What makes a brewery great?

You were right. Victory is a great brewery, even if they aren't the new sexy brewer on campus.

Alchemist as a brewery isn't great no matter how you cut it. Brewing one phenomenal beer does not constitute a great brewery.

 

I definitely have a different opinion regarding diversity - I am all for breweries who focus on what they do well. I have a lot of respect for breweries who don't even bother with the IPA's and pale ales, and go straight to a full-stop barrel system, or focus on farmhouse ales, or whatever it is.

That being said, depends if I'm considering a brewery i buy bottles from or one I visit the tasting room of. My local watering hole is a brewery that has constantly rotating small batches that are always different - the same recipes will cycle through but the hops or whatever changes - and that's exactly what I like about the place I frequent regularly

 

Porter and Centennial are fantastic beers. You need to revisit them if you don't think so.

 

I consider a great brewery to be one in which the majority of their brews are truly great. Victory is a great brewer. So is The Bruery (cutting down greatness for price is silly). So is Allagash. You're fooling yourself if you think Russian River isn't a great brewery; making a lot of wilds does not mean they aren't diverse, since wilds is a bit of a catch all category.

Also, diversity means nothing, really. If you kick ass at something and suck at something else, why would you do the thing you suck at for diversity's sake? This is just like that guy that thought Three Floyds wasn't great (they are) for doing a majority of IPAs, IIPAs and pale ales.

Also, for The Alchemist, people from VT can tell you that before the pub was shut down and they brewed more than just Heady they also brewed a bunch of other beers that were equally as good (some would say better). Look at the beers they just canned recently: Petit Mutant 4.08, Focal Banger 4.46, Beelzebub 4.19, and The Crusher 4.58. The brewery's current beers altogether garner a 4.34 rAvg. The reason they (mostly) brew Heady only is to appease the customer, thus having great customer service and being well in tune with what the customer wants. The prices are reasonable. If that's not a great brewery, I don't know what is.

There are so many great breweries out there. Is Victory the best? Probably not (I'd say Hill Farmstead, The Bruery, New Glarus, Cigar City, or Great Lakes, personally). Is there ever going to be a consensus best? I'd say HF is the closest we've gotten so far given their ridiculous 4.35 rAvg (only .01 above The Alchemist?!), but no, I don't believe consensus best will ever happen. Try not to take opinions so seriously, OP.

 

A great brewer is one that stays in business

 

I'm sorry, sir, but Magic Hat is not a great brewer.

 

Just your opinion negated by the multitude of buyers

 

Their regular lineup is better or equal to most in almost every category while featuring a huge distribution footprint. It's pretty hard to come by. In terms of widely distributed beers better:

Scotch ale? Old Chub is equal to Dirty Bastard. Not every brewery ventures into this category.
Centennial? Two hearted, Hop Devil, Titan, etc. malt based IPAs that are drinkable balanced IPAs
Porter? Edmund Fitz and that's it. It's a top 5 porter for me.
All Day? $16 for 15 beers is very hard to beat in the session IPA category. Especially for that beer which is awesome.
Pale is a bit lacking in flavor, but I wouldn't put it too far below Dales. It might be their most lacking year round, which in all honesty isn't too bad.

You have 5 very solid year offerings followed by some of the most solid seasonals (Imperial Stout, Reds Rye, Breakfast Stout, Double Trouble) Then their specialty stuff...Backwoods, Devil Dancer, Harvest is incredible. They're a VERY well rounded brewery and if you don't think so...convince me otherwise cause I can't find many more balanced. Oh yeah, they have KBS and their backstage series too.

Please find me a better brewery.

 

Quality (in ingredients and finished product) and consistency are the hallmarks of a great brewery.

 

There's more to it than that, a great brewery as opposed to an excellent or even outstanding one will have stood the test of time. It's a matter of respect and stature.Just as everybody who has been on TV is called a "celebrity" or "star" the word "great" is used so often that it debases the currency.
See the love and respect in BA for Weihenstephaner for example.Surely a "great" but I haven't seen it mentioned yet.
Many great breweries have a very restricted beer range.
I'm going to attract a level of abuse from many but Guinness must be on the list.Not for the quality of the product though FES isn't too shabby but simply because of its position in world brewing. Ask anybody in the street in the developed world to name a great brewery and Guinness will perhaps be the most mentioned.
Lots of the breweries mentioned in the thread are outstanding. Time will tell if they join the rank of greats though I'm sure that plenty will.

 

eddy fitz is great lakes but i agree with the sentiment here. founders is without a doubt a top brewer in this country. they hit tons of styles with great results. dont forget the imperial stout which is divine.

 

1) make beer that is impossible to obtain.

 

I'm a great brewer then because I guarantee none of you have had my homebrews

 

I was listing beers that are as available and good as the Founders' offering. How could I forget the Imperial Stout. D'oh.

 

srry my bad! cheers

 

I like breweries that brew traditional styles and also aren't afraid to brew low ABV beers. I'm not talking about the new IPA session trend. Give me a brewery that will brew a brown ale or an ESB and I'll probably be a fan.