Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

Here is what I imagine to be a controversial opinion, one I thought about while being tailgated by a guy bringing his 6 year old triplets to a taproom for a limited release....

I have No interest in ever brewing my own beer. The idea of home brewing sounds like a chore to me. I like learning about brewing, reading about brewing etc. but cant ever see myself doing it.

 

I’ve brewed one beer and done one ironman. Both were sort of bucket list items so I could say I’d done that. But I highly doubt I’ll repeat either. Never say never though

 

Were you guys on a cig break during the prior tangent?

 

Until you do it

 

why ?

 

How can you hate on a flight of beer? Seriously? I'm more of couple of small pours then commit to a pint guy but flights are a thing of beauty if you ask me.

 

Me either. When I got into craft three years ago, my family seemed to think that the natural progression was home brewing, and they came close to buying me the equipment for Christmas until I made it clear I had no interest. While I'd gladly help someone doing their own home brewing, just for the experience, I have no desire to do it myself. I feel I'd never be able to match or beat my favorite craft brews, and just be frustrated. I base this on other "crafty" hobbies like woodworking - can do it but just never happy with the results and no interest.

 

I've had and enjoyed flights, but one of the reasons I drink new beers is to review them - and I prefer one at a time in at least 10oz doses to review a beer. If I'm having a flight, I'm not reviewing, so all I'm doing is identifying beers I'd review later. And heading towards buzzed driving more than if I just have one beer.

 

This is some of the difference between folks who think flights are great, others who think enjoying at least a half pint is better. The flight people go into a brewery and in their minds they think of how many numbers they can add to the number of beers they have tried. They look at the beer menu and they think, "Ooooh I haven't had that one, or that one, or that one..."

The crowd looking to enjoy a beer and get every flavor and enjoyment the beer can provide them of course want a pour that can provide that. They look at a beer menu and try to pick the one that sounds most like something they would enjoy.

There are of course those who try to accomplish both, and if fact I have a friend who is one of the premier tickers, but he insists on 8 oz. pours, or larger, because he says if you don't have at least 8 ounces you haven't REALLY tasted the beer.

 

Don't get me wrong, I've had my share of flights in the past. It didn't take me long to realize that I should have just ordered pints of the beers in which I was interested. I guess if you're a one or two beer person, flights make more sense. I'm a five or six beer person, so they just don't.

Plus, there's this:

 

I almost always get a flight of three or four beers when I go out. I don’t go out often, and the places I like to go to tend to have new things to try all the time. I give three or four a try and then usually get a larger pour of the one I like best.

I rate (not review) all of them so that I have some reference for the next time I am out, especially if I liked 2,3 or 4 of the flight beers.

In this way, flights, or the option of flights tends to improve my experience.

 

Coming back from a beer festival, I have some thoughts.

Why does it seem that most small craft breweries can’t nail down a decent malt-forward beer like Pils or Kölsch without it tasting like straw?

 

1. If I can get a flight of different beers, I will do it to try as much beer as I can at one place.
2. Homebrewing is a chore and is not cost effective imo. I'd rather buy 6ers of different beers than to have a couple cases of one less than mediocre beer and it costs about the same if you figure in the time it takes to brew and bottle/keg it.

 

Just to respond to number 2- even brewing 5 gallon batches you can make five different one gallon batches each time by using different yeasts and different hops in the dry hop for each one, or even better you can make two batches of different beer with the same grist (parti gyle), and end up with ten different beers doing the same yeast and dry hop techinque. And there isn't a commercial beer you can name that would even come close to as inexpensive as that would be per oz.

 

After time and labor?

 

Because I hate stupidity. And, taster trays are stupid. C'mon, make a commitment to at least 8-10oz of a beer. Don't fear commitment, welcome it.

 

I've posted this before, but will repeat myself: homebrewers tend to be "project" guys. They seem to like the process more than the actual beer. All the homebrewers I know have more beer than they can actually drink. They give more away than they drink. They like building the equipment they need. brewing is their golf. They like talking all the money they save (but, because they're giving so much money away, how much can they be saving?), but never count what they have tied up in equipment, let alone put a value on their time.

It's like changing your own oil in the car: yeah, you save a bit upfront, but overall it's a wash, at best.

 

Hard to figure. How much do you charge yourself for your other hobbies?

 

Flights and small pours maximize variety while minimizing intake of alcohol and calories. You're going to have much more experiential knowledge of beer (or at least be way less unhealthy) by drinking via small pours rather than via large pours. And anyone who thinks four ounces isn’t enough to get a very good sense of a beer either underestimates his palate or has a poor one.