Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

Particularly with respect to Flanders Red Ales, I would agree with you 100%, thinking about Oude Tart and Red Poppy. But I’m having trouble thinking of many American made ones that are readily available to me. However, if I’m buying Rodenbach, I’m generally looking for the more expensive versions such as Caractere Rouge, Alexander, or the vintage series, which are in a totally different price range than Grand Cru.

You said American Sours, which is a very broad category, and then referenced a specific style of beer.

I would rather pay the price to drink some of the amazing American made sours, instead of drinking Rodenbach Grand Cru.

 

haha sorry if I implied that the US introduced good beer to Europe. My comments were in regard to the modern US perception of 'craft' beer, i.e. nontraditional styles and a penchant for experimentation. I know that Europe has a long history of making excellent beers in their traditional styles, but as has been discussed here many times, the US is the current standard bearer for modern beer styles.

 

you should look at the 'places' for thailand and vietnam, both have over 40 listed locations. Not saying they are all high quality but it was surprising to me that there would even be that volume. Also, I can send you some beer from a Korean brewing company that is on par with lots of US craft brewers, and we are only getting a small taste of what they offer in Korea. So I think the foothold is already there in east asia.

 

The Craft/Traditional false dichotomy should die in a fire already.

 

I still disagree, and I still think your post is extremely controversial. Which I assume was your goal posting in this thread? Cheers!

 

I don't know why people expect beer to work this way when almost nothing else does. I don't know why so many beer geeks price **** themselves on something that's ultimately a complete waste anyway.

 

You don't think value has any place in beer?

 

I first read that as Eye of NED Flanders.
In that vein..

 

Well color me tickled pink .

 

This is a bad take.

 

replying months later but for peanut and peanut butter I feel the same but Peanut Butter Victory at Sea and Yellow Belly were 2 that hit the mark for me. Maple only thing that comes to mind is CBS but maple wasn't as pronounced as you would want at least for me

 

Brewing yeast readily ferments simple sugars (like in maple syrup or honey) into boring old ethanol (alcohol), with little resemblance of the maple syrup in the final beer. So, to get a maple flavored beer a brewer has to employ more tricks than just adding maple syrup, like back-sweetening or additives that survive the yeast. I always find these tricks taste artificial, or at least not like real maple syrup. In my opinion, maple beers are more gimmick than substance and I honestly think using that liquid of the gods in beer is a tragic waste of precious maple syrup.

 

100% agree on every point you make. Except that it might be controversial, that I disagree with.

 

well that certainly makes sense but the peanut butter and peanut beers were good on the flavor for me

 

I think that, as with many things, people equate the lowest price with the best value, which is not the case.

 

Sure, but there plenty of situations were a $15 bottle is every bit the equal, or better, of the $25 bottle. In those cases, the $15 is a "value".

 

I don't know about maple syrup but I don't think brewing yeast handles honey all that easily. Meads take 1 year plus to ferment and are often still quite sweet at that point. My experience has been that brewing yeast makes slow work of honey.

 

I generally agree with you on your observations, but here I disagree. Just exactly how can more description be less helpful in understanding ones impression of a beer? This afternoon, while out walking the dogs, the woods at one point smelled like two day old warm geuze. I often smell things in beer that I encounter while out hiking. Words are what we have to describe sights, tastes, and smells.

 

If you're specifically a fan of Flanders Red, I feel ya. I don't know of a better one either. New Belgium probably comes closest.

I feel the same way about Boon Gueze. I've had a lot of American takes on lambic and there aren't many that can keep up. The few that can cost upwards of 3-4x as much and often require lines/hassle.

However some American sours do take things in different directions, which can sometimes be amazing and equal to what you'd expect from Belgium...just different. None of them are competing on price, though.

 

I guess because for me at least, I'm able to take a smell or taste and describe it, but it doesn't really work in reverse.

So if we were hanging out drinking and you took a whiff of your beer and said "it smells like apples, melon, wet leaves, and corn" and then you handed the beer to me, I could smell it myself, think about your description, and either confirm that I smell the same things or say that I disagree. In that situation, those descriptors are fun and useful.

But if I'm curious about a beer I've never had and I read a review online that says it smells like apples, melon, wet leaves, and corn, I can't take that and accurately reconstruct the real aroma of the beer in my head. So in that sense, its pretty useless to me. I would rather read a more subjective review such as "I think this is a great pilsner, its not too sweet but it has a nice fruitiness from the new world hops they used", or "this stout doesn't explode with flavor but that ends up making it very drinkable in larger quantities".

Maybe I worded my original post wrong, but what I mean is that a long list of descriptors doesn't usually help me understand what the beer is like.