What brewery does your community sh-t on?

Yup

 

Starr Hill was one of the local OG breweries in Virginia that gets dumped on pretty regularly, especially after they went with A-B distribution a number of years back. In the last several years their beers, especially their local releases have improved. Visiting their tasting room is still a horrific experience from a service perspective, at least the last two times I tried when coming back to Charlottesville from Nelson County breweries.

 

For Arizona I'll vote Nimbus Brewing. I've heard terrible things about the way they are (were?) run.

Mudshark is a close second. An 8% abv witbier they love to push is probably their biggest transgression in my eyes.

I vote Demented Brewing for 2nd place in NJ...but I don't know anyone who has gone there (myself included)

 

It's actually way too much to revisit in this thread, and probably an inappropriate place to do it...it got quite venemous, opinionated, and all the rest and I think at this point, only speaking for myself, I've settled into a "I still like their beer but have zero respect for founders / owners" zone, and for the most part have used it as an opportunity to move on to other breweries, of which there are tons in the Boston / New England market. If you flip through a few of the pages / links in the following forum - this will give you a good enough idea of how Trillium fanboys spent last Thanksgiving...cheers!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...loyee-alleges-deceptive-biz-practices.596521/

 

I just figured I'd ask since you brought up the topic in this thread.

Cheers!

 

I'm pretty good friends with the brewer, Harry Smith. He's a great guy. He's definitely a much better brewer than his products let on; he's "classically trained" (he trained/interned/whatever they call it over in Germany, plus a few other places IIRC) and he's made a few of the best lagers I've ever had a long time ago (2006 or so). Their pilsner was excellent, their Dortmund Gold I'd put up against Great Lakes, the maibock, harvest bock, schwarzbier, winter wheat (dunkelbock) all were B+/A beers for me. (not sure if @JackHorzempa recalls the early lager brewing days of Buzzards Bay or not...perhaps he can back me up here).

In all honesty, I think it's their business model. Buzzards Bay is owned by the same owners as Westport Rivers Winery down the street from the brewrey. That is their baby, their main focus and their moneymaker. The brewery has been focused on contract brewing for over a decade now and, as a result, in my opinion (not Harry's) the beer that they brew for their own brand (Buzzards Bay) has taken a back seat to the tank space they rent to contract breweries. I think Harry is pretty much handcuffed by what tanks are available and what he can do with the space. He says he only brews beers he links to drink (Golden Flounder is his favorite, I really like it too when fresh from the brewery...Moby D isn't a bad Americanized altiber either IMO).

I recently spoke to him about bringing back lagers to Buzzards Bay; he said that he'd love to do that and that he "thinks" it'll happen soon but then again he said that a couple years ago as well. I'm hoping for the best.

 

Demented was pretty bad at 1ST but became much better when the owner stopped brewing the beer and hired a pro. Sadly the owner had a load of other problems and Demented is GWTW. It's sitting empty hopping for a new owner.

 

This probably means pretty much nothing to you since your mind is already made up, but I went to Trillium Canton this past weekend and I had some of the best beer I've had by them since....idk 2016 or so? Consistency issues seemed to have been ironed out for the most part and it was a pleasant experience overall (not as packed as it used to be but still busy....probably because people like yourself said "yeah, fuck those guys" ). Good taco truck, good jam band, good vibes/friendly atmosphere....as far as a "brewery drinking" experience goes it was one of the best I've had in recent memory

 

I am totally unaware of Buzzards Bay; I have never tasted any of their beers.

According to Seek a Brew they are only available in MA.

Cheers!

 

Apologies for the misunderstanding. I read @LeRose post earlier (seen below) and it read like you have been there before or at least have tried their beer.

 

Not at all, and I read your post in the Trillium New England page too. I'm glad for your good experience, and I'm glad Trillium has improved upon some of their issues...the point is that once you've lost someone's respect, you can't easily gain it back. Similarly, changing poor and unethical behavior is a tough one too, which is why folks who go down those roads will have a difficult time of it in the future. I suspect there will be more bumps in the road for Trillium, but time will tell. In their case, I've never wished them ill will, and actually hope for their success - I would be surprised if they don't have distro plans in the works that will bring them to the rest of New England, possibly the NY metro or NJ areas within the next couple / few years and this whole employee controversy snafu and all the rest will be just a footnote, especially within the larger market. In the meantime, I have moved on and lots of others I know and talk to in the Boston market still sh*t on them and probably always will which is why I brought it up in the first place.

 

Thanks for reading and sorry for repeating myself lol

Hey, I understand completely. "You do you" and all that good stuff. The 'unethical business practices' didn't really bother me all that much to begin with so it didn't have too much sway on my purchasing habits. I totally understand and respect those that feel otherwise though. Cheers!

 

Yeah Noble isn't really what it used to be but they don't really get sh*tted on out here like that. Golden Road, Angel City, The Dudes, Iron Triangle and company take that crown.. and rightfully so.

 

From their founding in 1993, through their purchase by contract brewer All or Nothing Brewhouse in 2016, to the closing of the brewery in 2018, Trafalgar Ales and Meads of Oakville Ontario was easily the most piled upon brewery in the province. I’m pretty sure they never produced a beer that wasn’t infected. I certainly never had one that wasn’t. Reviews of their beers on this site can be quite amusing. Since the new owners moved their operations to Oshawa, and dropped most of the old Trafalgar lineup, there really hasn’t been any brewery to speak ill of.

Also, Mill Street gets a lot of flak here too. Most of that is due to ‘selling out’ to AB InBev. The beer is serviceable.

 

What was the one good beer? I had their hefeweizen on tap years ago and it was delicious. In the bottle, not so much.

 

I've lived here for nearly 40 years and never heard of them...

 

Count your blessings.