The Murtaugh Rule in Beer

I invoke this rule every time I have a brew day that goes longer than 16 hours... Still the youngest employee at my brewery though, so no one is taking me seriously when I say it

 

I hear ya on this. I'm over beer that looks like mud and smells like Froot Loops. I like cake with my stout, not in my stout. Give me clean, bright, tasty beer and I'll buy it by the sixer, give me trends, and I'll buy one for the tick, maybe.

 

I have no trouble finding variety of most styles. Sure Haze dominates the taps and shelves in stores, but most brewers around me toss out a West Coast IPA periodically as well. Agree that most of the traditional English style beers overall are in a down cycle right now in both popularity and supply.

 

Dear OP--You are most-definitely not nuts.

When I review a brew, I'm especially happy when I get to write some variation of the line "it just looks, smells, and tastes like what I would tell someone 'beer' tastes like." That's one of the best compliments I can give a simple tasty beer.

But that's the rub. Breweries are businesses, and they need to expand their audience like any other business. At the end of the day, some people (maybe a ton of people) don't like the "beer" flavor I referenced above. For awhile, it was a hop-bomb IBU contest. Now it's how hazy, fruity, and milky can you go. As long as people keep drinking the sweet treats and leaving dusty bottles of the old guard on the shelf, this will continue.

 

I agree. Give me an English Bitter any day of the week--if I can just find one! Fortunately, a local brewer has started brewing one on a "rotational" basis, but I'm "out of season" right now.

 

I love classic, straightforward styles too, but I also like to see brewers experiment as long as they're not just doing something as a gimmick. The challenge today is that with so many breweries and hybrid, crossover styles, brewers have to constantly look for something new that stands out. I think this is true even if you've mastered a particular style. It tends to be hit or miss. I just wish the one-offs that turn out good will more often remain in rotation. P.s., I just love Dieu Du Ciel.

 

I love most of the "new" styles and hope they stick around. The beauty is - if you don't like it you don't have to drink it.

Now get off my lawn.

 

As a fellow resident of Ontario, I can certainly relate to and endorse a lot of what was discussed by the OP. Over the last decade or so, many of the U.K. beers, Germans Pils and Belgian beers that I saw regularly have been replaced by Ontario craft, which tends to focus on trends or currently popular styles. Best of luck finding a quality brewed beer outside the handful of styles and their offshoots that are currently most popular. It’s great that provincially brewed beers are getting attention, but the overall diversity of classic styles available has definitely declined IMO.

 

Time to start trading bud. That's how I get beers that I can't get. I know you shouldn't have to and that's part of your point, I'm sure, but if there's a will, there's a way. I'm not sure how much shipping is to Ontario but hit me up and I may be able to help you with some West Coast IPAs If you don't mind sending me some of that stuff you're tired of drinking up there. Cheers bud.

 

That ain't a lawn, it's a weed field !!

 

General McAlister, time for you to drink Spotted Cow.

 

Obviously a dead zone for craft and just regular beer in general...
We have the overflow of the trendy stuff but a never ending abundance of the classic styles.
Jus gotta know where to look.

Like Kissimmee used to say...
Location.
Location.
Location.

 

Right there with ya @polloenfuego !

I'm in for the tick with some of these "far beers", but just give me a straight up IPA and I'll be happy. Sometimes that's all I want, a palate wrecking tongue buckler of an IPA, no fruits. It seems that is outside of the norm making a true to style beer.

 

Hey OP,you damn sure are not alone . I have a select group of aficionados and we get together usually once a month for a Thursday night beer tasting.We always bring a few favorites and at least one obscure brew.Last one included Westvleteren 12, Fullers ESB ,SNPA, and a handful of local ipa's and stout's in a more or less blind tasting to see if we could identify them. I immediately knew the first 3 and guessed correctly on about half the others.The new creations I got about half the brewers correct but not the beers.There's just too much out there to even wrap your head around. Classic styles I know and certain brewers malt,yeast ,hop profiles I can usually identify but with all the variables anymore its definitely a challenge.I say drink what you like , try everything or not - your call. I really have no use for fruity weird sour shit or sickly sweet dark roasty stuff but again to each their own.Cheers!

 

Well first, that's not really a rule. More like a catch phrase. But I digress.

I don't think it's written anywhere that to love beer you have to blindly follow every new trend and fad. @polloenfuego, it sounds to me like you have just figured out what you like and that you don't really care to follow the herd. Good for you. I personally don't even know what a pastry stout is (maybe I've had one and didn't know it), and I doubt I've ever had a milkshake IPA. It's not really that important to me to find out what these things are. If they're around in another 5 or 10 years maybe I'll try them. There are plenty of great styles that have stood the test of time.

It's a big tent with lots of room for all kinds of tastes. Drink what you like, live and let live. Cheers!

 

I went to a store in Columbus today that has a great variety and tons of imports, but I still felt like I had to swim through a lake of 16oz cans of hazy ipas to get to anything. Which isn’t much of an exaggeration. In addition to the regular shelving, there were 2 folding tables full of them along with stacks on the floor just inside the door.