100 is the new 89

You can't compare than and now the beer world has exploded since 2002. Look at the top beers list you have to go down it to #19 to find one that was being brewed back.

 

Yes

At the high end? No.

Overall? Yes

Death

 

Not to worry, there's nothing new about that. It's been going on for all the years I've been a member of this site.

While beers can indeed change from year to year, I personally think many of the "not as good as last year" threads tell us more about how many people assume their memory for "last year's X" is 100% reliable. (Which it is not.)

 

I don't like to compare then and now. My tastes have evolved and I experience beer different now vs. then. So did the beer change or did I change. I just focus on today honestly since yesterdays beers are gone and it really does not matter least to me lol. What I get today is all that counts and if it stinks then I move on to the 1000s of others..

 

Why does it matter so much? If you like the new stuff better, drink the new stuff. If you like the old stuff better, drink the old stuff.

We are very spoiled with the number of great quality fresh beer available to us.

 

So European beer makers had a huge head start on the US craft beer makers and by my personal "best guess" England, German and Belgium brewers were still far superior to most of the average beers been produced here in the US up until about 2-3 years ago. In the last 2-3 years, I think the bar for beer making in the US with the gained experience plus explosion in breweries beer making in both traditional styles and new hybrids has passed most of our European counterparts. At least at the higher end of the spectrum (i.e. the top tier of beers). Perhaps the average beer quality may still be an edge to our European beermakers. By average, I mean grabbing a completely random selection of beer and how good the quality of that beer is. US is getting much closer to that bar, but not sure if we've passed it yet.

 

The sheer energy in the US is really special but it's not a race. I don't mean that lightly. This is very eye of the beholder. In the last few days, I had an Aventinus and a Saison Dupont Cuvee Dry Hopping... and in my eyes nothing I've ever had here can touch those... but I don't think US brewers generally care to try. Also, measuring the success you're talking about in a "2-3 year" time frame is barely a drop in the bucket. Give it time.

 

There are a ton of good beers out there

This is one of the best stouts I've ever had. Never heard any hype about it whatsoever, people outside of a 60 mile radius in SE Ohio have probably never even heard of its existence to begin with.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1432/108119/

 

I imagine that brewers around the world have broadly equivalent skills.But different countries started from different places. The UK for example has a long unbroken history of small independent brewers,an infrastructure which involved nearly universal capacity to serve cask and an existing market for good beer.This was not the case in the US therefore brewers were able to start the evolution process over again.
Personally,though I welcomed and embraced the changes we have experienced here,after 30 or 40 years of "craft" ( it wasn't called that at the beginning) I've still not found anything I enjoy more than the beers I grew up with.

 

ISO: Monkish\Trill\OH\Omnipolo colab Fukushima RadioactiveTriple Barrel Aged IPA

 

The beer scene is definitely different. We went through the ABV and IBU wars, the rise of "extreme" beer, the coastal IPA debates, rampant homerism, and even the "Westy isn't actually good" phases.
Now it feels like we're in the midst of the hazy and pastry battles. Yet I do think the overall quality of beer is up. Remember when the idea of a good beer in South Carolina, Oklahoma, or Iowa was laughable? Now they're responsible for some of the most respected beers in the country...and for very different reasons. I can buy Chimay off the shelf at an Alabama Winn Dixie and Two Hearted in Mississippi. Chilis and TGI Fridays typically have at least one "good" beer on tap. There's a brewery operating on Disney property. I bet half the people you encounter in a random city will know what an IPA is. Those are good things, right? For all of the talk of overrated beers and new money noobs ruining things, good beer is more mainstream than ever...and I think that's worth some of the BS surrounding it. I love to grumble and complain as much as the next old beer geek, but there are a lot of things to be happy about, too.

 

There is definitely very little to complain about. Unless you're on a beer message board, that is.

 

I miss my days of tuborg gold and lowenbrau dark? NOT. ( apx. 1980) Cheers to those who A, know what they are and B, ever drank some.

 

Very true. From my life in beer, I have never worried one second about the quality of any one product from batch to batch. If I don't like it I won't re-buy it. It's funny, but the world is so full of great beers- and has been. This seems to support my theory and usual supposition that the beer world is becoming more like the wine world, circa 1997. I still love Rhone wines and seemingly simple German beer. Reliability is an amazing part of complete enjoyment and understanding.

 

Interesting comparison.

 

Tuborg was / is (?) available in the US?

 

I'm not sure what you mean by that.

 

Things just got really snobby. People seeking jewels.

 

But followed by the availability of a great deal more quality wine at very reasonable prices.

Curiously, have you ever read The Billionaire's Vinegar?