Bias for US Beer?

The best Boston Lager I have ever had was directly from their Jamaica Plain brewery. It was a truly incredible beer. Fresh, this beer is world class. I always check the date on a Boston Lager. After a few months? The hops start to fade, and it becomes an overly sweet, caramel mess that's a shadow of it's former self. It's a hoppier beer than today's beer geeks realize.

Freshness is so key with beer. Certainly there's multiple reasons why the IPA is so popular, but the quest for the freshest IPA possible in the US is most definitely one of them. Freshness is ideal for most styles, not just IPAs. And more BAs would appreciate more styles if they sought out fresh beer.

But, who the fuck tries to "enjoy by" a Troegs Sunshine Pils within six weeks of bottling?

 

Man those sound good, especially would love to try them on cask handled properly.

 

Yeah mate - I very rarely buy any British beer over here. In terms of both selection and condition, it's rarely worth it

 

“Of course, it helps that a lot of Belgian styles hold up to time quite well, making the overseas trip less of a deteriorating factor.” That is a very important statement there!

I also prefer Belgian style beers brewed in Belgium vs. US craft brewed packaged beer. A critical aspect is that Belgian ales really hold up well during the import of those beers. I should also point out that I am fortunate that a number of local brewpubs make very high quality Belgian style beers that I find to be the equivalent of the imported versions. Brewpubs like Tired Hands, Forest & Main and several others.

When it comes to other European styles of beer (e.g., beers from the UK, beers from Germany, beers from the Czech & Slovak Republics, etc.), these beers tend to be delicate styles of beer and they can indeed suffer from age and/or abuse in transport. If I am lucky to find these types of beers fresh (less than 6 months old and ideally less than 3 months) I buy them. I can obtain very fresh British style beers locally (e.g., Yards Brewing) and very fresh German & Czech style beers locally (e.g., Stoudts, Sly Fox, Victory, Troegs, Penn Brewing, Iron Hill, Triumph, Neshaminy Creek, etc.). There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that when it comes to British, German, and Czech styles that local and fresh is a very important thing; I am fortunate that I can obtain these beer styles locally & fresh.

Cheers!

 

Absolutely.

I've made a similar point about Chicago style pizza. Having one at a top pizzeria in Chicago itself is best. Having a frozen one overnighted to my house in AZ is nowhere near as good. The sad thing is that some of the local attempts at a Chicago style pizza are so mediocre that even the frozen, overnighted one from Chicago is better. And even more sad than that is how so many rave about how good the local one is (that I mentioned above). The explanations for that aren't very flattering.

I see similar cases with the current beer discussion.

 

And just maybe, if you ever get the chance to truly experience the German and Czech originals locally and fresh, you will see what you have been missing....

 

“But, who the fuck tries to "enjoy by" a Troegs Sunshine Pils within six weeks of bottling?” Me, but I live only 1+ hour from the brewery. I have purchased numerous 6-packs of Sunshine Pils (one of my favorite German style Pilsners along with Stoudts Pils, Sly Fox Pikeland Pils, Neshaminy Creek Trauger Pils, etc.) and every purchase of Sunshine Pils was less than 4 weeks from bottling. I can get all of the locally brewed German style Pilsners very fresh.

Local and fresh is the way to go!

Cheers!

 

Local and fresh Pennsylvania brewed German & Czech style beers: Good!

German and Czech beers consumed in Germany & Czech Republic: Good!

Local and fresh is the way to go! It’s all GOOD!

Cheers!

 

Then again...maybe you'd never admit that you'd been missing a whole "new" world of beer.

 

Winking back acha!

 

Of course there is a bias. Americans don't really do "subtle," so many British and German-style ales and lagers are unappreciated here. It's probably also the reason that barrel-aged and highly hopped beers do so well - lots of in-your-face flavor. Whereas the simplicity of a far more perfectly crafted ale like a Westmalle Tripel or Saison Dupont goes largely unheralded. I'm also not sure your average craft consumer in the U.S. even has an appreciation for what makes beers like that special.

In other words, American brewers are brewing to American tastes, and Americans dominate this site, so American beers are ranked more highly.

 

Another way to drink local and fresh is homebrewing.

In my cellar right now I have:

· Bitter Ale (solely hopped with East Kent Golding hops, 100% Maris Otter malt and used West Yorkshire Ale yeast strain)

· Czech Pilsner (Moravian Pilsner Malt, Czech Saaz hops and Bohemian Lager yeast strain)

· Kolsch (Weyermann Pilsner Malt and Kolsch yeast strain)

· Grodziskie (100% Weyermann Smoked Wheat Malt)

· Tmavý Ležák (Czech Dark Lager)

· Classic American Pilsner (beer like they made in the US before Prohibition)

· Dubble

· Traditional Saison

· Hoppy Saison

· Wit (Belgian Pilsner Malt and Raw Wheat)

· Oatmeal Stout

· Cranberry Belgian Pale Ale

· IPA (Mosaic Hops)

· Quad

· Bourbon Barrel Porter

And I have a Saison using Dupont yeast fermenting right now.

Fresh and local is the way to go! It all GOOD!

Cheers!

 

Well, at least you now seem to trust me on the importance of using Weyermann malt.... (wink!)

 

Also, you do realize that the malt (and hops) you are using for these beers is potentially far less fresh than that being used by the local brewers in Germany and the Czech Republic (esp. those with their own maltings), right?

 

And maybe my ingredients are fresher depending on how breweries purchase their ingredients (e.g., bales of hops), how they store them and whether they stockpile ingredients to optimize prices for bulk purchases.

The beauty of homebrewing is that I don't have some accountant telling me how to make my beer.

Maybe @felsenpils has some good insight here.

Cheers!

 

So you currently purchase your malt and hops blindly?

Since I brew on a 1 BBL system, I purchase Weyermann malt by the 55# bag. Those bags are now freshness dated, typically with an 18-month timeframe. In my experience comparing the dates on the unopened bags (which protect freshness) vs. the stuff that gets put into bins (and broken up into smaller amounts), the latter tends to be less fresh (especially considering the fact that it is more exposed to the air and elements).

 

I homebrew with my eyes WIDE open. <- see the eyes WIDE open?

It's all GOOD!

 

I take issue thinking either of these beers are not in your face with flavor. They are both incredibly flavorful and complex, that's why we love them. In fact that is what I like about both of them. And I don't think there is another European, let alone American, brewer that makes those styles as well, so there is also that.

I also take issue with thinking Americans don't appreciate beers like that, in fact it is possible we enjoy and appreciate them more than where they are produced. Hell, Jean Van Roy (Cantillon) was on this very forum to say that Americans buying his beers was the key to his present success.The problem is American brewers haven't succeeded in brewing equivalent quality in many European styles.

Haven't had a great tripel that can stand up to Belgian, but have had the privilege of tasting saisons from Hill Farmstead and other American brewers doing them well. I can safely say I have had some American versions that are world class by anyone's standards

 

wow you must have a big house. the most I can keg is 3 at a time, sigh,.I could bottle I guess...

 

You my friend are a true connoisseur.