Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

Might be true. But, who are we talking about? It's too late, and I'm too lazy to chase every random name drop.

I could easily respond, moar obscurly, but.....

Why?

 

Does the brewery tap room serve food? If not, I see your point. If so, how is it any different from going to a restaurant that serves beer?

 

Well I can't put a number on the difference, but If the place is crowded with folks standing and drinking beer and partying, and you taste your beer, and turn to your friends and say in a loud voice,"Man this beer is fucking great!" and there is a cheer from the crowd around you, it's a tap room. If you look around and folks are staring at you and the place gets dead quiet, it's a restaurant. YMMV

 

I understand where you are coming from. They don't make a marzen or a pilsner that I am aware of, I just believe they have the know how and the means to make whatever beer they want. I see them testing the waters, and most have been red lagers, but each, IMO, have been good to very good. I also got a hold of some experimental lager they brewed several years ago and they too were quite good. But yes, the dilly dilly and all that is how they inject their brand with awareness - but I'm sorry, I must strongly disagree that what they do with the Rita and the fruit Light beers is no less profane than what Ballast Point is doing/has become. They are many many offenders of the fruitification of beer, but my recollection fails me at the moment (Victory has also shamefully gone that path to some degree).

Anyway, my comment is future-forward, so it really cannot be debated until the future arrives.

 

If they have a full menu and waitstaff (i.e. waiters and waitresses) then it’s absolutely no different than being in a restaurant, in fact I would say it is a restaurant. Just having food? Like pretzels, chips, and popcorn? That doesn’t scream kid friendly to me. I think if a place doesn’t scream kid friendly to me, I’m using a lot of judgment about when and under what circumstances I’m taking my young child there.

 

This one is probably controversial, around here anyways-
A great beer bar is far preferable to drink at vs a great brewery.

 

Gotta disagree with that.

 

At the beer bar I have my pick of a well selected and curated variety, often the best from various locals, regionals, nationals and even overseas. No single brewery can touch that.

 

Beer bars can also be places where old/unwanted/unreliable beers that have traveled great distances, and stored under, unknown and questionable conditions go to foisted upon the unsuspecting. Add in the sometimes snobby attitude (Brouwers I'm looking at you) that beer bars can have, and I'll take a brewery visit every time. Even if it means I miss out on some potential gems.

 

I do get that, but I also wouldn't call such places a "great beer bar"- selection is only a part of it.

 

Anyway, it just seems odd to me that when people ask for out of town recommendations it's always for breweries, and never "a great place to drink beer".

 

Agreed. In my area, the closest places to get the most variety are not breweries. The only place I know of that carries a ton of other brands and still brews their own around here is brown iron. That place is an exception to most rules.

 

The art is to walk that line between whatever issue you want to discuss and beer. It's a tough thing to pull off, but it can be done.

 

Come on, dude. That's not controversial AT ALL. Mostly because it's your opinion. To make it controversial you've got to say something like this, "Beer without additives sucks."

 

When I'm going to a new town I want to see what that town has to offer. I don't want to go drink the same regionals, Nationals, or imports that I can find at my local bar.

Also the breweries I go to normally are more laid back and relaxing then a lot of the craft beer bars I know of.

 

I'm with beer bars being FAR superior to most breweries. There are VERY few breweries that I really want to go to. It's got to have a pretty stunning menu and/or environment, like Hofbrauhaus, to make me want to go. Beer bars, IMO, are almost always better, due to variety. The business model that has breweries having guest taps, like Piece in Chicago, is pretty cool as well. We're talking about quality being consistent between the beer bar and brewery, btw.

 

I haven't perfected the art. So much is very topical these days and marginally beer related. Sometimes I feel so strongly about what someone says and just speak. Sometimes it gets shot down, sometimes there are lots of positive responses and sometimes completely ignored. None of it really bothers me much. What I do know is there are lots of very bright and informed folks around here and I love to share ideas. It is constantly intellectually stimulating...

 

If you have this problem, you're going to the wrong beer bars, brah.

I have yet to go to a local brewery that I would consider to be "relaxing". Most have uncomfortable/cheap chairs and tables, terrible acoustics, and music that's usually too loud.

 

Nor have I, but it's fun to try.

There certainly are. Glad I'm a member.

 

Well, the flip side of that is, if a beer, especially an import, gets any kind of wide distribution, they can probably find it at home. If one is visiting, doesn't one want a sense of the place? Otherwise they could just visit Dennys for breakfast, MickeyDs for lunch, and Applebees for dinner. They would visited Omaha, Seattle, Fort Worth, or wherever.

Breweries give the local flavor, beer bars, not so much. Especially since so many of them have a predetermined "Theme" (irish, metal/viking, dive, whatever).