Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

Foil!! Those beers can’t be any good. Sounds like they are really trying to hide something I’d say! Belgium!? That sounds like a made up place to me. I bet the great beers of Narnia don’t brand their caps either.

Oh sure, the great Canning Cabal will have us believe that cans are better for the environment, ensure greater quality control, reduce long term costs for breweries... these are likely the same people who have been denying the existence of phlogiston for generations.

 

That was funny.

But not as funny as that.

 

Some breweries even try to hide their amazingly tasty beer in cans. But I find them and I open them.

 

We all know the proper procedures for making good beer:

1. Design a branded cap
2. Order branded caps
3. Distribute unused branded caps to collectors who have made the request.
4. Develop a recipe
5. Brew beer
...

If you skip the first step you’ll trip on your way up the stairs, as they say!

 

I'm with you. And this doesn't only apply to beer or food. Seems that any moment never really existed if it's not captured with a phone camera. Whatever happened to personal memories? Not everything needs to be shared.

Plein air painters. They used to think they were practicing a redeeming form of art, but really they were insecure in their own ability to enjoy a moment without social attention.

 

Indeed it is a problem that transcends consumables.

Good luck against Barcelona next week.

 

Admittedly I do the same thing with T- shirts acquired on trips and vacations. I get lots on knowing nods and smiles, and sometimes inquires. The shirt I'm wearing in my AV is from the Rock & Roll HOF, with the Rocker's Creed on the back: "If it's too loud, you're too old."

 

It'd be very controversial, if @EvenMoreJesus could go ONE day without posting in every single thread on here.

 

I'm totally with you, but we're also drinking in the same region... so that has a little something to do with it. Nonetheless, I can't wrap my head around the tunnel vision involved by many... and most of the people in NYC making the recommendations seem to have the same brewery tunnel vision too. Continued below.

And you might get a better snapshot of that at a bar as opposed to a brewery. I'm always amazed about typical NYC recommendations here. They often involve brewery hopping... which has the person jumping all over town and spending tons of time traveling to the various breweries. The overloaded itinerary only leaves room for 1 beer at a destination and then furious travel... or requires a week to execute. The alternative is going to a good bar that has something from many of those breweries on tap in one location. It seems like people don't even consider the option... as if you haven't really had Other Half unless you're drinking it at Other Half.

I don't see that distinction too much. Plenty of bars are simply themed as "beer bars"... and plenty of breweries have a theme (NEIPA, metal, wild/Belgian, German, artsy, etc.)

 

Believe it or not, there are days that I don't even log in to, or even think about, BA.

 

I always laugh about this stuff, too. It's the absolute WORST of ticker culture mixed with Instagram culture. I can drink more beers from more local breweries in a long weekend by just going to a handful of excellent beer bars than by going to the breweries themselves AND I can have a relaxing time while I'm at it AND probably get some very good food that's not from a truck.

 

Brewery hopping in NY is pretty silly. Just go to The Jeffrey for a few hours. Great beer bar with good food too.

 

FTFY

 

I liked The Jeffrey when we were there last time. Cool place. Good food. Beer menu was good, and would have been better if half of it (literally half. I counted) wasn't hoppy beers/IPAs.

I always like Pony Bar and Rattle N Hum. I like The Gingerman, too, but, alas, the wife hates it, so we don't go anymore.

I guess the take-away is that there are LOTS of excellent places to have beers in NYC. No reason to limit yourself to just breweries.

 

I've been keeping track for you: Dec 31st, 2017 and July 4th 2018

 

Regarding the NYC brewery/bar debate, one reason people recommend so many breweries is that there are very easy/convenient ways to hop between a handful of breweries in several different areas.

Sure, if you want to go from Mikkeller to Finback to Grimm to Other Half, that will be quite inconvenient, but Other Half/Folksbier/Threes aren't more than a 20 minute walk from eachother, Grimm and Interboro are right next to eachother and 10 minutes from KCBC, and Mikkeller-LIC Beer Project-Fifth Hammer-Transmitter is very easy to do on the 7.

And if you're with 3-4 people, splitting Ubers is super cheap.

That said, setting up shop at As Is/Haymaker/The Jeffrey, or even hopping between such spots, would not be a bad idea either.

 

We did this in May. Well worth the trip.

 

Yeah - these days (and even more so in the near future), sticking to a Long Island City or Bushwick brewery crawl seems to be a nice idea... but not too long ago, it wasn't the case, and suggestions felt like they were more along the lines of: "If you have only one day, you should go to Singlecut, Other Half, Finnback, Gun Hill, and the following stores in Brooklyn..." Going even further back in time, I always found it amusing how many times someone from out-of-town would ask for "must hit" places around Times Square, and someone would respond by telling them how eaaasssy it was to take a Metro North to Peekskill.

 

It's not even a proper descriptor, at least in the case of most NE and Milkshake IPAs.

 

Good to know for my upcoming NYC trip. Other Half is my one 'must visit' just because I'd like to try their work. I'd love to see Finback and then Mikkeller for nostalgic reasons.

Looking forward to it!