Great Notion

Again, I just don't find the situation to be that serious and a lot of people who knock them come off as elitists or purists who are above the beers they brew. I've had all the big boy beers from all the big boy breweries in this country, including the PNW and in my opinion they're already up there which I believe is quite an accomplishment given how long they've been around.

 

Why do you care that he or anyone else cares?

 

I won't pretend to speak for everyone but I'll lay out my thoughts. Let me start by saying I do not in any way hate them. I think they make pretty good to very good beer and are well deserving to be on the 1st or 2nd tier on great Oregon breweries.

HOWEVER

They seem to be a magnet for some of the worst trends in modern beer culture that Portland had for the most part avoided. The hype, the trendyness, the lines, the "_____" days, the cost, etc.

Why do you care that people might care? Why shouldn't people care?

 

That game huh, alright, I've said enough.

 

Sounds like someone needs to put the Grape Lotion on its skin. Or in its belly, either way really.

 

I'm asuming you haven't read the thread. The short answer is basically replies # 4 & 7. They came out of the box making the trendy, hip style. Their public face has a certain quality that puts some of us off, even from 300 miles away. Now, add in comments like the one in post #550 "wanted to commend the people at Great Notion for bringing fantastic beer to the masses in PDX", and you wonder why, with their fanboys having that fucking attitude, some of us might see that as a mark against the brewery. If that's the demographic Grape Lotion is cultivating, it becomes a brewery I'm not interested in.

Semi-related, go read the "Founders" thread. You might see some similarities.

 

I think some if their beers are quite good. I think some of them are not. Is that elitist?

I'm glad you think they're great and that they're brewing in the same tier as the breweries you consider the "big boys." I'll bet you and I have very different ideas of who the "big boys" are. Is THAT elitist?

Sounds like we just like different things. It would suck if everybody liked the same things the same way.

 

I guess this famous quote should apply "Eat Crow"!!!!!!

In my humble opinion, Great Notion is the BEST brewery in the Pacific Northwest and possibly the West Coast. Again, one persons opinion.

 

Brewery just one year old. Limited portfolio. Big on-line hype. You've clearly underestimated them. They are the most tremendous, highest quality brewery on the planet. I bow in their presence.

 

For a year old brewery they have put out a lot of awesome beer, and not just IPAs. They definitely deserve to be ranked as one of Portland's best breweries.

 

Forget their IPAs, Double Stack is awesome!

 

So weird that people from across the country feel the need to come to this forum and dictate to us how we should feel about our scene. And they have the nerve to question why WE care?

 

Jesus christ you all are a curmudgeonly lot. I was simply trying to commend a brewery that I thought put out some good beer. If you don't like their beer or don't approve of their business style/practices then don't support them. I don't care what you drink, but I do value some of what people on this site say when I visit new cities. Reacting this way to someone who is trying to give some praise to the Portland beer scene seems like a shit thing to do and may make people not want to visit your wonderful city (but maybe that's what you want?). I'll get off your lawn and refrain from commenting on your town anymore. Heaven forbid I don't kiss the ring of the correct brewery in the right manner to which you are accustomed.

Lighten up guys, it's just beer.

 

I don't think most of the replies stemmed from your comment, I think most of them were in response to some other posts after yours who asked for some extra discussion.

 

I find it amusing you think we need to bow down and kiss your ring when you weigh in with your opinion. We live here and probably know the scene better than you do after your visit.

 

Don't worry about it. Most of the get off my lawn bunch here aren't even from Portland.

 

And the champions of Great Notion cry at every imagined slight of the brewery, no matter how minor or even nonexistent.

 

Unlike the poster who followed you, who asked why Great Notion had some detractors and then got upset at the answer and decided to lecture, I thought your post was cordial and, frankly, am as confused as you are about why you triggered that reaction.

If I visited Minnesota I'd definitely want to visit Surly (which is probably what every beer tourist in Minnesota does) and I might very well drop by your regional forum and let you know if I enjoyed myself. I wouldn't be subtly implying every other Minnie brewery is hot garbage or that you had no other beer scene. I would be a little confused if you cut my head off for complimenting your city.

Fwiw, I like Great Notion. Not all their beers blow me away, but aside from that appetizer that was basically cheese scrapings off a pan, I haven't hated anything - and they've since taken that off the menu. There are definitely a few breweries in Portland that deserve to inspire scorn, but in my opinion Great Notion is not one of them.

One thing I noticed from this flurry of posts is that the most vocal detractors of Great Notion are from Washington. Not sure what that means, but it's there. I've also noticed that way fewer Oregonians are actively posting so perhaps that's it.

 

The next Visiting Portland thread is just going to list Great Notion 50 times in a row. That way, the get-off-my-lawners can have the rest of the PDX breweries to themselves, I guess.