Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by Kraz, Feb 14, 2018.

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  1. EmperorBatman

    EmperorBatman Zealot (717) Mar 16, 2018 Tennessee

    Most craft breweries do not fundamentally understand how to brew lagers. What you get, instead, are pseudo-ales that taste like straw or butter.
     
  2. IPAExpert69

    IPAExpert69 Savant (1,065) Aug 2, 2017 Pennsylvania

    I often see them and pick them up, only had a few bad ones. Recently enjoyed Sierra Nevada’s Triple IPA. I feel like their hit to miss ratio is much better than just picking up a random IPA from the liquor store.
    Cheers!
     
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  3. Jirin

    Jirin Initiate (0) Apr 28, 2013 Massachusetts

    I went to England for the first time last month.

    All the pubs there have cask ales that you serve with a pump. They are just incredibly awesome.

    Why aren't those in the states? Sometimes 4-5% ABV beers with that kind of smoothness are better than the super strong experimental flavors you usually get with craft.
     
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  4. bbtkd

    bbtkd Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,326) Sep 20, 2015 South Dakota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    They are in the states. Maybe not as prevalent here, but I spot them a few times a year.
     
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  5. TongoRad

    TongoRad Grand Pooh-Bah (3,848) Jun 3, 2004 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Sometimes? :wink:
     
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  6. matthewsween

    matthewsween Initiate (0) Apr 8, 2018 Oregon

    Prairie Bomb! and Evil Twin Even More Jesus are strange-tasting beers.
     
  7. Lahey

    Lahey Initiate (0) Nov 12, 2016 Michigan

    How so? You don't like the roastiness of even more jesus? I liked prarie bomb in a bottle, but it was too spicy on tap for me
     
  8. matthewsween

    matthewsween Initiate (0) Apr 8, 2018 Oregon

    I'm not really sure what it is that put me off but I just did not enjoy either of them. I found Even More Jesus to be boozey and saccharine in the extreme. I don't know. I probably need to try it again. I enjoyed Evil Twin Freudian Slip. But in general I just don't like that guy's beers. Imperial Biscotti Break I disliked for the same reason. Very boozey and saccharine. Over and over again. It just feels like overkill.

    As for Prairie Bomb, I think it is just a bit much with the vanilla, chiles, and then fairly acidic coffee. The way that the chiles mix with the kind of coffee they used is what bothers me, I think. Just strange, not pleasant. The aftertaste has this weird bite to it. I like other things that are similar to it, like Perennial Abraxas (I could understand why someone might hate that one, though...) and Dieu du Ciel Aphrodisiaque, but the thing is, neither of them have that weird aftertaste of Bomb's. I think also, I had older bottles of Bomb. And I read somewhere that the coffee flavors in beer can eventually turn due to oxidation, and even give off these vegetal-like flavors? So maybe I could try that one again, too...fresh. But I didn't like it the times I tried it.

    Sorry for the novel.
     
  9. Ahonky

    Ahonky Initiate (0) Feb 13, 2018 New York

    They are virtually non-existent in the US and your statement above speaks to that. Additionally, the quality of cask beers in the US, from my limited exposure, is poor. For example, American IPAs on cask is a really really bad idea.
     
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  10. Lahey

    Lahey Initiate (0) Nov 12, 2016 Michigan

    That's totally fair. I find a lot of evil twins flavored stouts to be too intensely flavored, even more jesus is the only one I'd buy again thus far. (because there are no weird additive flavors) The coffee in Bomb was the only thing to really save it for me, mine must have been somewhat fresh. For that price though, I'll probably never drink it again.
     
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  11. InVinoVeritas

    InVinoVeritas Initiate (0) Apr 16, 2012 Wisconsin

    Macro breweries are producing a very high quality product, if your judge of quality is process control / repeatability / consistency.
     
    #3031 InVinoVeritas, Aug 21, 2018
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2018
  12. matthewsween

    matthewsween Initiate (0) Apr 8, 2018 Oregon

    Maybe that's what really bothered me about both of them. The price.

    I've repeatedly had this experience with Evil Twin: I read the label describing some unbelievably decadent beer experience, sit down, and pour, okay...then I take a sip, don't like what I just tasted, and then think about the price, feeling ripped off. $10 for a weird, boozey, unbalanced-feeling beer I did not care for at all.

    I stopped trying their stuff because I had this experience somewhat recently with one of theirs called Irish-ish Coffee Stout. And I was like, forget it, I'm not doing this again. It sounded delicious on the label. Nutmeg! Coffee! Vanilla! I like all of those things! The actual beer, though, was saccharine and astringent (if both of those at once makes sense)...I kept trying to like it, but just found it to be too much.
     
  13. islay

    islay Savant (1,187) Jan 6, 2008 Minnesota

    Mmm... There's nothin' more delicious than process control!

    In seriousness, of course you're right, and I don't think your statement is the slightest bit controversial, but that's a good argument against judging beer by process control / repeatability / consistency.
     
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  14. Lahey

    Lahey Initiate (0) Nov 12, 2016 Michigan

    Yeah, I think a lot of Evil Twin ideas and added flavors sound a lot better than they end up. I get that fake additive flavor in an unbalanced beer most time. Reminds me of southern tier, but with a better (mostly undeserved) reputation.
     
  15. Snowcrash000

    Snowcrash000 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,017) Oct 4, 2017 Germany
    Super Mod Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Sounds about right when it comes to Evil Twin.
     
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  16. unlikelyspiderperson

    unlikelyspiderperson Grand Pooh-Bah (3,862) Mar 12, 2013 California
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Troutbeerbum said:
    More controversy.
    1. “Session “ beer is a stupid term.
    2. “Session “ IPAs are watery and a waste of money. Just go buy a thirty pack of Budweiser.

    I stopped into a new brewery recently that was very hop heavy and one of their beers was listed as 'Imperial Session IPA'

    It was predictably the worst of their hoppy beers that I tried. It also made me sort of hate them in a deep part of myself

    I think it wa like 6.7% abv or so
     
  17. bbtkd

    bbtkd Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,326) Sep 20, 2015 South Dakota
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I agree about IPAs on cask, but I've only seen darker beers, stouts, porters, etc. As to the quality compared to Britain, can't say, never been. I liked Boulevard Manhattan Cask, though not sure how authentic that is.
     
  18. InVinoVeritas

    InVinoVeritas Initiate (0) Apr 16, 2012 Wisconsin

    Very true. It was not an oversight my quality statement was absent of any remark regarding flavor. For me it was a hard truth when I started home brewing understanding how amazing the control the big guys have.
     
  19. BBThunderbolt

    BBThunderbolt Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,282) Sep 24, 2007 Kiribati
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    It depends on where in the U.S. one is located. A lot of breweries out here make at least the occasional version of their brews, and most of those keep 1 or 2 on at all time. Then add the places like Machine House, in Seattle, and Brewers Union outside of Eugene, that make exclusively cask brews, and I'd say they are at least a bit more prevalent than "virtually non-existent".
     
  20. Roadkizzle

    Roadkizzle Initiate (0) Nov 6, 2007 Texas

    I've never tried Evil Twin. I really don't care to.

    But man, I do remember when my wife and I moved into our house in early 2015. Before we got internet set up my wife would do her school work at our local bar. They had Xmas Bomb on tap. And it was a muddy boozy mess. I really disliked that beer. The bar could not get it off the wall though.

    The keg seemed extremely light. They thought it would blow at any time, they thought there would be no more than a few beers left in it. They started selling it at $1 a pint. But it just would not blow. I think it was actually Hannukah Bomb because they thought the beer wouldn't last through the night but it ended up lasting another 7.

    As a Quality Engineer I think that one of the best descriptions of quality is something like "understanding the customers expectations and desires and meeting them every time".

    The macro Brewers understand their customers desires very well and deliver the product that those customers want. It just so happens that a lot of us are not their customers.

    I feel that the majority of craft beer drinkers feel that "different" is much more important than the actual ability to make technically good beer. Either that or their expectations just begin and end at the hop farm.

    North Texas has 60-80 breweries now but I can count on one hand the number that I find actually generally make flaw free beers. The majority of beers I find on tap around here have some mix of under attenuation, fermentation byproducts, horrid balance, or something else. One brewery every single beer was full of chloramine derived phenols but most people I know liked them.

    Breweries that make flawless beers but have more limited offerings and don't play the extreme beer game just don't make it on tap regularly at beer bars I come across.
     
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