Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

I wish Jonathan Swift would have said something like, "sometimes a good joke gets in the way of a good joke". Maybe he did!

 

It's definitely a spectrum of serious to non-serious/social.

One of my brothers is a very well researched vegan. It may annoy me slightly when we can't pick out a restaurant, but he's done his research and knows exactly what he can and cannot eat. He's also been running stronger since his diet shift. Whether that's a function of researching his diet more or the diet itself is another debate, but I can't be upset about what's helping him.

I found out here very recently that McDonald's fries are fried in some sort of meat derived fat. It was a rather distraught vegetarian that told me this. Turns out they had been eating the fries ever since switching to the diet up until about two months ago when someone else pointed out the fries use a meat product during production. Point being, if you ever see the vegetarian opt out of a McDouble for an order of fries, they're also cheating.

 

I dont like all the strange adjuncts they’re adding to beer, but brewers are going to push the limits and boundaries. I don’t like Milkshake IPAs, and with that I don’t like Milk Stouts as well. I don’t like Watermelon in by beers, or Peanut Butter Porters. I’ve never had Marshmallows in a beer and I doubt I will. But because I don’t like them doesn’t mean they shouldn’t brew them and put them out there.

 

I think most coffee beer tastes and smells like day-old spent coffee grounds.

I think honeyed IPAs are revolting.

 

Withholding cookies? Dude, that's harsh!

 

I'm with you on that. I think most of the most vocal hate from the craft scene comes from people who feel threatened because they see little kernels of truth and bits of themselves in the insufferable caricatures asking for autumnal mead.

 

Me too, show them to the wine cellar.

 

Bourbon county coffee and Sump (among many others) beg to differ. You don’t like those beers?!? My good man.

 

I bought the Bourbon County Coffee the first two years we got it, and then stopped looking for it- I much preferred it solo, I'm afraid.

 

Fair enough, I had sump for the first time recently and was totally knocked out. I guess I love stouts with coffee and stouts without coffee. And cups of coffee. There are definitely lots of examples that are mediocre and many that fade into something unappealing too quickly. Doing a search on “coffee” here yielded a ton of (for me) amazing examples though (coffee dark star? Vietnamese speedway etc etc etc).

 

I've had a ton of well regarded ones, too- I just find that in general they become a chore by about the 6th ounce or so, and I start to think about how much better a beer it would be without the coffee.

In all honesty, I usually just mentally approach them as a 'coffee experience' rather than a 'beer experience'. Kinda like when you add lots of whipped cream and stuff to an actual coffee it, then is more of a 'milkshake experience', and forget all about the complexity and nuance in the coffee itself.

 

I know this is just a joke, but what the hell, it's the controversy thread...

1. Just about all fruits, nuts, and grains (and hops) are harvested either without killing the plant, or when the plant has reached the end of its lifecycle anyway.

2. Even if harvesting plants was the moral equivalent of slaughtering livestock, the environmental sustainability of plant based diets is still a compelling moral argument in their favor.

3. This joke is just old, man. I don't think Dennis Leary even smokes anymore.

 

1. sure we're just harvesting their fertile sex organs and/or their unborn children...nothing creepy here

2. that's legitimately questionable and has a lot more to do with the source of your food regardless of animal or plant based (pastured beef can be ecologically restorative while monocrop soy is contributing to the destruction of the amazon)

3. I bet that at the very first caveman thanksgiving the dinner table arguments were politics, vege vs carnivore, and new money pastry stout dbags vs traditional mild on cask

 

I'm going to but in since you're talking my kinda brews @TongoRad @tobelerone

I will agree there are a lot of mediocre coffee beer choices. Coffee is something that, when done right can beautifully enhance a beer, but when done poorly, can kill a beer. I'm also more picky with my freshness dates in a coffee stout than a NE IPA (drink that stuff fresh!) I highly suggest anyone else seeking and enjoying coffee beers to do the same.

Coffee selection is paramount for a good coffee stout. I've had bitter 'gas station' coffee in some brews, most likely introducing the beer to hot wart for too long. I've also had beers with beautifully selected single origin or blended coffee that compliments the chocolately, roasty notes from the base stout. Coffee was added at an appropriate time in the brewing process as well. It adds another dimension in terms of both appropriately brewing and selecting ingredients.

Overall, different strokes for different folks, but I would have a very tough time finding a celebratory beer if coffee disappeared from brewing.

 

I mean... it isn't, really. And it's certainly anything analogous to genocide or torture as was the original assertion.

Yeah but all other things being equal, a cow is always going to be a spectacularly inefficient vehicle for getting nutrition into a human. Raise your cattle as regeneratively as you like, they're still going to consume massively larger amounts of water compared to just about any other food source you could name. And as a practical matter, cattle isn't being raised in a regenerative way on any kind of scale and is causing tremendous damage to the environment.

Ummm... ok, I win the bet I guess.

 

Fruit is literally plant uterus and seeds are literally unborn plant children

Lots of innacurrate assumptions in here. Animals are very efficient nutrition delivery systems for humans, depending on your genetic heritage they may be the most efficient. As to water usage, you may want to run the numbers on some of the irrigated desert ag we humans like to practice. In any case the only thing controversial about livestock and beer is that latter can go into the former but the former should never go into the latter.

you probably do, those sucker ass cavemen at the first thanksgiving didn't even pastry stouts

 

I agree. A good coffee stout can be a wonderful thing. But many places, especially small local and/or new places, don't make them great.

I just had 2 coffee stouts in the last month that were HEAVY coffee. Almost too much, but they were both good in their own way. Just intensely flavored, I would say.

Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist / Baptista / Triple/ Quadruple / Son of a Baptist are great coffee beers.

 

the other thing I'd add is that there seems to be a new (?) trend of adding cold brew to finished beer vs adding coffee beans earlier in the process. I am not down with this at all. If I want to mix coffee into my beer I'll do it myself (old rasputin with a shot of espresso dropped in anyone?)

 

Damn. I want a nice espresso machine so bad. I just can't justify at this point, and I don't think my roommates would keep it very clean or not abuse it. Maybe I'll finally spring for a nice grinder for my birthday.

I do agree though. Cold brew seems to be more in vogue. I'm more of a pourover type, just seems to focus more on the bean's characteristics vs. being a cup of coffee. I suppose the same could be said for some beers in a single hop regular IPA vs. a multi-hop DIPA. Both taste like beer, but one really showcases the ingredient characteristics and nuances without distraction. In either case, I'd much prefer an addition of an iced pourover into my stout vs. cold brew/french press/randall.

 

I promise you, a shot or double of good espresso poured into your favorite big bad stout (i use old rasputin mostly cause its how it was introduced to me and it's cheapish and it goes good) you will be amazed. It takes it from fridge temp up to prime drinking temp, and you get that great coffee flavor addition all fresh. Be careful of a pretty crazy foaming reaction that can happen if you plop the espresso in too fast though, gotta pour it nice and gentle