Are American Craft Breweries Ruining Beer?

I agree completely. I’m definitely speaking for my general region (Great Lakes Bay).

 

Oh cool, this thread again.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

I don't know about beer brand availability in your area but for $20 my choice is to purchase a 15-pack of Victory Classic Lager:



It is an all malt lager and is consistent with the branding of being a "Easy Drinkin' Lager".

This could very well be a "slinger of a lager" for you. And very much a 'step up' when compared to mega-brewed AAL beers (multiple steps up actually).

Cheers!

 

And needless to say that is a 'burgeoning' craft beer area. When I stayed in Asheville a couple of years ago there were booklets listing all of the craft breweries in Asheville and surrounding area; over 20 breweries if my memory serves me right. That is a lot of craft breweries for that relatively small city (area).

Cheers!

 

No. American craft breweries are not ruining beer.

But we toss around opinions all day and night here, so feel free to tell the world what you think is wrong with American craft breweries.

As for me, I am unbelievably successful at the subtle art of not drinking beer that I do not like to drink. It's amazing.
Cheers

 

Have you been to Red Oak over in Whitsett? They are an exclusive lager brewery and have a nice dark called Battlefield Black. Their Red Oak Amber is a classic and very tasty and roasty lager. Also, there's Old Mecklenburg in Charlotte that is also an exclusive lager brewer.

 

Bill, I get what you are saying here but in the parlance of Adrian Monk - "Here's the thing".

My local beer retailers have a finite amount of space (shelf space, floor space, refrigerator space, etc.) and every time they place beers that tastes like pastry, kool aid, smoothies, sour patch kids, etc. there is ever decreasing space for beers that taste like beer. Ten+ years ago my local Retail Beer Distributor had a fair amount of space allocated to English and German beers. English beers are now practically non-existent and the selection of German brewed beers is significantly reduced. When it comes to American craft brewed beers there is a metric shit-ton of hoppy beers (lately mostly Juicy/Hazy beers) and more and more of the 'weird' beers I partially listed above. Yes, it could be argued that this 'transformation' is due to market (customer) demands but there is a sort of chicken and the egg conundrum here. There is certitude that I can't purchase a beer that is not there and the retailer could rationalize there is zero demand for brand X since nobody is buying that brand (which is no longer on the shelf).

I have in the past had multiple conversations with the owners/managers of my local beer retailers about them stocking beers that I want. Those conversations were hit or miss. My last conversation with a local beer manager was to obtain Tipo Pils (packaged by B. United). When he contacted me that he had the beer I went in later that day. When he rang me up for a four-pack of 12 ounces cans at close to 25 bucks he reacted to the expression on my face. He was even kind enough to say: "You don't have to buy it". I did consider this for a bit but since I bugged him to obtain this beer I did purchase that one four-pack. Six months later while shopping I saw there were still five four-packs sitting on that shelf (all of the other customers refused to pay the exorbitant price apparently). I never made any other requests since that time.

So, to conclude, I can indeed choose to not purchase beer I do not like to drink I am not a fan that my selection of beers that taste like beer is markedly reduced. Just my personal perspective/opinion.

Cheers!

 

Well, somebody's got to do it...

 

Jack
I don't disagree.

If it makes you feel better, we are still living in the golden age of beer. Modern times anyway.
Remember traveling 100 miles because you heard of a place that had Sam Smiths Oatmeal Stout?, or that time your buddy came back from wherever with some bottles that he knew you would appreciate?

Now I can avoid Pastry Stout and still pick up great beer at my local, at two damn near amazing breweries mere minutes from my office (which has proven to be dangerous on Fridays. Sometimes Thursdays. Not immune to Wednesday or Tue.. anyway...)

For as long as beer has been brewed, which I understand to be a loooooong time, there has been crappy beer being sold and there have been pissed off beer drinkers wailing about it on the net.

Cheers

 

Two things can be true at the same time.

When you consider the ability to travel to small, local breweries to purchase beer on-premise (both draft and cans to take home) this is indeed a golden age.

When you consider the 'challenges' at my local beer retailers (e.g., too much old beer, too many 'weird' beers displacing beer that tastes like beer, etc.) then this aspect is not quite so golden (maybe a bronze medal instead?).

As you know I am a homebrewer so the majority of the beer I drink at home are my homebrewed beer. Sometime next week I will be brewing my annual batch of Saison. My most recent batches are (most recent first):

• Quad
• Ekuanot IPA
• English Bitter Ale
• Orval clone
• Oatmeal Stout
• Jack's 1896 Michelob
• etc.

And I am happy that I still have about a case left of my homebrewed Tmavý Ležák (Czech Dark Lager) that I brewed a few months ago. @Harrison8

Cheers!

 

They had started out as the PDX outpost of Ohio's Fat Heads. Open for a couple years, then the franchise agreement expired, and they reopened as Von Ebert.

 

Yeah, I think I was there a couple of months after the 'transition'. As I mentioned above I had no prior knowledge about this new to me brewery but I thought the beers there were very good - excellent.

Apparently over the past couple of years they won some medals at the GABF's. And just last week: "Von Ebert Brewing, winner of the 2021 Oregon Beer Awards’ Medium Size Brewery of the Year..."

Very impressive for such a 'young' brewery IMO.

Cheers!