Russian River hype. When will it end?

Seems to me that someone is just mad that their local spot isn't a secret anymore. I understand that, but really you should just be happy that a company that makes a quality product is getting the recognition that they deserve. If all else fails you can still pop in to the brewery and get growlers and bottles to go. No one is going there for the pizza anyways.

 

Correction - SOUTHERN Vermont lol I can't get Heady if I try...

 

Hey, I like Pittsburgh. Be nice to Ohio. I honestly wondered why it was mentioned, seemed a bit out of place in the OP's rant. And you have to admit our (Cleveland) beer kicks your beers ass (Pitts).

 

This is pretty much what I got out of this thread.

 

Hive Mind mentality.

It exists in any internet based community you may find. Music, Videogames, Movies, Beer, Etc.

Once the group decides what is cool, and digressors are trampled upon by the sheeples with their identical tastes and personalities.

 

Yep, still awesome and deserving of praise!



Enough hate....

 

Sorry, but I agree in concept with the OP. I can't speak specifically about RR, but 3F's has been brought up multiple times. Having festivals and marketing geared toward how limited and rare your beer is, is by definition hype. 3F's (and RR too, I assume) could sell out their entire beer capacity without any sort of advertising, but they DO advertise to get beer collectors in a tizzy - "hey our new beer you've never had is being released in limited quantity right now, better get over here right away and stand in line for hours so you can get a couple of bombers of it". Meanwhile, you don't know what it tastes like, don't have a way to get more if you liked it, and the more maddening part for me is that, at least in 3F's case, there are breweries producing beer that is just as good and in quantities that make it easy to obtain. I saw someone earlier in the thread post about 3F's being able to to get anyone into beer...nothing could be further from the truth when the instructions are (from a Chicagoland perspective) 1. Go to Indiana 2. Wait in line 3. Pay for beer 4. Realize that your "APA" is a borderline DIPA in hop content when compared to most other breweries. Most BMC drinkers, in my experience, are not going to be won over by anything hoppier than Boston Lager at the beginning.

I really like some of 3F's beers, though I think their style is not adequately reflected because everything I've had is "what I expected + a ton more hops". When 3F's is available on tap at a local watering hole, I'm happy to drink it, just with the expectation that if I'm ordering an "APA" style beer of theirs, I'm getting an IPA, or IPA == DIPA. What pisses me off is the idea that because it's good beer that's hard to get, it's better than another beer that is easier to get, and that craft beer == a ton of hops in everything (which is a symptom of the market, not their fault). Bottom line is that I go to Binny's when I need beer, and I'm going to choose from the insane amount of great beer already available, not stress myself over one brewery that I can't get that (at best) isn't significantly better than some other options.

Then again a lot of the gimmicks in craft beer don't suit me. I've never felt an aged beer was better than its fresh counterpart, nitro'd taps for anything other than an Irish stout is a waste of time, cask conditioned is always a waste of time, and I don't like smoked beers or milk stouts. If you like all of things and hop bombs and love beer collecting/trading, that's great, but drop the air of superiority and the attitude that it's the only way to be a true fan of craft beer.

 

This is now a fff thread, wtf?

 

Same here. Maybe it's a product of living near the...um, product? I kinda feel that way about FFF. Don't get me wrong, I love their beer, but they're about at the point of exceeding my price point. Seems like every time I visit a liquor store, their bombers are $1 more than last time. The store owner claims FFF is raising their prices. I can't justify buying their beers when I see other damn good beers for half the price.

 

Im sorry. Russian River destroys FFF.

Zombie Dust is the only regular offering that I would consider as good as most of Russian rivers regular offerings.

Russian Rivers beers generate the hype for them

FFF's fanboys generate the hype for them.

Get it?

 

Someone is really good at something and instead of recognizing & appreciating success, we tear it down? We should all be so lucky to be so good at something.

 

yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man

 

come on man, i went to bear republic and russian river in the same day, i was drunk when i read this post!!!!! haha

 

Please stop comparing Russian River to Three Floyds. It saddens me.

 

I WAS SO PISSED OFF about HOP2 IT not being on tap anymore, i fucking love that beer!!!!!!!!!

 

I know just saw that this morning. Awesome while it lasted!

 

Can someone start a thread without the word "hype" in it?

 

I stopped reading at "hype"

 

RR is one of the very top breweries in the US, if not the world, because they have mastered two great, yet disparate styles - IPAs and Belgian Sours. Their non-sour Belgians and non IPA/IIPA/etc are also great, but not quite the same level. Hill Farmstead apparently does world class IPAs and saisons. Haven't tried them yet, but it sounds like they'd be close to that level, though I personally prefer sours to saisons.

 

I don't see the big deal. Russian River is running their business the way they want to run it. They make styles of beer they want to and like to drink and do special release beers because, well, they can. Just because it isn't brewed in Belgium by authentic monasteries from hundreds of years ago doesn't mean it can't be a world class representation of the style.

If you don't like their product or their business philosophy then don't give them your business. Go build your own brewery and try your hand at living up to your own expectations. Coming to an online forum to rant about their business practices won't do you much good.