Rob Tod is a James Beard semi-finalist

I hope he wins.

 

Allagash.

No it wasn't as obvious to me as it is to you.

Anyway, love what they do, but love Jester King a whole lot more. Either way, cool to see this kind of recognition in these kinds of awards.

 

Cool!!

 

Really? I haven't had that much Jester King, but that's kind of surprising to me.

 

Took long enough. He's been around longer than anyone else listed.

 

Jester King's native yeast is trash. I love what they do as a brewery, but at the same time, most of their beers are too acidic and not very good. This take probably belongs in the "unpopular opinions" thread on the Beer Talk forum, but I'll leave it right here.

 

Funny, I would have said the literal exact opposite.

Do you think Allagash is less acidic? I don't.

I think both are pretty balanced, but most of the Jester King I have had are just perfectly wild, funky, tart, and clean all in one punch. It's a crazy combination but really love how you can get the funk, the wood, and the tart all in one punch. Not just their heavily fruited stuff, talking particularly their blends, saisons, farmhouse etc.

I've only had one or two JK beers that were actually strongly sour. That's just not a thing they do. They leave that to de Garde, Side Project, Casey, and especially Upland.

Trash? Yeah, that's really out of bounds. If only more people could emulate that trash.

 

Allagash uses Brett better than just about everyone in the country. Most of their beers are beautifully balanced. I don't think we're going to get along here.

 

Funny that these are the two breweries being argued about whether they belong in this category. Yet, a brewery like The Answer that isn’t even in the same league as a brewery like Allagash or Jester King is left unmentioned. They sell beers as their own that they didn’t even brew and sell glassware blatantly ripping off video game characters. Guess that’s what is cool in beer at the present time.

 

Right on. The Answer really doesn't belong on a serious brewery list unless it's primarily the food they're taking into account.

I don't really get how JK is the one that Sheppard chooses to shit all over because he likes all teh bretty. Allagash does great things. JK does great things.

The story and process behind everything JK does is deliberately painstaking and very thoughtful. Never thought there'd be a day someone that likes Allagash would find a way to hate a brewery so relatable that also capably diversifies the brewery landscape in a way not unlike Allagash did for New England. Seems completely fucking asinine and coming from a place of misplaced spite.

 

I literally said "I love what they do as a brewery." Jeff Stuffings deserves to be on the list because he has done a lot for craft beer, especially in Texas. He has been a great spokesman for the industry. I respect him a lot, but I don't like most of his beers.

 

You also literally said:

Which is your [very wrong] opinion. And yes, opinions can be wrong, in my opinion.

So make up your mind, or shall I pretend like that isn't there in black and white?

 

Dude, don't be obtuse. Just because their native yeast is trash doesn't mean I can't respect the way they've stood up for breweries' rights in Texas and used their platform to represent the craft community. My mind is made up. I don't know where your head is at.

 

For someone who's had as few of their beers as you, I'll take your opinion with a grain of nah.

It looks like you've had 5 Jester King beers in total. Granted, you may not rate here anymore, but some of them you rated very high. To call something trash that you rate like that just comes across as juvenile and spiteful for ulterior motives that seem at least to me to be a bit transparent here. That kind of uncalled for language really doesn't put any part of this in a good light.

I've had 70 unique Jester King beers, and many of those multiple times. Some I've rated low, most I've rated high. The beers that express their mixed ferm culture most readily, as well as their coolship/wild ferm beers, are quite beautiful. I'll take that trash all day over pretty much anything else available in any market, including the classics from the old world.

 

1. I have no ulterior motives. I honestly don't how you leapt to that. I have been complimentary to them despite not liking most of their beer.
2. The only beer I've Ioved from them is Atrial. Aurelian was good. The rest are eh. I've rated 3/5 below their mean score too if that means anything to you. Ratings are tough because it's hard to keep everything relative and sometimes, you don't want to be unkind to a brewery, other times, you don't care about that. Anyway, I don't know how those statistics match up relative to my other ratings, but I'm sure you can dig that up.
3. I haven't rated all of the Jester King I've had. I haven't had as many as you, but I also don't want to.
4. Enjoy your trash.
5. I'll enjoy my Allagash.

 

Dude from Ohio telling people on a New England forum that a brewery from Texas is better than a brewery from Maine. One of the best breweries in the country not to mention...not just NE.

 

And here I always thought of Allagash as this old school but classically romantic brewery. Man you're really skewing my view of them, I never realized they had such ridiculously juvenile and trolltastic fanboys.

You don't want to be unkind to a brewery via ratings? But talking this kind of shit here is less offensive than rating something honestly? Good god as if we need another beer rater that can't be trusted to actually rate based on their experience. But the hypocrisy is rich.

I'd love to see you directly explain to JK why their beer is "eh," and why you consider what they produce "trash." That'd go over well and I'm sure would illuminate quite a bit of hilariousness from your side of things. You could get started right here on this very forum.

Whoa there, Vitamin Sea is still around?! How's that brewery coming? You've never stepped foot out of Mass, never been to a bottle shop, and never even traded for beer?!?! Holy shit is that loyalty to home brew or what!!! Actually, that explains a lot!

 

I like JK and I like Allagash. SPON Muscat and Coolship Resurgam were probably the 2 best beers I had last year.

 

Rob Tod is an east coast hero to me because he revived the witbier style here in the states that Celis in TX (originator of the style via Belgium) failed to achieve. Have dedicated themselves to producing Belgian styles longer than any other US brewery, with an amazing rate of QC and consistency. Legacy Brewer props right there. Oh, and quite the philanthopist as well.