Most Improved Breweries & Those Losing Their Shine

The thing that stops Piercing Pils from being a summer session beer for me is that it's a winter release (seroiusly, what the hell is up with that?)

 

Most improved brewery is Goose Island. Not only did they top themselves this past year with special releases, but they made them widely available. From their sours to the Bourbon County series, Goose Island is more available than ever and tastes as good as ever.

Founders is a brewery that has dropped off for me. Their core beers stink up the shelves and collect dust; their Backdoor series beers are strange curiosities; KBS and Breakfast Stout have turned into over-carbonated porters with "natural flavoring"; and they decided to put all their chips on their IPA Lite. If it wasn't for Imperial Stout, I'd give up on Founders completely.

 

Victory could not have been smarter in their retooling. They put themselves right back at the top before they really dropped off. Tink about how many companies just can't adapt until its too late. It's really remarkable their leadership had the guts and foresight to pull it off.

 

I'm not a big stout fan so I can't comment on that. Their pales, IPAs, etc. have been average at best. I have heard Rye Rebellion is solid though.

I do agree on East End though. I live literally around the corner in Point Breeze and I would love if they had a kickass IPA or pale but outside of Gratitude, their line up is weak. Big/Bigger Hop are both solid but unspectacular. Everything else I've had from them is just okay (Homewood Reserve, Backstrap, wheats, etc.)

 

Their flagship lager is a PBR equivalent, for good and ill, but with this year's Bohemian Pils and the Autocrat-collab coffee stout I gained new respect for Narragansett.

 

I was just gonna post gansett. Their bohemian pils is also solid and I'm looking forward to their shandy this summer. Also, their private stock series has delivered some solid brews

 

Except for Night of the Living Stout, which (despite its name) is the single best black IPA in existence. Criminally underrated. I've gone through 4+ cases of it since it was released in the Fall. 22 bottles left in case number 5. Needs to be year round. It is one of the very few black IPAs that satisfies my hop fix and doesn't leave me wishing that I was drinking a regular IPA instead.

If I could drink only 1 beer for the rest of my life it would probably be this.

The rest of their stuff is decent to underwhelming.

 

I can really only speak to Maryland breweries and only over the past ~2 years.

DuClaw (Depends on what you think of them): Extremely polarizing, the people I know either love them or hate them. Ever since they came out with Sweet Baby Jesus, they have gotten some minor hype. People love their over-priced high gravity beers that they do: Retribution (& Variants) and Colossus). I just can't say that I'm a big fan of theirs, but am working my way through their stuff. Nothing to really get excited about. Dirty Little Freak is ok, but they realized that having a provocative name coupled with interesting ingredients makes for big numbers for them. It seems like their best beers aren't even their own but the winners of the Homebrew competition they put on and turn into bombers and then release in 12 oz. formats later on after people forget about it.

Flying Dog (Most Visible Improvement): with their line of Brewhouse Rarities, of which they bottle some (but not usually the best ones). They've added Easy IPA (a session that was one of last year's Brewhouse Rarities and one of the better session IPAs that I've had), The Truth (DIPA), and Bloodline Orange IPA (made for CBC in DC last year). They are doing a collab with FW for CBC this year and did a collab with Evolution this year. Put some stuff in cans. Also, their single hop IPAs are great, but their distribution of the limited stuff is really wonky. They have backtracked with their BA stuff, making the BA Gonzo brewery-only (like the BA Horndog, but that stuff was limited to only 300 bottles).

Heavy Seas (Stagnation): The only thing that I have noticed is that they updated the design for their Uncharted Waters series. They are the same old same old. I tried all their stuff as part of a all you can drink sampler thing during Baltimore Beer Week and enjoyed most of them, but I was pretty buzzed. However, my older drinking friends say that they used to be the go to for MD, but have gone down hill. I guess they just stick with the tried and true.

Evolution (Subtle Improvement): They do some good draft-only beers, but their most exciting improvement is their venturing into sour beers, a first for MD since they are bottling them.

Burley Oak (New, but just tons of progress): They are bottling special releases, distributing kegs to places with growler fills, and nailing all kinds of unusual styles. Increased their barrel numbers and have started souring, aging and doing Solera beer blending.

 

All this talk about Full Pint had me confused, because I was confusing it with Full Tilt and I was surprised that people were talking about them.

 

Improved - Golden Road

They got a new brewer (from Drake's), improved their recipes, etc.

Going down - New Belgium

Every new release lately (save the Hop Kitchen beers) has been disappointing - especially the LOF beers.

 

I'm still fairly new and green to this thing, but I quite enjoy East End. They're a pretty small operation so I tend to give them a pass when they have issues with production.

Lord Nordsberry, Honey Heather, Monkey Boy and Illustration are all on point for me.

I'm not a fan of Full Pint at all. Chinookie is putrid IMO.

 

pears are actually in season in the fall, not the spring/summer, so maybe that led to their decision to make it a winter release? i dug it, though, and wouldn't complain if it was out during the summer.

 

On the rise:

Anchor - Loving every last one of their new releases

Pizza port brewing company - Swamis IPA in 6 pack 16oz. Cans is my new go to beer

Alpine - love everything they make

Decline:

Lost abbey - I can get superior sours from almanac. Better barrel aged from FW. All cheaper too.

Green Flash - I hate four packs. Hate them. Also I just don't see them around SD nearly as much as others

Modern times - sprinted out of the gates with great beer but please sell in 6 packs please!!! I'll pay more!

 

Well if you go back a few years, Victory added Headwaters and Summer Love along with the most recent stuff, so actually the rest of their lineup is not the same as it ever was.

Flying Fish with their Exit series I fully agree, but what has Yards done recently that has shown them improving? I like Yards stuff, but other than their seasonal Cape of Good Hope, nothing from them "wows" me. Am I missing stuff from them? I even live in the Philly area.

 

Didn't have the Double D IIPA, I thought the Millenium was decent, other options are dismal though.

 

Doesn't mean they couldn't improve. I wasn't saying they were bad before. I adore Prima Pils and Storm King, but I still believe they have improved.

 

Nobody has fallen from view quite like Founders for me. A few overpriced seasonals aside, I'm terribly bored with their roster. Their backstage series is a series of shit

 

Improving: Sixpoint. They are crafting some excellent beer with a complicated layering of flavors that makes drinking them (and selling them) a blast.

Decline: Dogfish Head is not innovating beers, it is flavoring them, which is a step in the wrong direction in my opinion. They are still producing great beers in the minute series, but it was their peak, it seems.

 

I think at this point in time, you aren't considered a bigtime brewer on the rise in these beer advocate circles unless you recently pumped out some decent aged sours, a top rated citrusy session IPA or Double IPA or have been making some obscure styles like Berlinner Weisse or Gose. If you have released new beers of all the other styles you're just not really a "rising star". Its ashame.