Most Underrated Beer Style

I just took a look to be sure, but goddamn, the absolute king of beer styles is not represented: Pilsner! Most influential style, period, and incredible when done well.

 

Pilsner. I love pilsners and I wish they were every breweries flagship.

 

Brown Ale

My pet theory is the that they're underappreciated because the name is semantically bland, so the style doesn't create much excitement.

 

I just thumbed through the 250 list and I would certainly would have expected brown ales to be there. I think Indian Brown is good but Palo Santo is amazing and feels like a big beer.

My contribution to this thread is smoked beers/rauchbiers. I feel that they should get more love since smoke adds a nice layer of flavor to anything. Off the top of my head, I enjoyed Surly Smoke, Surly Nein, Dark Horse Fore Smoked, and wait for it....Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale (yeah I said it!)

 

Schwarzbier is my favorite of the bunch but not a lot of breweries are making them. It's much easier to find good to great pilsners out there and they just seem to get overlooked. Count me down for pilsners too.

 

Love the smoked beer Grodziskie from Live Oak, Pigs in a Blanket from BBC, Scruffy's Smoked Alt (Altbier) from Cedar Creek. For Brown Ales, Abita Maple Pecan Nut Brown from their Bourbon Street series, 7 Spanish Angels from Brazos Valley Brewing (Brown Ale with coffee) and Smoke Shack from Tin Roof in LA for the win by combining smoke beer and Brown Ale

 

I think brown ales are the equivalent of comfort food, so I'm on a quest now. Nutty and rich is what I'm after. (Wait...did I just say that).

 

After taking a look at the list, I have a couple. I would have to agree with the Pilsener votes, although I would expand upon that. Really I would say several versions of lager are not well represented and are all underrated. American Amber/Red Lager, American Pale Lager, Vienna Lager, Pilsener. All of these are great and are seriously underrepresented. I had Eliot Ness recently on a business trip and I have to say it was a revelation to me. I know some will say it is only a lager, but it was so expertly crafted that I was in awe.

So I suppose count me in on the lager front, for several versions of them.

To throw in another though that is outside of this grouping of similar styles, I would have to go with Gose. I even used to think it sounded horrible and was just odd. But once I tried a few, I realized that with the right care and touch, it could turn out really good. It is a style that somehow just works.

 

I had a SN Nooner awhile back and liked it. Then, very recently I had the Urquell for the first time. There was a level of anger rising in me as I asked myself why these look (pretty) similar to the BMC I'd spent 30 years drinking. I mean wtf, couldn't a company like AB start moving people in a more flavorful direction over the years and make money? Anyway, I'm on the lookout now. Miller Lite is NOT a fine pilsner.

 

Berliner Weisse
Hefeweizen

 

Dutch Oud Bruin.

 

The Saison, Biere de Garde, and Grizette all remain as underappreciated as anything. No matter how much recognition they've gotten, it's still not enough. The three styles are so versatile that you could utilize one single recipe and tweak only fermentation temperatures to create almost fifty different flavor, body, and aroma profiles.

 

Pumpkin Ales

 

Mild

 

Any German or English styles not represented in the top 250 are underappreciated. Add to that rauchbiers, smoked beers, and many "lost" styles like lichtenhainer, Kentucky Common, etc. and there are a lot of styles that really don't get the recognition they deserve. A well-crafted beer in any of these styles is something to be treasured, savored, and appreciated just as much as any IIPA, imperial stout, lambic, wild, etc.

 

Agree here. Some of them are pretty damn good.

 

I'd say brown ales and pilsners. Most of the love in the craft beer world seems to be hop heavy oriented, not that there's anything wrong with them.

 

Bitter