Breweries that have NOT lost their way.

Ironically, we were just at Alesmith yesterday. First time to the new brewery. Loved it.

My list would include SN, Alesmith, Societe, Cellarmaker, Firestone Walker, Caldera.

 

Unless you have visited the Eccentric Cafe then you won't know that there is typically 1-3 sours on tap at all times, usually including the latest 'Larry's Latest' whatever. The Larry's Latest sours have been okay, but I've really enjoyed the Le Pianniste (sp?), Le Contrabassiste, and the L'Appel Du Vide series, none of which have been bottled to my knowledge. So a sour beer from Bell's is not a surprise at all to me, but I wish the ones that are bottled were a tad better. (My wife really likes them, though.)

 

God bless you

 

August Schell.

 

You could also add HF too, they just do what they’ve always did regardless of influences. He’s happy brewing at his capacity not someone else’s.

 

I guess this bears repeating:

 

I have two and interesting enough they are very close to one another.

Russian River to me has not changed at all since I first tasted Pliny way back when. The brew pub still has the same menu, same vibe and for the most part the same beers. Pliny, Blind Pig and the core sours always seem to be available and taste as great today as they did the first time I tried them. Ok they have added a hazy beer now and than but they still are known for Pliny even though the West Coast IPA is not as in vogue as it was several years ago.

The other brewery that comes to mind is Bear Republic. That place never changes, great food, great vibe and their core beers are still fantastic. I cold drink Racer 5 all day every day!

 

I stand corrected sir.

 

Cheers to both of these, Russian River and Bear Republic, and I think AleSmith has also been mentioned already, so them as well. Ahhh, I just thought of another two but let me hear what you think... Alaskan brewing, and for the most part, Anderson Valley.

 

Seconded. I don't think their new releases would have been out of place had they come out a decade ago, or longer.

 

Anderson Valley is awesome! At least 16 years ago my friends surprised me on my birthday with a trip to Anderson Valley. After driving from Rohnert Park and finding the brewery (this is before GPS) we find out they were closed and no tours. I can only assume it was the brewer who found out it was my birthday and let us shadow him for awhile as he did is chores. He than gave us 4 six packs of beers to take home. I have been lucky enough to travel and see some exciting things but visiting the brewery is always going to be one of my favorite afternoons.

 

From my neck of the woods, and excluding breweries already mentioned, Snake River and Grand Teton.

Edit: I will add Great Divide to my list..and Avery.

 

Founders and Bells were the first that came to mind for me. Neither seem to jump on any fads.

 

Their beers as far as I know are long gone here, but I agree on Racer 5.

 

If the parameters for having "not lost your way" are to have never brewed a hazy/juicy IPA then you've pretty much cut out the vast majority of breweries in the country who might otherwise fit the mold, and this thread is then made pointless.

Sierra Nevada, which was my contribution to the thread and I stand by it, has certainly hopped on the Haze craze bandwagon with their releases of Hazy Little Thing, among others. But so what? That beer didn't replace a core release. They just gave a crack at an extremely popular style.

SN Pale Ale is just as good as it has ever been and it's always available fresh and at a good price point. Not to mention Torpedo and Kellerweis, and all their other year-round beers.

Allagash is definitely a good choice, but so are many others already mentioned. Choosing to brew your own version of an extremely popular style doesn't disqualify you at all, IMO.

 

Snake River shortly distributed to Minnesota 12 or 13 years ago, and I remembering Zonker Stout being near perfect. I hope people are still enjoying it.

 

Re Zonker, I can assure you that I am doing my part.

 

I used to visit Santa Rosa brewpub quite often over a decade. IMO, Pliny and Pig did change. I'm not talking about batch variation. In a nutshell, the mouthfeel is less substantial and the beers just feel like a tad watered down. This change is even more noticeable to me in the bottles from Windsor. Of course, good batches are still very nice, but these beers feel sort of distilled to me nowadays. Consistency? Off the top of my head - Swami's is great example. Racer 5 as well.

 

This may be an unpopular opinion, but there is no down-vote functionality on the site, so who cares. I'm going with Founders.

They continue to put out some great releases at a very reasonable price (for the 4 and 6 packs) - Backwoods Bastard, FIS, KBS. I wasn't much of a fan of CBS on tap, but I'd like to try it again. Yes, they're putting out some weird stuff that might not stick around, but you can go to many stores now and pick up Backwoods Bastard, KBS, CBS, Breakfast Stout, where some used to be hard to come by. You can buy two four-packs for the price of a lot of bombers now.