Breweries that you used to like but avoid now?

Surly Brewing not because I have always been very critical of their beer mainly because of "Surly Nation" and fanatical fan bois. I judge beer without who brewed it on my mind. I really loved Bender, Cynic, and Surlyfest, but they do not brew or distribute those anymore. Still occasionally buy Furious if I find it on sale out of nostalgia. Got burned too often with their overpriced, oversweet, anniversary and small batch beers to ever buy another one. Darkness has not been great in a very long time, and never had a great BA Darkness.

Rogue. I use to buy bombers from them all the time. Ten or more years ago, no one did hoppy red ales better than Rogue. Santa's Little Helper was a personal favorite. Have not bought a Rogue beer in more than 5+ years. I do not know if they even distribute here anymore as I do not remember seeing any bottles of theirs since those stupid donut beers.

 

What is it about these 15-20 year old breweries that causes former devotees to turn elsewhere? Do they hit a certain level of sales and in order to grow more, skimp on formerly quality ingredients? Do they lose their best people because as they grow they start not giving a crap about their employees?

Smuttynose was mentioned. They have gone so far downhill in terms of quality. I visited last week and got a 64oz growler filled with Robust Porter for $6.00. It tasted like shit - I drain poured the growler and won't be going back. There are too many small locals busting their humps to put out beer they're proud of. Most of it will never reach fanatical status, but it's solid and consistent. These small guys gone big have lost their pride and it shows.

 

was gonna pretty much say this almost verbatim. Price and consistency and I’ll add hop burn. Although Hop Sounds, even though it’s nowhere near a kolsch, is pretty tasty and affordable.

 

Surely for me too, years ago I loved furious. Liked helles too. Then I noticed their beers weren't very fresh anymore . I like fresh beer.

 

There isn't a ton that I actively avoid, mostly they're the ones that have been bought (sold out) to the behemoths.
However, there are a lot that I simply don't buy much anymore - and some of those, if I do get something, I realize that it's still a good beer, think that I should get more sometime, then forget about that...

 

Noble Aleworks in Anaheim California, they used to be one of my favorite go-to spots until the head brewer went off to start Green Cheek and the brewery stopped making interesting beers only to fill the board up with guinea pig hazy beer offerings that werent worth coming back for.

 

Stone dug their own grave. They got rid of every beer that was different for them--no more Old Guardian, Coffee Milk Stout, all of the Arrogant Bastard variants, Smoked Porter, Sublimely Self-Righteous, Mocha IPA, etc. One of my favorites was their Citrusy Wit with Kaffir lime leaves. Fantastic! Did they keep it around, even as a seasonal? Of course not.
So now all they pump out is medicore IPAs with no passion. Xocoveza is good. I recently purchased and enjoyed Buenaveza. But they have absolutely lost their passion.

I miss some of their beers, but yeah. I'll never buy from them again after what they did.

 

I've stopped drinking beer from several breweries due to freshness or cost concerns, but there are only a few that I actively avoid:

Rogue - At one of their Portland pubs, the server knocked over a full beer as he was handing us our plates. Even though there were only 7 other people in the joint, he didn't bring a replacement until after we'd finished our meal. When I said, "it's a little late for that," he took it back to the bar. Got charged for both of those beers and the manager refused to take them off the bill. Zero response from the brewery when I complained.

Founders - To their credit, they personally reached out when I wrote in about the Tracy Evans lawsuit. Unfortunately, I walked away from the resulting phone call even more discouraged. In that call, I listed 4 things I needed to see before I'd drink their beer. I'll admit that they've done 2 of those things, but I'm highly doubtful the other two will ever happen.

Odd Side Ales - Said I was a liar who "probably doesn't even understand beer" when I called to report a potentially infected bottle. I wasn't even asking for anything! F**k those a**holes!

 

that's super dissapointing, I've loved most of their beers. How we can be in 2020 and businesses still can't handle the minimum of customer service.

 

Not that I avoid them per se. I think it was mostly palate fatigue because all their beers are seemingly oaty IPAs and and onslaught of juice, or a sticky, sweet bomb of a pastry stout. I haven't had a beer from Other Half in almost a year now. Turned my attention to LIC, Grimm, and KCBC. Even have a new appreciation for Singlecut.

 

Great Lakes Brewing Company. Not that I don't like them, but for the longest time their beer line up stayed stagnant. Columbus Brewing Company and Hoof Hearted are my go to now

 

Well, it did happen waaaaaay back in 2016. But yeah, I was a super passionate supporter before that. Always had at least 2-3 of their beers in my fridge, often made the 30 min drive to their taproom, gave a bunch of their beers to friends, always bringing their stuff to parties/BBQs. At one point I had them as my #2 MI brewery. Haven't bought anything of theirs since and won't drink their stuff even when it's free.

 

Airplane! ... that movie still makes me laugh :-)

"Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop taking amphetamines..."

 

"I want every light we've got poured onto that runway" - classic Robert Stack!

 

I stopped buying Melvin after their sexual harassment and frat boy response.

http://www.washingtonbeerblog.com/allegations-of-sexual-misconduct-land-melvin-brewing-in-hot-water/

 

I pretty much only drink Sam Adams in bars now. Ballast Point too.
I don't agree with the point many are making about the breweries putting out any more interesting new beers. I just want the standard beers to be available by the case in stores and affordable.

 

My buddy from NC used to send me some Brewery Bhavana cans; mostly NEIPAs. Nothing mind-blowing, but enjoyable. As of today, I'm telling my friend to temporarily stop sending me any of their beer.



The short version: The owner, Van, has been accused of some pretty serious sexual abuse of his employees/applicants. Whoever posted the allegations mentioned that sexual favors were basically exchanged for employment and that the culture there was toxic. Some pretty, for lack of better phrasing, fucked-up predatory shit. There is a restaurant attached and both spots are pretty well-regarded, showing up on a bunch of "Top Lists" respectively.

Long version: Go check out Worst Beer Blog on Instagram.



I'm not here to say if the allegations are definitely true or not but figured it needed to be put on everyone's collective radar. If there's enough proof to convince me this is all true, fuck this guy and his beer.

 

I can't find anything about this anywhere, social media, beer media, or ordinary news media. The instagram blog you reference seems to be a long disorganized slog to find anything, as near as I can tell. Any links?

 

Lagunitas. 'nuff said.