Did a cursory search and didn't find anything like this, so here goes . . . What, in your expert opinions, fellow BAs, gives any certain brewery the title of "great"? The word is bantered about a lot, but I think very few breweries deserve it. Let's, if you will, explore what goes into "knighting" a brewery. I don't believe that all these points are necessary, but I do think that the more you have, the closer that you'll get to greatness. 1) Setting the standard for a specific style of beer. I think if your brewery is the originator/innovator of any given style of beer, you have a good chance at being called great. It goes a long way if you are responsible for changing the landscape of beer all by yourself, especially if after you have set the standard, that others follow. If it's many others, it goes even further. 2) Philosophy of brewing If you don't know why you're brewing the beer that you're brewing, your beer is never going to be the best that it can be because you'll just brew anything, probably just because it is popular or it will make you more money because said beer is currently trendy. In other words, focus goes a long way. 3) Availability Not that I think that small breweries can't be great, but if you have a limited distribution, it's much more difficult. The scarcity that many beer geeks treasure works against these breweries because is it the actual beer that you're tasting and rating highly or is it the rarity? 4) Longevity/Consistency If you've been doing it well for decades that's awesome. That shows an investment in quality. Centuries? Even more impressive. 5) Interaction with the beer-loving public Whether it's through a destination brewery, events that your brewery attends, or in-person events that your brewers and staff attend and put-on, the conviviality of those who represent your brewery goes a long way. I'm not saying that there aren't not-so-nice people out there brewing very good beer. What I am saying is that if your brewery is comfortable and your staff is friendly, it enhances the beer drinking experience exponentially. Any others that you all can add? Which brewery/breweries embody greatness for you and why?
Not so sure about this one, there are a lot of breweries whose products are hard to get a hold of, but the fact that the search continues proves that it isn't a passing fad. FWIW, I'm not a trader, but whenever I'm out and about on a day trip/long weekend/vacation and I see something I've heard of as being great but can't get at home (for certain styles), I'm picking it up.
I kinda struggled with the phrasing on that point. Like I said, small breweries with small/non-existent distribution footprints can definitely make great beer, but there is the real danger that people think they are better than they are because of scarcity. It's the Westvleteren conundrum. Samsies.
What, in your expert opinions, fellow BAs, gives any certain brewery the title of "great"? The answer to that question is pretty simple for me: it’s all about the beer. For me a great brewery produces great beer, simple as that. Goin back to the proposed criteria in the OP: 1) Setting the standard for a specific style of beer. If a brewery produces high quality beers across the board that is more important to me than being a so called ‘standard bearer’ of a style. 2) Philosophy of brewing If consistently producing high quality beers is a “philosophy” then I suppose maybe this applies. 3) Availability It sure would be desirable that I can obtain a great brewery’s beer at my local Retail Beer Distributor but this is not a criterion necessary for me. 4) Longevity/Consistency If the brewery is producing great beer and it opened 5-10 years ago that is A-OK with me. 5) Interaction with the beer-loving public This is a ‘nice to have’ but not a necessary criterion for me. To circle back: a great brewery produces great beer. Cheers! P.S. One example: I think that Hill Farmstead is a great brewery. The fact it has an idyllic facility/location is just part of the ‘bonus plan’. A photo from my visit in 2024:
This was one of the breweries that I thought about when I talked about availability. I, admittedly, haven't had every single one of their beers, but the ones that I have, have been very solid. Are they as good as everyone seems to think? Not on your life. They are, in my opinion, one of the best examples of the Westvleteren Effect.
Hill Farmstead is who I was thinking about when I talked about availability. And maybe the consumer outreach as well (my visit didn't live up to the hype, but to be fair, I had just spent the previous couple of days in a cabin on Barr Hill and visiting the Cellars at Jasper Hill [work trip, poor me]). While I'm not a fan of their IPAs (or NEIPAs at all outside of Heady and Sip), the saisons are world-class, Everett is amazing, and they have cultivated a mystique that a lot of other breweries would kill for.
Great Beer = Great Brewery. It's a simple equation. Nothing else really matters.. at least in my view. I despise breweries who publicly state that they are a business and need to sell beer so they have to make this and this and this style. Or serve this food or that food.. Great breweries focus on beer quality and that's it.
Those intangibles are always an interesting talking point. As I said, I've never had a beer from HF that I thought was anything less than very, very good. Their ascent to the precipice of all beerdom, however, confounds me.
So, just playing Devil's Advocate here. What if you have a brewery that makes one beer or only one style of beer well? The Alchemist comes to mind. Or if you have a brewery that is renowned for being the progenitor of a certain style? Brasserie Dupont or Westmalle? Do they get preference over a brewery that makes many styles of beer very well, like Russian River? Or are they all great in their own right?
However confounding it is, the fact that they've kept it up for almost 2 decades means that it isn't a flash in the pan. Think about how many other brewers had that, increased production and distro and then fell off. Or those that stuck by the template and you don't hear too much about anymore.
For me, it's more than just having great beer, though that's certainly the biggest component of it. It's about how you handle your business and conduct yourself in the community. If the brewery makes great beer but has a history of shitty working conditions, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. then it's going to make it difficult for me to say that they are great. It's impossible, of course, to know what's happening behind closed doors of every brewery. It's entirely possible that a brewery I love (Fox Farm, for example), is treating their employees like ass. So I fully admit that I may label a brewery great without knowing all the details. But, if such details and practices do come to light, then I'm not going to be able to ignore that. Sierra Nevada makes excellent beer and they seem like they do right by their employees. That combination makes me label them as great.
10-15 yo DuPont brewed more than just Saison and Bon Vieux. Moinette Brune was a favorite of mine, and they were doing collaborations with Monk's Cafe on brewing a porter, among others. They didn't get the returns they wanted so stuck to what the consumer wanted. Complaining about Westmalle, or any of the Trappists brewers only making a few beers is like complaining that Schlenkerla only makes Rauchbier. They know what they're great at, do a few variations on the theme, and they're all excellent.
Why I stopped paying for Founders before the buyout. I'd still drink an All Day if offered to me. Something that a lot of people don't realize is that the big macro breweries tend to have a union workforce, and are very well taken care of, which is in stark contrast to the stories we tend to hear from craft brewery workers.
I would say the same for New Belgium. At least pre-buyout. Allagash is another that comes to mind. The people part of it is why I don't visit a great deal of local breweries and beer bars. If you don't treat people right, you don't deserve my business, regardless of your product or taplist.
And also have appropriate training. The brewers, especially, are extremely technically proficient. Mitch Steele is a great example. Not saying you can't make a go of it with homebrewer's knowledge and front of the house people who don't know much about beer, but it's going to be a LOT harder.
I was a big fan of Founders before their BS became known to public, or at least the broader beer geeks community. They certainly produced outstanding beers, and IMO mostly their stouts but they’re long gone from my purchase and wants. But at least they brewed good beers. Brewdog for instance also was litigious with its employees and workforce, and none of their beers ever blow me away. What makes a brewery great is their beer, we’re likely all going on repeat over the fact here but it’s also true. Other things certainly can be taken into consideration. The CEO of the French brewery that spawned La Goudale and other beers gave for Christmas as an extra no less than a solid 1000€uros to each of his employees because of great benefits over the years.
Greatness comes in many ways. Alchemist is greatness! They're credited for pioneering a style.. Heady Topper is unlike any other IPA out there. And if you make it to the brewery you can buy it in cans for peanuts(compared to other highly regarded DIPAs). The only other beers I've had from Alchemist are Focal Banger and Luscious.. that stout is GREAT. Can't speak on their other styles/beers they offer. If they solely brewed Heady Topper and focused on perfecting it and evolving it, they'd still be great in my book. All the breweries you mention are great for many different reasons. I may have personal preference of beers and choose one Brewery over the other but that doesn't mean one is greater than the other? I prefer to appreciate their individual contributions to the beer world and don't really get caught up in ranking them. To add, another thing that makes a brewery great is the beer-tender. Great breweries usually have knowledge/passionate people pouring beers. Having people who have no clue what they're serving you is a big deterence when visitng a brewery taproom.
Pretty run of the mill, but I wouldn't turn them down if offered. Kinda hope what's going on in the UK doesn't affect the US side of things. Their brewery in Columbus is super cool and dog friendly. We just visited over the July 4th holiday and our dog absolutely loved it. To a great extent, yes.
We visited in 2022 and did not have the most wonderful experience. Granted COVID restrictions were still a thing (kinda), but the whole experience was quite underwhelming. Beers were good, but we were treated rudely. There's no excuse for that. And I feel like I'm being kind, as John Kimmich is a fellow Pittsburgher/Yinzer. MUCH better experience at Von Trapp, and Ben & Jerry's on the non-beer side of things.
