Controversial Beer Opinions (Round Two)

So you don’t like adjuncts. That’s a beer nerd position I can respect. Given that position, what are your thoughts on Reinheitsgebot?

 

I can fire off 5 right now!

1. I despise lactose in beer

2. Barrel-aged imperial stouts are better

3. Wild ales and lambic are the two best styles in existence

4. Lagers are totally work trading for

5. West Coast and New England-style hoppy beers, while different, are equal.

Get your pitchforks!

 

Ah, you mean beer that tastes like beer? Well, that 'works' for me.

I suppose we could have a 'contest' here? Which beverage will be around 2-3 decades from now? Beers that taste like beer? Or beverages that taste like flavorings (e.g., coffee, vanilla, cinnamon, fluff, snickerdoodles, etc.)?

Cheers!

 

I agree and/or understand your feelings on each except for number 2. Pitch forks out for number 2. BA Imperial Stouts can be great. And they can be better. But they are not always better than stouts that saw no barrel.

 

As our friend @JackHorzempa says so well, I like beer that tastes like beer, so a lot of the fruited beers are not something I seek very often, like the New Glarus fruited beers. I appreciate the fact that they’re made well, but they taste more like Kool-Aid to me.

Yet some beers with fruit (anyone remember Grapefruit Sculpin?) are beers I appreciate and do seek, so there’s a bit of a dichotomy.

And don’t get me started on big stouts with cacao nibs. Love ‘me, bit I also love chocolate, so I can swing to the other side of Reinheitsgebot, too.

 

American craft suddenly 'discovering' and owning hops (the bitter factor) in beer is a funny one, but I am maybe too drunk to go further on this.

 

Does nobody remember that epic 100+ page thread that was a mainstay for at least a year?

 

London Calling kinda sucks.

Wait... wrong website.

 

Sure, I detest most new beers and new breweries that have flooded the market. All you get nowadays are copycat beers and beers that all seem to taste the same, everyone’s IPA and hazy IPA taste alike.

I miss the unique ones that when you acquired them you truly got the opportunity to taste something special,

Wooden Hell
Kate The Great
Darklord
Surly Darkness
Alpine Great
Cantillon (still not ever duplicated, but available anytime on the shelf)
Heady Topper
Pliny The Elder
Double Sunshine

Now I understand I’m being nostalgic, but I just haven’t had a beer in a long time that really rocked my world!

*I guess this is what happens when too many people come to the party.

 

That one is very much a "me" opinion. I've never been a fan of non barrel-aged imperial stouts. Now, I love traditional stouts/porters, dry Irish stouts, English stouts, and other small stouts, but when it comes to big, high ABV imperial stouts, I tend to not care for them unless there's a barrel component. Something about it just doesn't feel right without oak character. Not sure why. I guess that's the controversy of it!

 

Not liking pumpkin beers? C'mon. You people really need to work on your attempts at controversy. Go for the jugular.

Rochefort 10 reminds me of tequila.
Rochefort 6 reminds me of bad medicine.
I'd rather drink an Olde English 800 than a Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout.
American IPAs are best when dispensed as cask ale.

Have at it.

 

We get too used to a level of variety and greatness that is hard to improve. Those beers all shined when we first had them because of how much they out-shined what we were used to drinking.

I guess my own controversial opinion is, with exception of Cantillon Stl Lam and Fou, and Alpine Great, the rest of the beers on your list have been far outshined by more modern takes on those styles, and the scene now is so much better than it was back then when it comes to acquiring beer (Cantillon the exception) it isn't even a serious question, in my mind.

 

I love Genesee Cream, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Fat Tire, and Miller High Life!

 

Macro produced beers catch more hate than they should. They have a time and a place, and many are good for their style.

Also, lactose in beer should be a sin.

 

You’re right, most of the time.

If you can, get your hands on Dark Horse Plead the 5th and BBA Pt5. Report back with which you think is better!

 

So, is this basically just the "Controversial beer opinions" thread being revived?

 

Most hazy IPAs are crap. At least the ones that I've tried just were not good beers. Traditional IPAs and DIPAs run circles flavor profile wise around hazy any day.

Eric