Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

Opinions are funny like that though, huh?

 

Aged Achel Extra is ethereal.

 

Why not both?

 

Tastes like real ether?

 

More like a malt like wine still with a touch of spritz, nutty, bread-like, and smelling like the most perfect fermented thing ever!!

 

Don’t go crazy trying to figure out why... It’s certainly not the most popular beer style in the world.

 

That's because it's not the most popular beer style in the world. Adjunct lager is.

Aw c'mon, stop barking at him. Why don't you leave him alone?

I'm wondering where your anger towards him stems from. We should get at the root of this problem. Maybe you should branch out more and try more beers that taste like trees?

I pine for the days when we were all more civil with each other on these forums. That being said, it was nice to have this controversial beer thread to spruce things up a bit. I just feel bad for the poor sap that decides to join this conversation now, and has 34 pages of material to catch up on.

Hopefully after all of this controversy we all decide to kick back, have a beer or two together, and stick around.

I'd continue, but I'm stumped at the moment.

 

Lizard of Koz was a great beer.

 

I really liked it a lot. If it weren't so expensive, I'da consumed a helluva lot more of it.

 

All the highly rated imperial stouts (e.g. 7 of the top 10) are a mess of over-roasted malt/barley, too-high sweetness and far-too-high ABV. They lack any semblence of finesse, balance and character. To give them any distinguishing personality, you have to hit them with a flavor hammer, e.g. coffee, vanilla, bourbon.

By analogy, these beers are, at best, like Starbucks coffee -- strong, dark, and delivers a punch. This is not a compliment.

Perhaps with time brewers will find a more enlightened approach as in third wave coffee. I'm not going to hold my breath (Starbucks isn't exactly struggling last time I checked).

 

Really good raspberry vinegar is easy-drinking. ; )

 

All beer geeks should learn to home brew beer. Not saying take it up as a hobby, but learn the process. I think it's something all serious beer geeks should do.

Do some brew days with friends who will be glad to teach you the process in return for the help. Attend classes at local homebrew stores or clubs. Nowadays it is easy to find a way.

Reading won't do it. Brewing is not only a process and knowledge, it is a visceral experience that gives a better understanding when you are part of the process and get to experience every step. It gives an expanded ability to relate to and enjoy the beer we drink that cannot be gotten other ways.

Maybe that isn't as controversial as I thought when I started the post?

 

Agree, it does make me stupid.

I think the key point is collect vs drink as well as a few nuances such as recipe variation, infections, barrel variation and more that really don't live up to the true notion of a vertical which is trying to compare how a beer develops over time.

 

Nope, more so buying multiples and trying them every 6 months. There's often so much variation in the brewing of many of these beers that vert just never really showcases how a beer develops. You are often comparing different versions with the same label. Also, nothing quite ruins a solid vert like an infection.

 

Definitely not end to end cold storage, I see flats out on warm floors all the time. Also a 9 month BB date is hardly fresh so even the canned stuff I've had has not lived up at all. Kegs are usually cold stored end to end though, so they tend to do better.

 

Well played.

 

Not so stupid, but there are some distortions here. Some breweries do not vary their recipe and are careful to reduce or eliminate year to year variation through shared ingredients and trained tasting panels. Barrel variation is unlikely since most breweries mix multiple barrels before bottling. Most infections are caught before bottling and the infected beer dumped rather than bottled.

 

Disagree, my 800 bottle cellar does too!

Now I'll preface with the notion that I adore balance. So many beers come off the line too hot, too green or way out of balance for my liking. Even most hazy IPA/DIPA I find will taste better after a month in the fridge. I don't mind a bitter or juicy hop blast, but I'll take a beer that balances that out with some malt over hop water.

 

I laughed at this, very true in so many cases.

 

Every 6 mos. assumes you can trust your memory for flavors, etc and that is a questionable assumption. It also assumes that you yourself are unaffected by such things as different foods or moods from earlier in the day, another questionable assumption.