Five on Five: Lager Recs from the Pros

Enegren has good representation in Southern California. They are in trader joe’s, sprouts etc. not Sure about big grocery stores.

However, not that many people I know drink it. I just started a year when I heard a podcast with the owner. Seemed like a cool guy and loved his brewing philosophy. Also, cool to hear bartenders asking them brewing a hazy ipa and he refused. That inspired me to try them and now I buy them regularly. I have also recommended them to others and so far everyone has liked their beers.

 

Craft Beer & Brewing runs reviews of Kansas City-area beers frequently - while our beer scene has improved dramatically in the past 5 years or so, local breweries are over-represented in their reviews to the point I assume someone on CB&B's staff either lives in or has ties to KC.

While it's just my opinion (...man), I'd choose Alma Mader over BKS' Pivo Project for local lagers, but both are well worth checking out.

 

People I've never heard of talking about the beers I most likely will never be able to try. It seems like filler content for the website — since we have nothing to write about today let's publish another list.

 

Haha. Funny story.

I will say the reviews do have some value IMHO. There are so many options they can help someone new zone in to find beers and or style they like without having to try the worst ones. Just because a beer has a high rating doesn’t mean I will like it. But I will say generally beers with higher scores vs lower scores have been accurate with me. There are always exceptions to the rule of course.

I think the views are great to help someone weed through the sea of options and pick a good option. I rarely look at reviews before buying now as I have a good idea of what beers and breweries I like. However, if I find a brewery I am not familiar with I like to check out the reviews to see if it’s worth at least trying. I try to keep an open mind regardless if the rating.

cheers

 

I'm big on smoke so a big fan of everything Schlenkerla puts out.

It seems very short sighted to me to jump to the conclusion that just because someone's beer doesn't have many reviews on here it automatically means they don't know what they're talking about.

 

It lends to credibility. If you actually have had their beers and know them then you probably will trust their judgement more. If you haven't then how else would you evaluate them? It's basically like how everything works for something that you are not familiar with. If you need a car mechanic and your friend recommends them then you are more likely to use them. If you don't know anyone who has used them then Yelp may be a good source. If they have a lot of positive reviews then more likely they are good. If another mechanic only has a single review who are you more likely to choose between the two? Are you going to trust that the one with a single review will do a good job or the one with a lot of positive reviews? Seems more like common sense to me.

 

Bud, it’s two completely different ends of the spectrum. I have tried literally hundreds of beers without a single rating on BA; and enjoyed some of them immensely. I have been to breweries and stores with little to no reviews on BA; and enjoyed some of them immensely. Does it lend credibility to a brewery or beer to have a huge positive line of feedback here? Sure. But all your highest rated beers and breweries started with a single beer. A single review. If you can’t look past the end of your nose to try something that is recommended by an actual industry professional just because it doesn’t have BeerAdvocate ratings, you’re going to miss out on a lot of killer stuff. Cheers.

 

As you have said you have tried hundreds of beers without reviews and enjoyed some of them immensely, which means that the rest you did not enjoy. Don't you think you would have increased the odds of enjoying most of them if there were a lot of positive reviews on them? I'm not saying these "pros" are wrong, I'm just saying that the more positive reviews the more credibility they have.
Its like screening for new employees. The more positive reviews they have the more likely they will be a good worker. Someone without any references may still be a good worker so that is where the interview comes into play. I've never been to these "pros" brewery and never had their beers so I am left with reviews to help me decide on their credibility. For all I know their recommended beers could be by a relative of theirs or have a financial interest in them. Open your mind to the information available throughout the world and you'll understand how things work.

 

some very odd "logic" at work here....

 

Are you saying that the info available on this site has no value?

 

He’s saying that there’s more in life to choosing a beer to drink than BA ratings. Correct me if I’m wrong @herrburgess

 

You're not wrong, but the original point was the value of the "pros" opinions when they are from brewers with not much of a history.

 

But you want us to value unknown BA raters and tickers to guide us to good beer?

Seriously, I mentioned before that there are only a handful of reviewers on BA whose palates seem similar to mine. @herrburgess happens to be one of them (who also happens to be a pro ).

 

I don't find value when there is a single review compared to when there are a lot of reviews. The more reviews there are and if there is a strong consensus then there is more weight to them. That was the point in how much weight do these unknown "pros" have. You want us to value the opinions of these relatively unknown "pros"?

 

I don’t think anyone is arguing that there is value to an abundance of high ratings for a beer on BA. I agree 100% and I’m sure the majority of people who use this site do as well. The point we’re trying to make though, is that there is plenty of good beer out there that has no presence on BA. There was good beer before this site, there will be good beer after it. As I stated in an above post, all the highest rated beers on this site (IE Top 250) were once single entries with one if any reviews.

Breweries like Enegren are in the stage where they’re growing an audience, they’re building the hype around their beers. Not a ton of people have had their beers yet. Just as there was a time when people hadn’t had a lot of Treehouse IPA’s and others couldn’t have regular access to CBS.

I’m not saying Enegren specifically will build itself to be on that tier of greatness. But, had no one given KBBS a chance because it only had 3 reviews on BA, the landscape for craft beer in general would be a very different sight to bare.

Im just suggesting you consider the possibility that there are beers worth trying that don’t have a huge presence on this site.

Cheers.

 

I'd trust a pro brewer before a web forum poster.

Then again, hacks are everywhere.

 

here's a little history...from Roosevelt's "The Man in the Arena" speech (note: would extend to say the Woman in the Arena, too) about the weight of doing something fully, as a "pro"

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

 

I don't disagree with what you are saying. Again, the original point was how much value do these "pros" have. They could be right, but they haven't done anything to make them highly credible.

 

Fair enough.

To one of your prior statements; I’d sooner trust a mechanic to work on my car than I would someone who posts about cars on an online auto forum. My two cents. Peace.

 

I think you're trying to say that these pro brewers with only a few reviews on BA haven't shown you anything yet to create credibility at a level that you'd like to see. And there is good logic in that so that I tend to agree. But at this point we don't know how old or large that brewery might be, or whether that brewer might have a successful background with a large, well-known brewery. So let's call it faulty logic.