Age Old Favorites

Nice article, wonder what the list would look like if it were centered here is good ol' USA?

 

Meh, the world is big enough for both age-old favourites and interesting new “craft” beers. No need to pretend that one need come at the expense of the other.

 

For some reason I am 'blocked' from opening this article. I must have been critical of the author that appeared with a previous different article in these forums.

 

Try this:
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/feb/05/craft-beer-old-favourites-beer-richard-godwin

 

We have weekend tastings of styles but I'd really like to see more tastings of the "classic" breweries, like a "Sierra Nevada" or "Dogfish Head" weekend (and others geographically in-between} (and I know this has done before but I want more). I buy a lot of local brews now but would like to give my old favorites the attention they deserve, I want them to stick around!

 

Okay, thanks. That worked. It is "a very brief article."

 

100%

You don't think there are less "classic" styles being produced because of new, sexy ones, especially Hazy IPAs?

My personal preference would be craft beer before Hazy IPAs, Pastry Stouts, Smoothie Sours, and every big beer NEEDING to be triple barrel aged.

I'm not sorry that I like beer that tastes like beer and often wonder if it isn't a mere coincidence that the contraction of craft beer has so closely coincided with the prevalence of the styles of beer that I mentioned above.

 

A telling quote from the article:

“You can now see these American-style IPAs in every pub around the country,” says Adrian Peskin of Woodshedding Brewery in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.”

It would seem that craft beer (i.e., IPAs) is quite prevalent in the UK. And I would reckon that a significant number of those “American-style IPAs” are Hazy IPAs.

It would seem that it is not just the US that is going hazy?

Cheers!

 

I think there are breweries that choose to focus on more traditional styles and breweries that choose to focus on more “innovative” styles and we, as consumers, have the option to choose between the two (or, as probably most of the folks on here do, enjoy the best of both worlds). Ultimately, market forces play a big role in what beers are produced, but other factors contribute too. A skilled brewer who is passionate about a certain style or family of beer—whether it’s traditional or experimental—can usually find a niche in the market if the beer they produce is good enough and if it reaches enough people.

 

Those traditional styles in any case were the impetus for much of the craft beer movement back in the early 80s: remember the old "Marchant du vin" display stands in grocery stores back in the early 80s, proudly displaying the traditional styles as brewed by Sam Smith? What goes around comes around.

 

Interesting article. Subtracting out the British slant to the article, I would still beg to disagree. I think many of the old styles are boring and there are a lot more interesting new beers than there were. And I’m willing to not include sour beers and the bulk of hazy IPAs. There is a brewpub in town that just tries to replicate classic British beers, and I never go there and I don’t drink their beers since they bore me.
Yes, I’ve forever destroyed my palate.

 

I see no mention of "hazy IPAs" in that article, and I seriously doubt it is all that "popular" in the UK and other European countries....I would surmise that European "palates" are a bit more refined than to blindly follow some years old US "trend"

 

He mentions "hazy dubbel IPAs" in the second paragraph.

 

You surmise wrong. It seems drinkers here can't get enough of them.

 

Keep the variety going! I love a Landlord when I'm in the UK but I think that's what makes it special. Maybe we'll settle with the "Craft Era" dropping into a more regional setting. Want a west coast IPA? Visit the west coast! I'd prefer that over what appears to be a tidal wave of seltzers and THC drinks.

 

Guinness is the order of choice for Gen Z? That doesn’t seem consistent with my findings with Gen Z in US at all. Too bitter for their taste buds.

 

UK Beer Writer Pete Brown in The Times (London):

10 proper IPAs that aren’t hazy and horrible

 

When you have steak, yogurt, seltzer, orange juice, a bagel, french fries, a banana, spaghetti, or whatever... do you react by thinking it's boring? Genuine question.