What is your biggest problem as a craft beer lover?

This is the first time I heard about this. I guess it wasn't selling well for Founders?

It is still available on draft at the tasting rooms.

https://foundersbrewing.com/our-beer/pilsner/

Cheers!

 

As Spock once said..."Having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting".

 

Prices, pushing shitty beer, over-hyped beer, and availability of great beer.

 

#1

 

I often buy so much beer at one time that it's difficult to carry, to say nothing of the half-hour bike ride home.

 

You say that until you’re the manager of that restaurant throwing out 3/4 kegs because only a couple people are drinking it. Bars stock what they stock because it’s what they can sell. I’m not saying they can’t stock variety as far as bottles but a tap list revolves around what will move for that establishment in particular.

 

My biggest problem as a craft beer lover is having the Illinois Pick 3 + Fireball lottery results favourited on my phone!

 

Indeed. folks don't realize that the first thing necessary to do when planning to open a brewery is figure out what kinds of beer people want to drink, and are there enough of them to keep the brewery in business. Sam Calagione calls it finding your niche in the market.

It's funny to see the number of people who think that "hype" (lacking a better word) is a bad thing, and take pleasure in being different, anti-trend beer drinkers who poke fun at popular things. If they open a brewery with those ideas they should also figure out what other career paths are open to them

 

Craft beer stores with rows and rows of unrefrigerated beers.

They literally say on the can “store cold, drink fresh” but when I go to most any store, it’s 80% warm on the shelf and 20% cold, expensive, garishly labeled NEIPAs.

 

Just a few minutes ago I completed an online questionnaire from Total Wine, and under the "What can we do better?" section that's exactly the point I brought up. I mentioned that there were a number of beers I would have purchased, but since they have been sitting warm on the shelf (and sometimes outdated) I decided to pass on them.

 

Nobody wants Cincinnati beers...

 

I was recently informed of a brewery there called Third Eye Brewing. I was told it was excellent and pretty unique. Have you been there?

 

This is the true woe of any enthusiast. Thankfully the two stores I visit, while one has a decent cooler stock, they both keep majority of their stock in air conditioned, climate controlled areas. Not the same as refrigeration I know, but say 60 F and under constant temperature control is better than nothing. You should still have about 150 days until serious degradation of ingredients occur. Most people here wouldn’t drink a beer that old anyways, even if kept refrigerated. Cheers.

 

I made a comment years back to a girl working at our grocery store. They'd just gotten a shipment in that day from a very desirable brewery, and had the bottles out sitting in the sunbeam from a window. They were still cold from the truck, but starting to warm FAST.

I don't think she cared. Much less did anything about it.

 

I don't have a ton to complain about anymore as a craft beer person, this does make me shake my head. There is a definite rise, and pride, in being a contrarian in craft beer which, whatever, you do you. I like Tree House, I like pastry stouts, I like simple barrel aged porters, and I LOVE Naragansett, PBR and Bud Heavies. The sours and slushies and the like appeal to plenty of people, c'est la vie. There's plenty for us all, and while I can understand the money and health aspects, it seems like a waste of time seeking out things to complain about this dumb hobby of ours.

 

I have been there a few times. It's a brand new building, opened last year in the middle of the pandemic. Really cool outside area with patio and rooftop deck. If you are in the area, check it out for sure! Here is a comprehensive list, all credits go to the gnarly gnome, it's not my site:
https://www.thegnarlygnome.com/cincinnati-breweries/

Prost!

 

I guess what surprises me is that the IPAs don’t crowd out one another for sales. I would figure that having a broad set of beers would be the most appealing to the most amount of customers. I’m not asking for a Czech Dark or a Grätzer here, I’m sure that putting a Pilsner or a wheat beer instead of one of those IPAs would sell alright. An IPA lover wouldn’t feel alienated having one less option, but this arrangement does alienate drinkers who want a beer but don’t want either an IPA or one of the macros. Otherwise all what I can think is people coming in and doing a trip down the draft menu trying all the IPAs.

Heck, I’d get it more if there was a whole range of IPA types, rather than a bunch of NEIPAs all standing side-by-side.

 

FWIW I homebrew those beer styles.

Cheers!

P.S. But I brand my beer as Grodziskie.

 

I guess I could feel that way about rock music, since nowadays I am a classical music lover first and foremost. But the fact that there are soooo many different rock bands that sound as alike as those beer styles you reference taste alike tells me that there are soooo many people who love rock music, and can tell the difference, and who buy the music, and buy tickets to the shows. And so few people who like music I now enjoy.

OTOH there is still plenty enough classical music being played and composed to satisfy me, and I'll bet you find plenty enough beer you like to satisfy you.

 

Maybe I should have read all 5 pages but I didn't. My biggest problem is poor distribution. And most of that is probably where I live, but it really bothers me. New Mexico has a pretty good craft beer scene, but it's centered around Albuquerque and Santa Fe. I live in Silver City and we get almost none of the good beers brewed in-state. Don't even get me started about beer from out of state, the closest I get is reading about it here.