Controversial Beer Opinions (Round Two)

Does this include something like “Dude, the stout is pouring so well right now.” ?

 

What were the 24oz of beer?

 

I had 6 oz. of 2014 BCBS in early December last year at the farewell assembly of my tasting group, 6 oz. of 2010 Jubelale on New Years eve, 12 oz. 2011 Plan Bee Precious on 5/17. I wrote a creative writing "review" after drinking the 'Once A Decade Ale'.

"How easy it would be now to slip into old habits. How fully have motivated demons turned this love into weakness, something integral and desirous that must be avoided completely if tendrils of deception and inspiration be resisted. How sad now to realize this love I truly have must remain a love I never again can indulge. All this warning and truth from a single glass of ten year old strong ale saved for today. Once A Decade Ale, the label reads. Ten years ago I held it with hands that were far less wrinkled, with eyes far less drained of tears, and thought how it might be to drink it as the decade ended. Now that milestone has passed. The sour taste of the cellared ale still holds hints of sweet and fruit it once showed, but it is a ruined mess my now sober palate tastes strongly. The glass feels uncomfortable in my hand, where once it could repose and be forgotten. How easy it would be to allow it to regain that familiarity, and for my life to regain its liquid, lubricated descent into soothing abyss."

edit- I have since writing that "review" decided I am together enough mentally I will be able to start drinking beer on a very limited basis in four months from now, or so. Doc says a single beer occasionally is actually good for me now. Having only one, only occasionally, of course is the problem.

 

One thing that will irk me is having a beer that is listed to have certain flavors, and having the brewery, bartender, or similar person speak so highly of these notes in the beer when I simply don't taste them. A big one for me is coconut. Can't tell you how many coconut porters & coconut stouts have zero of what I would detect as coconut. Same with many coffee beers. I end up grading these beers higher when I actually do taste a well blended flavor in the beer.

I'd like to think my palate picks these up well, but I wish just adding some flavor that doesn't come through would not be so common. I feel like I'm watching a fireworks show with sunglasses on.

 

Interesting, have you tried Death by Coconut? My palate also doesn't get some of the exotic flavors people tend to describe when doing beer reviews but coconut and coffee seem like two of the easier flavors to achieve in my experience. Of course everyone's palate is different.

 

A wild day on the beach!?!

Cheers!

 

You're an ass if you go to a brewery and order a beer by saying "surprise me" or "I want the hoppiest/darkest/lightest beer you have" or "whatever your favorite is".

Bartenders hate that, they're busy and don't have time or energy to make your mind up for you. And spoiler alert, they're probably going to give you the most expensive and/or slowest selling beer they have.

 

I haven't, but I've had countless coconut beers that have left me disappointed enough to mention.

 

You never came across a single one that tasted like coconut though?

 

I always love your stories of drinking lots of good beer back in the "old days". I wonder if the sentiment about the 70s and 80s comes from the fact that there's a large cohort of craft drinkers who were in high school and early college during those years. My memory of the 80s is that there wasn't much variety available, but that comes from the perspective of a young idiot who had to tell other people what to get for me at the store and who couldn't go to bars.

I wish I knew someone like you back when I was in my late teens to show me the ropes. For whatever reason, we thought the only way to get interesting beer was to drive up to the Canadian border and buy a couple cases of Molson Brador

 

Only two come to mind. Ballast Point Victory at Sea with Coconut, and The Bruery Coconut & Mash barleywine. There may be others but at least for me there are far more that claim to have coconut flavors and just disappoint.

 

Highly disagree. I worked at a brewery and would have loved someone saying to surprise them. I would have poured them one of our most popular options and then explained the beer and brewery to them while they hopefully enjoyed it. I enjoyed discussing beer with the clients and was able to do that because the brewery I worked at wasn’t high pace (unless working nights).

 

No no that is the proper use of pour. My beef is with using "pour" as a noun. Unless you are commenting on the head or some artful dispensing pour should remain a verb

 

Ya I'm with @BeastOfTheNortheast , to me a brewery/beer bar should be well able to ablige that request and the places I know I can ask for that and be surprised/delighted/informed are my favorite bars.

Obviously if the place is slammed or your at some random.dive bar then you're just being an ass. But that request should be something that any bartender at a brewery is happy to oblige

 

@BeastOfTheNortheast I love talking beer, but I assume people who chose to drink craft beer, chose to go to a specific brewery, but then doesn't care what they drink are hard to please. I always give them something bland like a blonde ale. Not worth risking a sour, stout, or IPA and have them not like it.

I guess I can't relate. I'd never decide to eat sushi, scout out a good sushi restaurant, and then show up and say "I don't know what I want, surprise me".

 

I had someone come in today when we were slammed and order "the darkest beer we have". We have 5 stouts on right now, one is a coffee stout, one is a peanut butter stout, and another is a coconut porter. They are all taste very different but would look identically dark in a glass. They also vary wildly in ABV from 5 to 10%. And what if we had a Black IPA?

I asked the man if he wanted our Imperial Stout and he looked annoyed and repeated "the darkest beer you have".

 

LMAO this is actually true. I’ve had a few shmoozers do the whole “surprise me/your choice” little deal. The arrogant type, not the genuinely curious ones. I usually try to say something to the effect of “are you completely confident in that decision?” Of course they say yes. Now they have a 13% Barleywine in front of them. It’s true, I do like the beer, but they can’t send it back now. They’ll look like a fool in front of their buddies if they do that.

I guess it’s some sort of petty kick I get out of it. That kind of indecisiveness is horribly inconvenient. But, I do love big barleywines, and that’s my choice. Although there’s the 50/50 between them leaving after only one, or them sloppily trying to order 2 more....

 

This is more what I meant. I love talking beer if the person seems genuine and asks questions about our selections. I enjoy helping those people. But if they are smug or arrogant like described above, then yes, you're getting a barelywine and you're out $7.

 

This is how I know we won't see eye to eye, if I'm going to a truly special sushi restaurant I'm definitely ordering "omakase", basically chef's choice. After all they know what's freshest and they might have a genuinely unique take on something I wouldn't have thought to ask for.

The frustrating thing there is the vague specificity. Like you said, dark is just a color, there can be a wide spread of experiences with dark beers. If I ask for bar tenders choice I will either give some parameters or I will be quite ready for any weird thing on the board. One of my last trips out before the shut downs was to a favorite beer bar that always has an amazing and expansive tap list. I had the bartender pick 4 beers in a row for me and it was awesome. An interesting rye hazy IPA, a maibock, a very light saison, and a weird Porter with nuts and maple.
I might have ordered the saison and probably would have picked the rye hazy on my own. It was a great beer experience