"Craft" vs. "Traditional" Beer

For me, it's simple. I never developed a taste for European beers. But I do like American ales.

 

I am a beer drinker. Given from BSDA to Malt Liquor. I am willing to try all styles. I still drink AAL when the time and money is appropriate. As far as traditional goes, Anthem is probably one of the best Cream Ales I've had.

Edit: I enjoy German Lagers more than American Ales...wait.. Yeah.

 

Primarily craft vote here, since I don't see it as a 50/50 split with 'traditional'. I am not a drinker of many macro beers (unless I 'have to'), but certainly enjoy traditional offerings relatively frequently (Pilsners, ESBs, Kolsch, Belgian ales, etc).

 

I like both very much for different reasons. I don't purchase any Macro AALs but do enjoy other AALs now and again as well.

 

I'm probably at least as much a fan of what you've termed "traditional" beers as anything "craft", if not moreso. Your "craft" category as described includes primarily beers where hops are the primary flavor, and I'm a malthead. I think some of the best beer on the planet is a good German hefeweizen or doppelbock and/or a good Belgian dubbel, and the only thing I've derived from drinking any IPA is what I imagine drinking strong, concentrated perfume might taste like. SNPA is undrinkably hoppy to me, and the SN Vienna was practically a hop bomb to me as well.

Conversely, I love a good Imperial stout at 70+ IBU, as long as the hop flavors are in the background rather than the forefront, so I have a weird palate. Overall bitterness is fine, I just don't want to taste a floral/pine/citrus/earth/grass/etc. explosion, when I could be tasting caramel, toast, toffee, chocolate, coffee, dark fruit, and such instead.

 

The traditional beers I drink are craft beers.They are brewed with passion and skill,mainly in tiny breweries.

 

Love craft beers and imports, but when I'm watching the Bills game with my buddy, or at the shithole bar on Friday's with co-workers...it's Bud Lite time

 

If it's beer I like it. I drink on occasion everything from malt liquor to the finest DIPA's. To me they all have a time and place.

 

I'm with Mr. Doom on this one. I drink the gamut. I am lucky enough that I can afford pretty much any beer and typically buy American craft, often buying something new or seasonal. Part of that is because I drank through many of the European stalwarts from the mid-90's until the U.S. craft brew revolution, circa 2004. That doesn't stop me from picking up singles of Schlenkerla, Rochefort, Chimay, Saison duPont, samuel smith and the like. In fact, i probably drink more European craft now than the classics. Drink what you want, when you want. My preferred AAL is High Life. must be the gold cans with the pretty lady on the side.

 

I very much enjoy drinking traditional beers and I homebrew a lot of them. I have an Altbier in the fermenter right now plus bottles of Bohemian Pilsner, Czech Dark Lager, English Bitter Ale, Belgian Wit, Belgian Dubbel, and on and on... Having stated that I drink much more American craft beer (both homebrewed and commercial). American craft beer is YUM!

Cheers!

 

I love both traditional and craft beer. I would swing slightly more towards traditional beer though in that if I want a traditional European style and recipe, European brewers hit the nail on the head. More times than not I've found American brewers (not all) miss the mark on traditional European styles they try to make true to form and don't put some sort of twist on.

The only bad thing about this is I absolutely love classic German and English styles and often times imports are out of date on the shelf.

 

Oh great, another thread about how dunkels are underrated, and DIPAs are overrated.

 

Nothing the least bit weird about your "palate".
This is exactly how I feel as well, although I prefer to satisfy my "taste buds" when eating or drinking.

 

I like them both equally. In my fridge I have an Avery Black Eye and a Sculpin right beside a Mahr's U and a London Pride.

 

I'd say it's more that dunkels are underproduced while DIPAs are overproduced .

 

I love good beer. I would rather drink mainly British style, being as how that's where I am from, but there is so very very much awesomely good beer in the US that I probably drink 60/40 US/UK. Also, beer budget is really small just now

 

I not sure what the OP meant to ask, but "traditional" is not distinct from "craft".

In fact, the Brewers Association defines all craft brewers as "traditional".

An American craft brewer is:
Small
Independent
Traditional

My favorite craft beers are those that tend toward the most traditional, rather than the new, hyper-hopped, trendy.

Since the question also includes "macro" as separate from "traditional", so the OP is apparently not using "traditional" to mean AAL, I really don't know what is being asked.

 

I'd like to see a follow up poll where you ask almost the same questions, but replace "I am primarily a craft/traditional/both beer fan" [paraphrasing] with "I primarily purchase craft/traditional/equally beer".

I might be projecting my personal buying habits onto the rest of the Beer Advocate community, but I suspect most members of this website tend to primarily purchase "craft" beer in pursuit of the latest flavor combo, hop varietal, etc., but still appreciate and call themselves fans of traditional beers. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but it would be an interesting comparison [to me at least]. What people feel and say about themselves can be quite different from how they act and spend their money.

EDIT: any poll like that would only be a reflection of opinions of our niche community. If it was possible to open up this poll to people beyond just BA, I think the responses would change siginificantly. Lots of people in the world drink craft and traditional beers without feeling compelled to talk and write about the in forums such as this. We are a niche within a niche.

 

It's more of an original discussion than "X is better than Y" and most of the oft-repeated topics on here. But way to add value.