Opinions on beer styles

Kölsch, Stout, and Hefeweizen

 

I question the actual viability of most IPAs. It’s a saturated style with so many competitors. A brewery really needs to make an IPA that is high quality or unique in order for it to warrant any attention. Too many brewers make IPAs currently.

My lineup would be IPL, Schwarzbier, and Czech Pilsner.

 

Had this same discussion a few hours ago with a beer shop owner. Lots of IPAs not moving.

 

DDH NEIPA
blended barrel aged pastry stout north of 14%
mixed fermentation ale brewed with quinoa, passion fruit, goji berries, cinnamon bark and beluga caviar.

just kidding, hard question but somewhere I could spend waaay to much time and money might have a lineup that looked a little like this:
Light wcipa (around 6% abv)
dark lager
gose (traditional with lime and coriander)

 

Dark mild
Bitter
Strong bitter

 

Czech Pils, Saison (traditional), Biere De Garde (traditional)

 

No surprise since so many local breweries are swimming in fresh IPAs (and sours). Why have to worry about freshness?

 

Commercial viability? Easy. Whatever some careful research of the area I plan to open in indicated folks in that area want to drink. Combined with another survey that would show whether there is already enough, or too much, of those styles being produced.

 

Are you asking this from a brewpub perspective or a distributing brewery perspective?

I will respond from a brewpub perspective. You absolutely have to have at least one hoppy beer (e.g., IPA) available). You will also need a light drinking beer as well for those who are not hop heads; a Blonde Ale or Kolsch for example. I wonder how popular dark beers like Stout/Porter are. For example Sierra Nevada has greatly limited production of their Stout and Porter which can only mean those two beers are niot selling well for them. Maybe a wise choice for the third beer would be a Pilsner (which is on the hoppy side).

Cheers!

 

Irish dry stout
Wheat beer (with fruit variations)
IPA - 6-7% ABV

 

If I'm starting a brew pub that primarily focuses on good craft beer and not food, I would go with an IPA, a strong stout, and a hefeweizen. I think it's safe to say most craft drinkers would be happy with one of those three styles. If my goal is to build a restaurant too, you gotta sell Yuengling and Miller Lite in these parts if you want to bring in customers.

 

Saison
Either a pils or a helles lager
Low abv pale ale, not a session IPA. A 5.2-5.5 pale ale similar to a daisy cutter from other half with a grassy and floral hoppiness.
If I'm only brewing 3 beers my goal would be to can and sell by the 12-15 pack at a reasonable price. The beers that do well in that format are the more on the lighter more drinkable side.

 

Around here, a pale ale, a maltyish but dry brown or amber ale, and a nicely rendered lager/pils that works between the two. These are the beers that people drink. Pale ale, IPA, just do a spicy dry ale with some heft and bready character.

 

That’s the problem. I found a four pack of what I would consider a Maine top ten IPA that was canned on January 17th. Multiple new beers that aren’t even close to the quality of this particular beer cluttering shelves, and they aren’t moving either. I don’t remember which of the multiple threads on this topic it was in, but the market is saturated and yet new breweries continue to produce IPAs that just aren’t that good, and the consumer just isn’t buying them. They’re (myself included ) sticking with proven, consistent beers. The bubble is going to burst, and soon.

 

In Vermont?

1. Imperial Stout
2. Belgian Styles (pick one)
3. Sour ales- availability of sours has expanded over the last couple years so not as big of a deal.

Honestly nowadays in Vermont you are expected to have a couple IPA's on tap. Competition is brutal in this style here though.

 

Pale mild
Wheatwine
Kentucky Common

Please, somebody!

 

In most markets, in 2018, I think the answer still is the cloying trinity:

1. An NEIPA, as sweet, juicy, murky, un-bitter, and lightly attenuated as possible. That will be close enough for some of the actual IPA fans and, based on the NEIPA's social-media-ready cool factor and innocuous and familiar juice-like flavor, equally perfect for the scenesters as it is for their moms.
2. A pastry stout with some accessible flavoring adjuncts (chocolate, vanilla, coffee, peanut butter, etc.). That will cover your dark beer fans and serve the large gimmick-seeking contingent.
4. A barely tart, fruit-forward kettle sour, preferably using a tropical fruit that sounds exotic but doesn't actually challenge American palates. That should capture a chunk of the people looking for a light refresher, those who enjoy fruit beers, the "I'm really more of a wine drinker" crowd, and at least nod toward the sour-seekers.

In Minnesota, we call this "The Barrel Theory."

All of those types of beers are very widely accessible, featuring flavors not traditionally associated with beer but otherwise widely familiar and inoffensive. Also, while there are signs that the cultural tide is beginning to turn, for the moment those styles are still clinging to cachet among beer geeks and still receive buzz and high ratings at sites like this. Even when they do become passé (and, who knows?, that shift could take a few more years), they still can serve as gateway beers like the blonde and amber ales of yore. None of those styles appeals to traditionalists or dry beer drinkers, but those groups have become such small consumer segments that craft breweries can have great commercial success while ignoring them.

 

As mentioned above, it makes a huge difference if you are talking about a brewpub or distributing. An IPA is an obvious must in any brewpub, but I wouldn't want to have to compete against the twenty kajillion other IPAs if I was looking to distribute. For the brewpub, I go with an IPA, a stout and a pils, just like you thought. For distribution, I'd find a specific niche for myself and try to be very good at that. Perhaps a saison, a lambic and a tripel.

 

Nobody mentions Berliner Weisse. Low ABV & lots of tatse...