?

 

My bottle had a strong nose of buttered popcorn, but didn't taste like that at all. I definitely got the barrel in the taste, but the nose was all buttered popcorn. I had family members try and all said the same, so I don't know if the rumors were that out of control.

 

I have a friend heading to Voodoo for me tomorrow, and is bringing back a growler or to for me. Any way to find out what they have on tap? I checked their website and couldn't find anything.