Why is craft beer so hard?

Could it be that the bar you were in just had some bad storage practices ? Was the local IPA you had in a bottle or on draft ? Just playing devil's advocate. Granted, I'm a lot closer to Sweetwater/Atlanta here in Charlotte than you are in Ohio, but I've never had any Sweetwater beers that were old/stale. Date checking is always a good practice, but unfortunately, not all breweries are forthcoming with that information.

 

Seems to be a problem for exclusive IPA drinkers, there are lots of great beer man.

 

nothing but love even for the not so good beers, at least they tried.....

 

Honestly, beer ratings I believe I very much hurting beers.

Too many people see a beer only has a 3.5 on here and so they don't even give it a chance.

 

3.5 is still an above average rating

 

It is a miracle if I find a beer that is so bad I cannot drink it. Even then, a beer I thought was "bad" is still beer, and I enjoy drinking beer, so I usually still enjoy it. I think the problem lies in people only wanting to drink the greatest beers on earth at all times.

 

Uhhhh, really?

Have a beer and relax.

 

Can't wait for April's Fools Day to be over....

 

I don't think it's that hard to understand. Not every brewery, or even close to the majority, is going to be stellar. Majority are probably mediocre, and some are just bad. Many should, and will, go out of business from a combination of poor product and/or poor business practices. The good part, in my opinion at least, is that it's actually pretty hard to make really bad beer. I've had a lot of mediocre beers from breweries I won't give money to again, but very few beers that were so bad I didn't want to finish them. And now you know where brand loyalty comes from.

 

So some beers are good and others are bad. Some bars properly store their beer and others don't.

 

I think currently, distribution and turnover are issues with the expanding number of local and regional craft breweries. But really that has nothing to do with the quality of the beer being produced. Not every beer is going to be world class no matter the size and experience of the brewer/y, and especially when experimenting with new ingredients and flavors (like making a beer that replicates a very non-beer food item).

And yes, market consolidation and competition on price will drive quality down, but we are certainly not even remotely close to that point with the number of new breweries opening each year. Luckily craft competes not on price but on uniqueness (most IBUzzz, all the barrels), customer engagement (locals, give the market what it wants), and quality (ratings are a good thing in this respect, but don't go overboard).

 

depends on style a bit. A 3.5 is a pretty low score for an IPA, but a solid one for a Lager... have to take the ratings with a grain of salt, but frankly a 3.5 IPA is probably something I am going to skip if there are other options.

 

It's really sad that we have become this spoiled as a beer society. There are craft breweries popping up all over the place and we have the opportunity to try so many new creations. Yet, we expect every beer to be Heady Topper or KBS. I, for one, enjoy the journey. I hang my hat on the local breweries that produce good product. When family and friends come to visit from out of town I take pride in taking them to my local pubs so they can sample local beer. I enjoy doing the same when I go other places. What will be the next Heady Topper or other #1 rated beer? Who knows? But, it has to come from somewhere. It can't be made if people aren't trying.

 

Well I guess I'm odd because I usually try to buy and drink the greatest beers on earth whenever possible and I certainly don't enjoy drinking bad tasting beer. Does anyone enjoy eating bad tasting food (with exception of perhaps eliminating severe hunger)?

 

Researching a beer is as simple as googling it and clicking on the BA link. The BA crowd is pretty good at getting reviews right in general. if it ain't over 90 -- skip it.

 

I think you might have read that there was over 4000 breweries in the USA until probation kicked in. That is what killed all those breweries. Those big breweries you talked about just were the ones who survived and were able to rebuild once prohibition was ended.

BTW when I graduated high school in 1976, I believe there were less than 60 breweries in the USA. Those were the days when you were able to taste, from a full pour too, all the beers made in the USA in one year, heck even in a month if you were very thirsty Now you'll have to drink at least 8 different beers per day to taste at least one beer from each brewery in the USA in a given year.

Cheers
Mike

 

Gotta love the guys that say they had to drain pour a really "bad" IPA or whatever but they'll drink a PBR like it's going out of style and love it.

 

I am guilty of that myself. I have only so much money to spend on beer. I have two craft IPA's in my hand but enough money for one. I go to BA and see ones a 89 and the others a 94. I pick the 94 and don't give it a second thought. Its a good and bad thing. I like the heads up, but it hurts the other beer/ brewery.

Nice post!

 

Hmm. I was actually just thinking about this after downing a Rabid Duck. It seems to me the reason craft beer is difficult is because craft beer is being judged on how good it tastes, smells, etc. ; things that people didn't used to judge beer in the past. Frankly, to a certain degree, craft beer has become like wine; you can't simply judge on how drunk it gets you, but rather on whether the ingredients used work well together, and whether the brewer did so skillfully. Additionally, you also have high quality beers widely available year round, which creates the expectation of everything you drink to be good. Thus, as a result, people might have higher expectations from even the local brewery that doesn't the experience of the more experience and more established brewers.