What "hype breweries" are actually worth their hype?

Glad to say my three favorite locals are anti-hype breweries, all of them would be choices for a thread about "under the radar" or "best kept secret" breweries.

That said, I do think Equilibrium deserves every bit of the praise/hype they get, and if it wasn't for an underfunded beer budget I would drink way more of their NEIPA..

 

Most popular breweries around here are La Cumbre and Marble, both deserve the love they get. Bow & Arrow is starting to get some attention as well, again well deserved.

The one brewery that seems to have itself a nice size following that I just don't get would be Quarter Celter, though, admittedly, based on convenience its one I have started stopping into lately. Wonder if that will change my opinion and perspective after a while? My bet is that it will.

 

Burial and Resident Culture, both are simply outstanding one Asheville, the other Charlotte .

 

Here in town, that would be Founders.

Within 2 hours' drive of here? 3 Floyds in Indiana.

 

In people's areas? That's like asking a farsighted fisherman the size of his catch.

 

Fremont, modern times, weldwerks, comrade, alchemist, hill farmstead, dry dock all come to mind. Russian River too. Oh, Kane also. Scherlakerla as well.

 

Anyone who hyped a brewery already has too much invested effort. Whether it be just drinking the beer and being blinded by the hype. Some fall into to the stand in line every week and spend way too much so they rationalize their efforts through hype. A lot are so deep into trading that they hype the beer ratings to trade their hyped beer in a hyper saturated scene. Either way there is not much honesty when it comes to hype.

 

I was joking... but I'm just saying that I'm not sure how measured your responses will be when asking about worthy "hype" and folk's locals. Sometimes the outside perspective is the better one.

 

A lot of hyped breweries feel like true one and dones. But that's as a trader/outsider who may visit once every 2-3 years

At the end of the day, the buzz after three hazies is all the same

My answer. None are worth it if it's a huge burden and trouble to obtain.

Made a solid effort to hit up HF, Obtain OH cans, hitup TH. Suarez. Hudson valley. Equilibrium. All very good but worth the huge effort? Maybe my patience is lower but I'm headed back to the NE next month and have no true incentive to revisit anybody, or even seek stuff out. What comes, comes.

 

Does Suarez qualify as a hype brewery? When I think of a hype brewery I’m thinking of breweries with cleverly scheduled/marketed releases, that draw a regular and large line of cooler-toting beer geeks. The beer being released will be NEIPA / pastry stout / some sort of “sour” 95% of the time.

From my experience Suarez doesn’t fit that at all - I mean their two most commonly released 16oz cans are pilsners. They’ve yet to make an NEIPA. HF is borderline. Other Half definitely is - and I personally think they are one of the ones that really do deliver (on the aforementioned styles). But to @zid ’s point I live less than a mile away so take that with a grain of salt.

 

Suarez prices are hype riddled, if nothing else. $16/six or four. Them and HF have flavor profiles so subtle, I just don’t know anymore. I can drop half that locally and be happy. But somehow driving out to the Sticks is some type of religious experience?

Production breweries are catching up. I hope the consumer can see some of these lighter styles aren’t some magical recipe. The big boys can do them too.

 

I recommend folks make no great effort to obtain Suarez.

 

It happens with hobbies, it takes time to put them into proper perspective.
Hype around a brewery was a middle part of my beer journey. I started with buying what was available locally. Then, got deeper into the entire beer stuff and started looking for better and the best beers that were harder to obtain. I was going for beercations, trying not to miss any hyped brewery on my itinerary. Hype become a yardstick of judgment, sometimes more than my own tastebuds. Slowly I came to realize that the differences between hyped and not-hyped beers are quite often subtle or just imaginary. Then, since all of it took some time, I got older/busier/more tolerant and willing to simplify what doesn't have to be that complicated. Now, I'm back to my well known stores and happy to buy beer locally. It's just beer.

 

$16 a six/four is on the low end of the cost scale in the North East (for smaller scale craft breweries). Everything costs more in the area. Cheapest cheeseburger up here will run you about $18.

 

Give me the list of breweries in question, and I'll be glad to voice opinions about the one's I can vouch for which I feel are more hype driven vs. legitimately awesome.

 

For me TH is not even close to the hype they get. While I find most of their beer good I have never had one I wanted to go back to. The can prices are stupid, never made that purchase. I have not gone over to either place in over two years. The fermentia or wherever it’s called is just a giant noise bouncing room that pumps out expensive beer with descriptions that are so insane. I did love to hear customers quoting the menu with tastes they only read about.

The hype machine was working over time there, not sure if it is as crazy any more.

Enjoy

 

I agree with Founders being in this hyped-but-worth-it category which was mentioned above, but even more fitting to the OP's specs would be Bell's. Always a great visit for beer and food, and when a special release occurs, nobody knows about it, thus the line for the beer is hit-or-miss depending on how quickly the word gets out and how many and how quickly locals can respond. Tours of the Kzoo brewery as well as the large production facility in Galesburg (about 10 miles away) are also a treat.

I'll also add Short's to the discussion. It's a great place to visit for beer and food. Frequently they have 'Private Stache' releases of barrel-aged beers that create excitement (I don't know about lines because I've never gone due to distance from home), and I'm pretty sure these beers are often still available in their store for days after the release.