These guys are underrated. Both Raincloud and LFU are great beers. The IPA and DIPA are average and Barstool is solid with meals. Raincloud could be their best beer and aged on oak sounds even better. Also references 5 new beers http://store.foolproofbrewing.com/product/foolproof-barrel-reserve-night-dec-13
They are underrated because they have 2 above average beers, 1 that "sounds" good and another that is "solid" adding the qualifier "with food"? None of what they brought to Beervana was anything more than okay. They have over a 4 rating as a brewery with not a single beer with that same rating. I'd say they are overrated.
Overrated for a Rhode Island brewery.... and that tells you something since our breweries here are not good. I have not been impressed by anything that they have done as yet. Heck, I don't even bother to try most of the stuff any more and when I was at Beervana last week, they had the worst beer I had all night (the Joketoberfest or whatever it was called). They may get better but they are far from good now and definitely overrated.
I wonder if the rating of the brewery is influenced by the events they host? Always seems they have something going on. Their beer? To me, Raincloud is acceptable and everything else is less than middle of the road. I remember strongly disliking their IPA. Not spoiled/infected, it just wasn't, well, good - massively over-hopped to the point where the flavors were conflicting, unpleasantly bitter. Next you know they have a DIPA... I could be wrong, though. I've tasted their products multiple times in a few places and they don't seem to change (better or worse), so maybe my taste buds represent the minority. I don't bother with them anymore. They seem intent on "doing more" before they have mastered the straightforward, in my opinion.
Agree with the above, I thought backyahd was just a bitter flavor. Nothing more than straight bitter. The Golden Ale was ok. Haven't tried anything else.
I would say they are fairly rated. Not something to seek out, but I will drink their beers without complaint. I actually thought Barstool was a pretty good beach beer.
I remember having Barstool at a bar when I was in the mood for a session brew, and it kinda did the trick for me at the time, so while it's nothing exciting, it's fine for its purpose. Their DIPA "King of the Yahd" was the single worst thing I tasted at ACBF this year. The porter is OK but there is better porter, from New England, easily found on shelves. The saison is the best I've had from them - but I'm not going to buy it again over other easily-found, better saisons like Hennepin, Dupont, etc.
Their packaging is clean and good looking and that catches your eye at the store. That said, the beer inside is mostly middle of the road for me. I like Raincloud. Not on par with Mayflower's porter but still a good beer. LFU tasted fine but it was too rich & heavy feeling for my liking in saisons. Backyahd doesn't fall in my sweet spot for IPA flavors. A lot of bitterness in there, as someone mentioned above, without enough other things going on to balance it out. King of the Yahd was okay. Missed out on Revery last time around but I'd like to try it.
