Has anyone else completely stopped reading cans/bottles that they don't recognize?

Yes, maybe a couple years ago. I've pretty much stopped going anywhere with a huge selection but I've never really been into ticking so I'm not always looking for something new. That said, if I travel out of state I'll look a little harder for something I don't normally have access to.

 

If anything, I've found that a lot of new breweries make some of the styles that you mentioned as much as we ever really got in the States, but they can't help themselves when it comes to flavoring.

I don't want a S'mores English Brown Ale, I just want an English Brown Ale!

 

And, human taste is able to detect bitter at a low level as a protective function, since many toxic compounds are bitter.

 

Fine we'll just make an English brown.ale...And Then We Lay it Down For 9 Months in a Mix of Rare Turkish Calvados Barrels and New Mongolian Oak Foudres With Tahitian VANILLA!!!!!!! Only $34/ 4 pack

 

Would agree that all the new artwork, while eye-catching and some of it interesting, it is a bit much to eyeball and research all the cans while on a shopping trip.
While i have OG favorites i rotate, with regard to all the new brews hitting the street, the current technique i employ is that i follow my favorite local on Facebook and this local gets pretty much everything new the greater Phoenix area receives distribution wise. Interestingly Phoenix has been getting "drop shipments" from east of the Mississippi over the last 1-2 years. I see it as an opportunity to review a brewery that i may hit while traveling as my wife and i leisure travel 4-6 weeks a year.
That said, i follow the same local's owner on untappd as he and i have the same love for ipa's and pilsners and he tends to try everything new within a few days of receiving a shipment. I will compile a list of brews i am interested in based on his and general review scores and then pick up the beers i am interested in (assuming they have not flown off the shelf).
I do take ratings with a grain of salt. With Untappd there is bias with high abv beers (rated higher generally) while general snobbishness with IPAs. I find that if there are enough BA ratings for a beer that they tend to rate higher; i chalk that up to a lot of us being grateful for all the awesome beer on the street of recent years compared to all the mediocrity that we happily drank back in the 90's and 00's !
Cheers, Tom

 

All 12% Beers lol

 

ABV or LLC?

 

Sorry, the company12% Beer Project which you named a good amount of beers from.

 

Ah, thought so!

 

I'm late to this party, but totally agree with the OP.

That's the only thing I'm thankful for, so I can spot and skip them....mostly....I will glance through and once every 2-3 months I'll grab of 4-pack if I think some artwork or name is really funny/clever. They all taste very samey samey and I know what I'm in for, so buying a clever label is as good a reason to me as any other.

The majority of my shopping selection time is spent trying to date imports by their layers of dust (sometimes I get lucky) before picking what's fresh from an established regional or local US craft brewery I trust (e.g. Sierra Nevada, Deschutes, Bells, Sly Fox, Yards...). To keep costs down I'll often grab a case a cheap beer I like too (typically High Life, Hamms, or Yuengling Chetty or Premium), but I don't spend much time on that decision.

 

ISO rare Turkish Calvados.