Should I be worried about de Garde?

More breweries doing wild ales now too. Propolis, Garden Path, and Atwood alone up in my area, and North Fork does some as well.

 

Gotta admit, too many DeGarde beers are just too damn sour for me these days. Overall, my enjoyment of sours is not what it used to be, but I still have some favorites out there that hit just the right notes and just the right amount of "sourness". The last 5 bottles from DG that i have tried could probably rip the paint off my house.

oh, and competition. so many quality beers out there that i rarely encounter "must have" beers that require extra capital or extra time searching. because another great beer is usually around the corner (literally)

 

I feel like de Garde has really toned down the acidity in their beers recently. They're much easier to drink than those early years.

We also almost never get bottles up here anymore, unlike a few years ago when I could even get them from time to time at my neighborhood PCC.

 

I do as well, that first year or so they were around I was getting $10 growler fills of Bu Weisse around here and it blew my mind how much flavor they packed into a 2% abv beer. Still one of my favorite breweries, but they don't seem to trickle down here all that often. I think the price is fair for what it is, and I'll usually splurge when I do see bottles on the shelves locally.

 

Interesting observation. One thing I've noticed is that most of their beers are now 2 years old, give or take, as opposed to earlier on when they had But Weisse, lightly barreled saisons and such, which, I'm guessing, was quicker to get out the door leading to more taxable barrels? I do wish they brought back beers like the Chardonnay Desay and of course, Bu. I'm wondering if their move also resulted in less beer available.

At this point, though, I'm doing my best to support breweries that brew good quality lagers, so I haven't bought bottles of de Garde in a while, but will try it if it's on tap.

 

Plus, it's been quite a while since we've had a good clam gun discussion. Maybe the lack of of clam hunting talk has helped drive away interest?

 

De Garde’s quality has gone steadily downhill IMO, the brewery even had to admit they had to reformulate some of their recipes because of quality issues. I agree with others who say their beers are too sour and to me they are just not enjoyable beers to drink more than 4oz of.
Last time i drove out to De Garde i was seriously disappointed by all their beers on tap. Every once in a while they put out an amazing beer but the majority of their beers have become undrinkable to me...

 

Interesting, I haven't heard of their reformulations. But that said, I actually think they've improved, with beers that are better focused, a better funk expression, and yes, a little more sour than ideal. Their early beers, imo, were just too messy. Also impressive is that they are, in my opinion, one of the few American breweries that has a clear terroir, with their mineraly funk.

 

I’m really impressed with their recent lambic inspired beers. Simple but also complex with a nice earthy funk and just the right amount of tartness. The Kriekenblossom was pretty amazing.

 

I'd say dG's brews have trended much better year after year, and the acidity has been greatly dialed down, pretty much across the board. If someone doesn't like recent batches of beers like The Maison, The Chateau, Broken Truck, etc. — essentially analogs to unfruited lambics — my claim is that you prolly don't like lambics. A fair amount of their fruited stuff trends more sour/acidic, but it all pales in comparison to their brews from years past (recent super-sour examples would be batch 2 of Nectarine Cuvee and The Rougess, a.k.a., The Roughness — both were undrinkable, imo).

All of that said, despite the uptick in quality, I abandoned my Keepers membership, and don't get out there much anymore (once a yr prolly). Reasons for that are: i) Too much great beer right here in Seattle, ii) They seemed to consistently dismiss any feedback I had on how they might improve the membership and iii) For what's essentially a destination brewery, the 'no kids' status is a deal-breaker... basically can't do much more than run in and out for some bottles if I'm traveling with the fam, which is almost guaranteed these days if I'm that far down the coast (contrast that with a destination spot like Hill Farmstead, which is all ages).

If dG starts shipping stuff up to Seattle again, I'd definitely grab some. My supply has dwindled to about six bottles, with no re-up in sight...

 

They also went "no dogs" on their patio, which removed it from my coastal excursions as well. I understand those rules if they're busy, but every time I've stopped they've been very slow.

 

I've got a bottle of The Qi from last summer and a batch one bottle of The Archer from many years ago left. I used to have multiple boxes full of de Garde, serious first world problems.

 

I'm sure there was a change when they moved into their new facility downtown, but I personally feel like it was a change for the better.

 

I honestly don't know what that guy's problem is.

 

Is this something you could point to or is it just hearsay? I've certainly never heard about it. I remember back in like 2014 they were using way more recipes and they refocused on a select few, but that's not the same as reformulating. I mean they're still listed in the top 20 breweries in the world, but you find them undrinkable...