Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

I've never heard that. I hear all the time people complain about how bad Porters are and they should be Stouts.

Although generally these people don't have a clue what a Stout is. They think that a Stout is a 10% alcohol diabetes bomb and have no understanding that Stouts have been normal beers for 100 years.

 

And don’t even get me started on the whole “this stout is too thin” nonsense you hear so often from the #newmoney crowd. As if a 6% stout not having the texture of a tootsie roll is some kind of brewing flaw.

 

I recently 'rediscovered' Guinness Pub Draught. 4.2% abv means I can have a good few on football Sunday without worrying about how I'll feel Monday. Mayflower Porter at 5.5% really hits my sweet spot these days.

 

The US is currently rated as the 58th freest nation on the planet.
Freedom House report 2017

 

That is a legitimate concern, although your post above said bring your friendly dogs.

Still, I can see why both and yet neither has a place to be in a brewery. Just curious on your reverse of your opinion.

 

People around me say:
"This 8% stout is too thin. It's really a porter not a stout."

 

I mean, I guess it depends on where the line between brewpub and brewery is. Most breweries around here have no kitchen and rely on food trucks, is that a brewpub? Notch Brewery has kids and dogs up the ying yang, no food trucks, but they also serve pretzels and pickled veggies (and have a skeeball machine). Is that a brewpub? Devil's Purse's space is literally just carved out of the brewery and they serve no food but encourage you to bring your own. I don't know what that counts as but I do know that it's like a doggy day care center in there and the vibe is exceedingly friendly and communal.

I can't speak for anywhere else, but around here the owners of most breweries and/or brewpubs almost all seem to be catering much more to families and pet owners than they are to random collections of dudes who want to get hammered and loudly shit talk.

Controversial Opinion: People who dislike dogs and kids and like to get noticeably intoxicated in public are not the target audience of many breweries and brewpubs.

 

According to the Brewers Association:

Brewpub A restaurant-brewery that sells 25 percent or more of its beer on site. The beer is brewed primarily for sale in the restaurant and bar. The beer is often dispensed directly from the brewery’s storage tanks. Where allowed by law, brewpubs often sell beer “to-go” and /or distribute to off site accounts.

https://www.craftbeer.com/beer/beer-glossary

 

A beer nerd who owns their place of residence doesn't live in their "home", they live in their "unlicensed owner-occupied adult beverage drinking premises"

A beer nerd who rents their place of residence doesn't live in their "home", they live in their "unlicensed tenant-occupied adult beverage drinking premises"

Am I breaking adult beverage consumption protocol by consuming adult beverages in front of my offspring in my unlicensed tenant-occupied adult beverage drinking premises?

Yeah this

In 2018 are there many "brewpubs" opening anymore? Seems more of a microbrewery era term.

 

I'm fairly certain that my big Treeing Walker **** Hound Otis could allay your wife's fear of dogs.He is very polite, but does love to hug. He will not fight or ever be aggressive. I think he's caught the huge local Quaker influence. He is loved in the neighborhood and is smart beyond belief...I would never take him to a brewery though. He loves everyone.

 

Yikes, by that definition I can barely think of more than a couple within about 30 miles of Boston. Boston Beer Works would definitely count, but they are a mini-chain that has been around since the late 80s (and while I like them well enough they are decidedly unhip these days). Cape Ann Brewery in Gloucester and the Tap in Haverhill probably count, but they both started canning and distributing in the past few years so I have no idea if they still meet the 25% threshold.

Notably, they both date back more than 20 years as well, so as @rozzom noted it might be the case that this business model is something of a thing of the past.

ETA: interestingly, the Tap is kind of a dingy, old school bar style space so while they may technically be a brewpub, my guess is that kids are if anything less common there than they are in the newer kinds of places we've been talking about in this thread. To be clear, it's awesomely old school and dingy.

 

FWIW, in my minds eye, when I hear the phrase "brewpub" I definitely picture a brewery with a restaurant. Of the breweries in my town, Boundary Bay, Chuckanut, Aslan, Twin Sisters, and Melvin would fit the criteria; Wander, Kulshan (both locations), Stones Throw, Menace, Gruff, and Illuminati would not. Only Gruff doesn't have regularly scheduled food trucks, and all of the Nons allow outside food to be brought in.

 

A new one, Twin Sisters, just opened here a few months ago.

 

That's absolutely my personal definition as well. So by that metric I'd add Jack's Abby to the pile which is also easily the largest and busiest. And just as in your area nearly all our "Nons" allow you to bring your own food, though some places discourage it during times a food truck is on site.

Ipswich and Smuttynose were both kitchenless breweries for the first 20+ years of their existence but they've both added them in the past few years, so maybe a brewery can become a brewpub too

 

Semantics aside, I'm sure that the vast majority of people advocating for children and dogs are thinking of family-friendly places, and all you need is the eyeball-test to tell one of those from a dingy and dim sweary-hole.

 

My son's daycare is a dingy and dim sweary-hole. They provide food there, so I assumed it was kid-friendly. I should go get him now, but he likes to stay until last call.

 

My younger one actually brings that cloud of evil wherever he goes nowadays. Either I shouldn't have let him hang out in brewpubs when he was younger, or he's just a normal American 16 yo., haven't decided which .

 

Yes. I've read these discussions multiple times and marvel that folks think a place should be a certain way. If they don't like it don't go. I despise loud mouth drunks and would never go into one of these places ever again. Kids shouldn't be out late, too many dogs are distracting (and likely part of those patron's persona), and drunks annoy most everyone..There is no generic description of the proper brewery or brew pub. While I didn't see many brew pubs in England, I did love their general pub culture. We should be so lucky.

 

Comparing kids to dogs, might be more apt an analogy if parents kept their kids on leashes.

 

Billy Bob over to the Co Op rates England as the 83rd freest nation on the planet. I tried to explain to him that The Royal Family don't actually rule the nation, they are more just... well, danged if any of us can figure out what they do, but Billy Bob says the list of freest nations he made has all the regencies listed at the bottom