What takes more skill?

I would rather be a master of one trade than a jack of many.

 

The good thing about Americans is that we'll aim for the biggest bounty possible in most things; beers included. The bad thing is that we'll miss 98% of the time. Still, I remain on the search for that 2%, as I have faith in my countrymen (and women) that every now and again we'll hit the bull's eye. What bugs me is when people ignore the bull's eye that other countries have set and/or embrace the new/experimental for the sake of newness. So, I'd say that to make a beer extremely well you need to take risks, but in taking extreme risks you're likely to fail 98% of the time.

 

Generally speaking, they know what works in their demographic. A lot of European countries have been making their styles of beer for far longer than the USA has even existed as a country. They have each become very, very good at what they do, so they do it. I imagine they have something similar to our craft beer scene overseas as well, for the consumers who want something a little different.

 

I also love Budweiser.

 

The answer to your question is, "Yes." But if you don't like that one the alternative answer is, "Well, it depends...."

 

as a new homebrewer this i also am kind of approaching that with this question

trying to decide if i want to attempt to perfect and refine some of my favorite styles or if i should just go all over the map.

 

Narrow range for me and I think you might relate here in Washington. It seems like we get breweries with lots of passable/decent, but nothing simply amazing (obviously plenty of exceptions). I think I give a stronger nod to a brewer who makes something at the top of a class. Not Wa, but a PNW brewery that loves being jack of all trades, master of none is Rogue.

 

I appreciate brewers who limit their scope, know their limits, and try to perfect their flagships. There seems to be a recent tendency to embrace "experimental" brewers who only do one-offs. That's not to say I'm against experimentation, but only with restraint and with deference to maintaining a regular lineup of solid brews.

 

I agree. Almost all of us on this board could make a good Ale. Very few of us could make a great Ale.

 

Masters all weekend! I love an excuse to open good stuff for the best tourney of the year.

 

Brew what you like. Why would you brew styles you don't like just to know you can brew them. I have been a bit more all over the place, but that is because I really like a lot of different styles and am curious about brewing them, but there are a few styles I have brewed more often which I hope I have improved drastically from my first couple attempts. If you have 3 or 4 styles that you love more than anything else, brew a bunch of them and get really good at it. In a little while you'll have those on hand all the time which is awesome.

@OP, it is harder to brew one style extraordinarily than it is to brew many styles well, but it is much harder to brew many styles extraordinarily than just one which is what I feel a handful of my favorite breweries have done.

 

90% of brewing is technique and process. Most breweries rush this, and due to this they make par or subpar beer. They don't slow down to make happen right. It's not rocket science, but then again, they've got to sell. After that it's about recip,d yeast selection. Most styles the process of brewing is identical. Grain selection, hops, yeast etc...

With the new rush to tap the craft brewing explosion, a lot of 'brewer's' are in it for the cash and the idea of making actually good beer is 2nd to money. Sad.

 

The answer is: Weihenstephan.
Then again, (as bum732 mentioned) there is also: Budweiser.
Both make a narrow range of beer, but only one is world class. Both excel at consistency, which takes skill, but only one has made consistently flavorful and complex beers in a narrow range of style. Both are skillful but only one tastes really, really good.

Aml42000 made an excellent point about Rogue being a "jack of all trades, master of none"---I'd rather drink Premium or Kristallweiss or Vitus all the time then take a chance on one of Rogue's usually mediocre brews, even if it's in a style that I like more than a lager or wheat beer.

Then again, there are certain American breweries--Three Floyds, New Glarus, Founders, Sierra Nevada, Pretty Things, Bruery, all come to mind--that I will try anything by because they have impressed me more often than not and their explorations seem to come from a unified vision.

So, to cut this short, drtth and herrburgess are correct in my limited estimation.

 

the american brewing scene is, still, undergoing a surge of growth of small, specialty brewers who for the most part don't worry much about, say, exporting their beer to another continent. i'm sure that among passionate small brewers/brewpubs all around the globe, when they're doing smaller batches that both won't bankrupt them if they're ill-received and will be consumed fresh (since local and low supply), there's a great diversity of style.

there's also sort of culturally entrenched styles in various places, but the truth is that creativity is easier on a smaller scale. it's getting somewhat more large scale here just because we're seeing the growth of people who were once tiny-scale (who are also trendsetters / trailblazers for the growing market).

 

ehhh, i don't agree. it's sort of a cliche to say this, but i think the truth is: almost all of us could make a truly great ale, but few of us could make it twice, nor in any substantial volume to begin with.

 

Pure wisdom

 

Because it's a lot harder to make a perfect Neapolitan pizza than it is to "innovate" by creating BBQ chicken pizza, Hot wing sauce pizza, Hawaiian ham & pineapple pizza, or cheeseburger pizza with beef and American cheese. Pfffft that's like 5 innovations, and Neapolitan is just one. 5>1

 

Ha! I make a taco w/5 Habaneros, half a bottle of Tabasco, add some Vienna Sausages and age the shell in a used Kentucky Deluxe barrel, and all the foodies just go crazy about it!

 

Doing something well by definition requires skill (whether innate or learned). Therefore making solid/world-class beers requires more skill than churning out a plethora of mediocre one-offs. With that being said, I am a fan of brewers that show restraint and know where their skills lie. For example Stillwater with their saisons.