Lost Tastes

Hefeweizen, hefeweizen, hefeweizen.

I used to drink this style all the time, I just can’t do it, for the most part, anymore.

 

Any particular reason?

I find most US attempts are pants compared to the German ones.

 

Big stouts. At one time my favorite beers were Yeti, Storm King, Stone RIS, and Czar. Now the only one of those I still drink is Yeti, and it's only like once per year. If they aren't fresh I can barely even stand them. Those blood, rust, port, and soy note drive me nuts.

 

Oxidation in stouts drives me crazy. Can't stand it anymore.

 

Wow, I was going to say almost the exact same thing. . .

 

I don't drink IPAs often because I'm just bored of the hop flavors.

After over a decade of drinking craft beers I've had a lot of hoppy American beers. Now when I drink an IPA it's just familiar and I don't get excited about the fruity or resinous flavors.

I love beers that have a great balance between malt and hop flavors because there's a lot more interplay and skill and understanding to really pull the flavors together in harmony.

I avoid most wheat beers. Not because I dislike Hefeweizen or witbiers. I love them but think that the vast majority of American versions just are disappointing. They're either bland, or unbalanced, or just completely miss the body.

There are just a few that I'll generally buy but they aren't really available where I live.

 

Barrel aged stouts. I made the mistake of having a Dragon's Milk Reserve Triple-Mashed as a night cap a few years back and the resulting hangover took away my taste for BA stouts

 

I don't even buy the German ones normally. Finding fresh ones is like winning the lottery in my experience.

 

Lagers and Porters. Bleh.

 

I will drink a lot of Live Oak Hefe.
I thought the one glass I had at a new brewery called Altstadt was very comparable and very good.

I also only had one glass of Troegs Dreamweaver and I'd drink it again but I didn't think it was quite as good.

Generally I find that breweries that open ferment their Hefeweizens make the best ones... But I don't know if that's because of the fermentation method or if they just pay more attention to what actually makes the German versions good.

 

Yea, those hurt. But, they taste too damn good so I just fortify with water, food and Pedialyte. So worth it.........although, part of me wishes I could just abandon them after wanting to eat a bullet in the morning. I haven't learned my lesson yet. Cheers!

 

Second exception would be Schell's Hefe, but that's not a very wide distribution.

 

I've liked pale ales/IPA's for quite some time, but I hopped on the "haze craze" a couple years ago. I now am quite tired of "new england" IPA's and don't seek them out anymore. Still love hoppy, high abv IPA's (enjoying my haul from alchemist two weeks ago). That's really the only style I don't go crazy for anymore. The inverse- years ago I hated stouts, saisons/belgians and love the shit out of all of those now.

Another interesting take- I loved lagers and pilsners when I first started drinking beer, didn't like them for a bit, and now love them again.

 

I have about 24 years of drinking under my belt. 19 years of that is legal (according to UK law). 17 has been focused on good beer and the last 11 has included “craft”.

I never really loved barleywines to begin with, but now I never ever bother. I’m generally always open to anything else. As @drtth and @Domingo both mentioned - not that I’ve actively rejected them - but it’s been a long while since I bought any of those old skool RIS. Founders RIS used to be a permanent fixture in my fridge.

 

I'm still good for 1 or 2 Samuel Smith's Imperial Stouts a month, but those are only 7-8%, so don't fall into that high gravity realm for me.