Best Triple-Threat Breweries

I too will give Firestone Walker the nod.

Stout: Parabola
Wild: Brette Rose
Hoppy: Union Jack

 

Not the biggest name brewery, but 2nd Shift in Missouri does pretty well in all three areas.

Stout - LSD and it's variants
Wild - Katy, Grace, Chaotic Insecure Delusions
Hoppy - Art of Neurosis and Brew Cocky

 

Alpine

Hoppy: choose Duet, Pure Hoppiness, Nelson, Keans idea , Badboy

Wild Ale choose: Kiwi Herman, Chez monus

Stout: Odin's Raven both regular and BA

 

I'm of the opinion that this is slightly short-sighted, but I'll play along.

New Glarus
Hoppy: Scream
Wild: VSB
Stout: Coffee Stout (or hopefully the upcoming Milk Stout)

Off Color
Hoppy: Tooth and Claw
Wild: Whiskers
Stout: Dino Smores

18th Street
Hoppy: Deal With the Devil
Wild: Sour Note Flanders Red
Stout: Bitches' Bank

 

Deschutes Abyss, Fresh Squeezed,Mirror Mirror,Green Monster

 

I'll vouch for a villain: Goose Island.
Stout: BCBS and variants DUH
Wild: Lolita as a recurring choice, plus Gillian, Juliet, Madame Rose, and Halia as great has-beens
Hoppy stuff: call me crazy, I like their 312 Urban Pale and Green Line. These are admittedly not world-class, but they are solid and readily available, at least locally.

 

Cigar city:
Jai Alai (IPA)
hunapu (stout)
Guava Grove (sour wild)

 

You're not alone.

 

The three pillars of hype is more like it.

Come on man, if you're going to have three pillars of something to represent skill and cross of that many styles, that's ridiculous. If they can't make a good pilsner, helles, or tripel they're no threat.

I'd say Wild, American, and Traditional should be the pillars that can showcase a true breweries talent. And then I'd say Block 15.

 

Too true!

Lagers is definitely a pillar if we're going to play this game. I'm not so sure about 'wilds ', but I'll throw out Victory anyway.

 

I'll take it one step further: stouts, wilds, and hoppy stuff often showcase a brewery's lack of true skill.

For that homebrewer who's gone pro without any formal training, the easiest thing to do is dump in a load of roast, Brett, or hops.

You want skill?
Get body and flavor into a Dark Mild that's only 3.6%.
Or make a Helles, where the technical flaws have no place to hide.

The best American breweries that don't rely on the "3 Pillars" - now that's a thread I want to read.

 

Rushing Duck

Ded Moroz Imperial Stout and variants
Beanhead Coffee Porter (drinks like a stout)
Bauli Saison w/Brett
War Elephant IIPA
Divided by Zero IPA

One could make the point that part of a professional brewer's skill is making beer the public drinks and buys, which OP nailed with his suggestions.

I imagine the brewer at the mythical brewery specializing in your styles above will be able soon after opening to proudly and honestly tell his friends about his skill in making flawless, hard to make styles, back before his brewery went bankrupt.

 

Great post Dave. The cool kids thing it is uncool to be great at making the popular styles as they think it is too easy to do. If it was so easy to do everyone would be able to make great ones, clearly that is not the case.

 

Cambridge Brewing Company -- oh wait, what?

 

I agree, but @cavedave does make a good point as well.

Yes, this is true. But the OP asked what are the” 3 main pillars of beer that can showcase a brewery's true skill” and then specifically mentions those that display “very different brewing processes”.

I partly agree with you, but I would argue “wilds, hoppy beers, and stouts”, which I read as the styles that are the highest rated here on Beeradvocate, are not beers the public routinely buys and enjoys. At first, the beer needs to be good…after that it’s a game of marketing. And the beer needs to be lower in alcohol as well, at the right price point.

This is the reason All Day IPA is Founders best seller. It’s because they were one of the first to brew and market a session IPA, and they packaged it in an affordable 15 pack format. I don’t think many will argue it’s their most flavorful, highest rated, or most difficult beer for them to brew.

There are breweries that specialize in styles that have a higher degree of difficulty. Olde Mecklenburg brews all German beers, not one wild, stout or *gasp* IPA. Heck, they don't even have one single hoppy beer, period. And there's more breweries out there like this.

Our local brewery, Notch, brews a session Czech pils at 4.0% that is their best selling. It's the next best selling beer at my local liquor store after Sam Adams. And according to the recent article from Goose Island, people DO want, and DO drink styles like pilsners.

"Pilsner has become a sudden battleground, with the largest year-over-year growth among the industry's top 20 styles as of early August. Craft Pilsner sales have been up 97 percent from a year ago, IRI said..."

I'd at least include a style such as pilsner in this "triple threat". You can find a multitude of quotations from different brewers stating this is one of the hardest styles to brew. I'm not saying to dismiss the popular styles like an IPA altogether, but I'd at least include a lager of some sort, and also some lower alcohol beers.

My list would be a pilsner (which pilsner can be up for debate), maybe a Dubbel, and I do like having something akin to a Gueuze in there (it adds variety, and is so different than other styles in terms of process).

And while I've never tried them, I've heard New Glarus would be the "catch-all" brewery that excels at all of these styles. @Domingo often mentions them in threads such as these.

 

Not a sour / wild fan but I'll throw Alewerks out there:

Stout / porter: Café Royale BA Stout (4.22 BA rating), Bourbon Barrel Porter (4.2 BA rating)

IPA / DIPA: Bitter Valentine (4.19 BA rating) and from what I'm hearing, Secret Admirer (4.3 BA rating) is right on par with Bitter

Wild - Lover's Greed (4.17 BA rating) seems to be very popular.

 

Producing great beer that nobody wants is indeed a path to bankruptcy. On the other hand, Cantillon had that exact issue in the 70s and 80s, and I don't think anyone is saying they are not skilled brewers. Picking your three personal favorite styles (or in this case two of the biggest selling styles and one that's become hip) and saying that those three styles somehow are the pillars that show a brewery's true skill is completely arbitrary. Brewers with skill make great beer...any style...period.

 

I reject your theory completely. I have just as much respect for a brewery that only does one thing and does it incredibly well.

 

Alchemist (Heady Topper, Luscious, Petit Mutant)