Sierra Nevada "not craft enough"

Yeah, for some these days it's more about how close the brewery is to where they live than it is for whether or not the beer is a flavorful beer worth drinking.

Indeed, for some, buying/drinking local is so important that they drink lower quality beers in order to stay local with their money and their drinking.

I too have talked to some folks who put Sierra Nevada, Anchor and Boston Brewing squarely in the camp of the big guys and so as being breweries to be avoided. Although for some, Stone hasn't quite made it into the "no-no" category because their emphasis on lots of hops for most of their beers seems to override considerations of local.

Edit: Personally if the beer is local and it's quality matches the quality of what is distributed from somewhere else I'll buy local. But that's in part because I want to support both local breweries doing good things and the pioneers who helped make it all possible in the first place.

 

"I offer the ( younger) guy next to me a Sierra Nevada hoptimum, he say no thanks, not " craft " enough." I support the local guys."

That younger guy told you all that you need to know about his thoughts on craft beer since he mentioned "local".

The contemporary craft scene has somewhat evolved in that a portion (significant portion?) of the craft beer consumer market wants to just drink locally.

These are challenging times for the larger distributing craft breweries like Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams), Stone, Sierra Nevada,... since there are some craft beer consumers to only purchase beers from local, small breweries.

Maybe the business opportunity for these larger craft breweries is to export more of their beers overseas? This seems to be an important aspect for the growth of Lagunitas based upon some recent posts in other BA threads.

Cheers!

 

I would've offered him a glass of Kool-Aid.

 

Sometimes it is about your "Cause". I don't subscribe to this when it comes to beer. I personally want to drink great beer, you can't take it personally if they want to drink locally, or small. You now have more good beer for yourself. I personally haven't had swordfish in 20+ years do to the over fishing of the species, but i wouldn't sweat someone else for eating it.

 

Stone, too. Certainly a big aspect of Stone Berlin operation is making their beer available throughout Europe. Stone IPA in 19 European countries last time I checked.

 

I don't think it would be kool enough.

 

"It came from the local guys who own that bottle shop down the street" would've been my response.

 

If someone wants to drink local, that's cool by me -- but to pass up a free beer, that somebody else already purchased and is offering you, seems a little classless.

 

it's one thing to refuse a beer because you simply do not like it. another thing entirely to refuse one because of a misplaced bias

 

Several disjoint or loosely connected thoughts...

The Brewers Association says it is about ownership and size.

The person you talked to was just giving voice to the reality that the growth of local brewing is indeed causing problems for the large(r) multi-region / national craft brewers.

There are plenty of members here who consider craft beer to be a movement and a cause and not just a good-tasting product.

The brewers themselves are moving to source more ingredients locally, from locally grown barley to locally grown hops.

 

I had to think about this. would I drink a bud light if offered? I haven't had one in years. maybe, out of respect and being polite. I likely wouldn't enjoy it at near the same level of even a 'craft' pilsner, but that part I would keep to myself.

 

You didn't need to mention he was younger.

 

It's not craft enough, I only support the local guys. Meanwhile, he buys his clothes from a chainstore and only eats pizza from Dominos.

what a tool

SN isn't my favorite brewery but they have some good beers. personally i do see them similar to Boston Beer because they're so big. i'll drink their beers but so many other breweries are putting out better beer. it's great to support local beer but if someone offers/hands you a beer just say yes. accepting the beer doesn't mean you "aren't supporting local", you didn't even buy it.

again, what a tool

 

Halfway between Sierra Nevada and Deschutes is close enough for me.

 

Here's the irony: the advent of smaller independent breweries was all about providing more choices for the beer consumer. The way the craft scene is headed lately, it won't be long before we're back to that same spot again.

 

OP, what was he drinking? Let me guess MA hyped IPAs..

It's not everyone but there is a certain new beer drinker dynamic that drinks for the label and the cause, more than the flavor of the product.. That or they want so much flavor that all they drink are IPAs and Stouts that they cant appreciate a great beer like SN Summerfest. They dont know or care about the history of beer. It's all about hyper local products.. It doesnt hurt that they dont suck. But there is a world outside ones local foot print and these are the greatest times of our lives with more distributing breweries than ever before.

 

Perhaps there were better local brews to try so maybe it was easy to be choosy. Considering Sierra Nevada not craft is silly. Just because they have good distribution doesn't minimize their craft.