Breweries that have NOT lost their way.

Came to sayOdell, stayed to say avery, and newBelgium. I cant get behind GD, they cut all my favorites.

Also, Scherlakerla. Change my mind.

 

Surly. As much as they've grown, they haven't lost their way. They survived the loss of exceptional brewmaster Todd Haug a a couple of years ago and still make tremendous beers. Todd the Axe Man, Abrasive, Darkness and Furious are just some of their outstanding beers, and they continue to churn out high quality beers year after year.

 

Russian River and Firestone Walker. Always thought it was cool that when RR was upgrading their tanks a few years ago, they chose FW to contract brew Pliny for a time. I could drink only Pliny and Parabola the rest of my life and be perfectly happy.

 

I think you glossed over the specifics of @AlcahueteJ 's post. The relevant point isn't that they've never brewed a hazy IPA - it's that they've only ever brewed one IPA of any kind ever, and even that lone IPA was aligned with their overall brewing tradition (Brett) rather than IPA trends.

The number of breweries that have been around since the early 1990s who can make the same claim has to be very small. You're right that that's not an inherently superior way to run your brewery, but given the point of this thread they fit the criterion to a tee.

 

OP kicked off the thread with the best possible answer. Alesmith fucking kills it. Back when their IPA was on shelves fresh here, it’s unstoppable. Their DIPA? Can’t even touch that beautiful bouquet of sappy resin.

They are really masters of balance. But can push the right profiles when they need to. And I will pay that premium to try anything new they come out with.

 

They lost their way in Portland

 

El Segundo

 

Firestone, SN, Anchor, Alaskan

 

I honestly don't know anymore.. American breweries are like *****s. They just do it for the money which I don't blame them for but the good vibes are long gone.

I was going to say Lagunitas but they botched sucks.. Basically the only breweries I feel haven't bent over for the dollar are outside of the country.

European imports remain true to form. The only American brewery I would say remains true is Narragansett.

 

Hill Farmstead is almost exactly ten years old. They haven't lost their way. In fact IMO they paved the way, led the way, and defined the way for most of that ten yer period.

 

They sued Tired Hands over like 10k petty losers. Good beer little kids in charge. People always said they were Emo but I didn't realize how bad it was.

 

No, certainly if you brew a couple of New England style IPAs I wouldn't say a brewery has lost their way. I was simply stating how impressive it is that Allagash has remained as popular and successful as they are WITHOUT brewing one. Which in my opinion, is THE definition of a brewery that stuck to their guns, and didn't chase trends.

Heck, my favorite brewery period, Notch in MA, started brewing a couple of New England style IPAs in the last year or two.

A few years ago I would have said Sierra Nevada but I can't anymore. I love them, I respect them, and I understand they're doing what they have to do, but their portfolio has largely changed in order to serve the market, rather than "stick to their guns" as I said with Allagash.

Kellerweis is actually a good example. People liked it a lot, it was a well brewed traditional Hefeweizen, and they removed it from being year round. They also removed their year round Pilsner, Nooner.

Instead their year round portfolio is all hoppy beers and a Mexican lager.

Their spring seasonal used to be an excellent Helles Bock called Glissade. This was of course replaced with, you guessed it, an IPA in Ruthless Rye. And now this year it's the trend chasing Brut IPA.

They also used to have their excellent Stout and Porter widely available, good luck with finding that. But you'll find plenty of Sierraveza and Hazy Little Thing on your shelves.

If we add this all up, you have a brewery that excelled at both brewing hoppy beer (they arguably started the trend back in the 80s) and more traditional styles. Both innovating and "sticking to their guns" at the same time. But no longer.

Now you have beers like Kellerweis, Nooner, Glissade, Stout, and Porter replaced with beers like Sidecar, Brut IPA, Hazy Little Thing, and Sierraveza. I wouldn't say they necessarily "lost their way" but they sure as hell took a significant detour.

All that being said, they still stick to some tradition in beers like Celebration (an excellent West Coast style IPA) and the current seasonal Summerfest. And I LOVE what they're doing with their Oktoberfest collaborations.

 

Well, I guess I don't know the exact details of the business deal that is in dispute, and I guess I don't know what Emo means in relation to a person you don't know (and obviously have never read anything by him either), or how it stands against the facts Shaun is someone who is dedicated to improving himself, improving his beer, improving beer culture, setting a standard of excellence in the industry, and encouraging that standard among fellow brewers.

 

Big time second for Central Waters.
Excellent year round line up with exceptional b/a releases. I think (hope!) they have yet to hit their stride.

 

NB couldn't be more lost, IMO. They seem to focused on a mediocre IPA series (Voodoo) in order to stay relevant. They've abandoned the Belgian style beers for the most part, I rarely see anything but Fat Tire variants, Voodoo variants and some mixed 12s.

 

This is a good example of how "lost their way" is perhaps a bit too loaded of a term for some cases. You can change your ways without getting lost. And you can stay the course but blow out all your tires. #metaphorstretching

Like you alluded to, SN might have stayed the course as much as is possible for a brewery their size in the current climate. And it doesn't take any credit away from Allagash to say that their choice not to expand more aggressively left them in a better position to never have to change what they were doing.

 

While this is certainly true, there's breweries far smaller than Allagash that were "forced" to brew New England IPAs. Some, like Notch, only have a couple. Others (I won't name them) have significantly cut back on what they originally did to brew more New England IPAs.

 

Oh definitely. I didn't mean to suggest that the size to likelihood-of-way-changing equation was a simple linear one. Within Allagash's cohort (long standing, widely respected breweries) I think their approach to expansion was a help in that regard is all.

 

For me, Fat Head’s here in Cleveland.

Been going to the place for many years and they are as good or better now than they were long ago. They are known for their west coast IPA’s (Head Hunter, Hop JuJu, Sunshine Daydream, Trail Head, etc…), but they also do some killer German focused stuff. Now with the new brewery they now offer a year round Helles which is amazing, their seasonal Hefeweizen for spring/summer and their gauntlet of typical hoppy offerings as well as some belgian stuff as well.

Fun fact, I had their Hefe (Goggle Fogger) head-to-head with SN Kellerweis this past weekend, both canned/bottled on same exact day about four weeks fresh and the Fat Head’s one won the battle.

They didn’t cave into the haze craze and stick by what they do best and I can respect them for that. The beer quality is top notch and you never have to question anything they have available, as they will always be extremely well made. I easily consider them in my top 3 for favorite brewery for that reason.

 

Staying relevant with trends I agree with. I am not a fan of the voodoo beers, however hops sell. I get that, and pretty much every mid to large sized brewery gets it as well. However they still pump some world class beers like felix and la folie out of their foeders and the base beers they do still produce are as good as, if not better than, they were 10 years ago. Fat tire was and still is a great entry point into craft, especially with the fat tire white. So many people get started with blue moon and shock top, it is an easier move to go laterally to another witbier by a different brewer (ie blue moon to fat tire white) rather than jump into a tripel, or dubbel, or even plain old fat tire. So while I totally get where you are coming from, and agree that voodoo doesn't fit into new Belgium as I know the brand, I think they still hold to their initial ideals of making quality beer that is accessible to the masses.