I'll take "Things that annoy" for $200

And the education begins.

 

Borderline pedantic correction: maybe you meant doppelbock instead of weizenbock (which isn't a lager)?

Also, imo, it's the dynamic in play with the constant stream of "new" IPAs rather than the style itself; although "all IPAs taste the same" can be seen as a shorthand to describing it.

Bottom line, however, and regardless of style, is that one can tell the difference between beers that have been rushed into production vs. those that have been fine tuned and repeatedly produced. It's just that that segment of the market lately values "novelty" over attention to detail, so that's what they get.

 

Thanks for the nice start there. Likewise. It seems we have similar approaches to this site. Perhaps my annoyance is more with “lager” being the catch-all phrase. If breweries made an attempt to do them well and true to style, they would be presented to drinkers correctly. And they’d know the differences between, say, a German and a Czech pilsner.

But what we have is many breweries pumping out one “lager” per year, using no other descriptors other than “light and refreshing” and no one learns shit.

 

Jamil Zainasheff used an acronym in his AMA thread of SBDL (Same Beer Different Label) which seems to be the mode of operation at a number of popular craft breweries that are continually producing Juicy/Hazy IPAs with different branding on a regular (e.g., weekly) basis. This business operation seems to make the tickers and Haze Bros happy. They keep coming back and happily paying $18+ for four-packs of 'new' beers.

Cheers!

 

Hah! There's actually an acronym now? Cool...

 

That was basically my reaction as well:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...co-ask-me-anything.643656/page-2#post-6973458

Cheers!

 

And here I am learning things, I was under the impression that bocks broadly were lagers. I'm not big on any bocks I've tried so I'm far from knowledgeable, are maibocks lagered?

 

So this is interesting as far as the blurring of lines by the breweries. In my relatively newfound interest in lagers, I have mostly seen examples with the actual style of beer listed on the can, rather than a generic label of “lager.” Are these “true to style”? I haven’t the faintest clue. So I’m not sure I’m learning much by drinking them other than deciding which ones I like more or less. Some of my consistent favorites so far have been from Schilling, but were the examples I liked less because I don’t like that style as much, or because they aren’t a good example of the style? Again, no clue.

On a side note, I wonder if part of the reason lagers feel generally less approachable (to me) is because they involve hard-to-pronounce, European names. Years ago I took a wine tasting course in college, and I remember that even though I enjoyed the French wines, I almost never purchased them on my own because I found all the French appellations impossible to pronounce and remember, and therefore intimidating. I get a similar feeling when I hear people spouting off German words for various lager styles, and frankly I’m at a point in my beer drinking life where I just don’t have the time or desire to learn a whole lot of new stuff. Plus it’s so rare that I wouldn’t enjoy a style when done well that all I really care about is, is the beer good?

 

Yes. Thanks for stepping up on that one.

 

Well ya learn something new everyday

But what about doppleweizenbocks?

 

Ah so they are presumably not lagered either

 

And there's also the opposite side of that coin in parts of the country where it's so specific, the word lager used to order a beer at a bar will result in a Yuengling Traditional being served.

 

Yup, as I stated in post #530:

"I wonder how you would react if you ever visited an 'average' bar in PA? People walk in and simply say to the bartender: "Gimme a lager" and with no further conversation the bartender will serve the customer a Yuengling Traditional Lager."

Now, to emphasize what I mean by 'average' bar in PA: this would be a bar similar to what we called as a kid a "corner bar". In contemporary times we now have 'fancy' craft beer bars and this sort of thing does not happen in those establishments - the kind of places that BAs typically go.

Cheers!

 

This one actually does annoy me to hear because it's basically the casual craft beer drinkers version of "All beer tastes the same." At least when someone says that all beer tastes the same, I know they've had maybe three different AAL or big brand Mexican beers in their life; they don't know any better.

 

If you look at the BA page that defines styles ((https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/styles/) and scroll down to Pale Lagers you'll see 13 beer styles that fit under the Pale Lager heading. I think when you see a beer label that just lists "Lager" the brewer is probably saying it's an American Lager or Light Lager, but probably not an AAL (American Adjunct Lager) unless the label indicates the beer has been brewed with corn in addition to the barley (or some other sugar-producing grain). And probably not a Pilsner. There are definitely fuzzy lines between the definitions.

Your difficulty with pronouncing names of 'lagers' isn't just you. The style names of the German beers should not be a problem to pronounce, but when you start reading labels of the Eastern European breweries, we all have difficulties with those names. But who cares - say it as you see it. If someone corrects you, just say thanks and file away that correct pronunciation for future use.

To cloud the issue a little bit more, I've seen one example of an Octoberfest beer (which is always defined as a lager) being labeled as an Octoberfest Ale. It came from a brewery that did not have the cooling equipment to allow them to chill a beer for the lagering stage (aging/maturing at a near-freezing temp for usually 3-4 weeks or so). This brewery wanted to produce an Octoberfest to have a beer for the 'season' so they took an Octoberfest recipe and brewed it, except that the brewer used an ale yeast to ferment it. It was a little sweeter than the typical real Octoberfest, but sometimes an Octoberfest lager (aka Marzen) can tend toward the sweet side too. It did have a basic Octoberfest taste in all other regards.

 

Aventinus is my stranded on a desert island beer. I love it and never had a bad one.

 

I can't see beer as a hobby, unless you are buying beers with no intention of ever drinking them.