I Ignore Most Breweries

I learned this the hard way over the last few years, pouring money down the drain!

 

You're not alone. Years ago I used to explore every brewery available at the store. Now with all the additional breweries these days there's ironically less variety and more old beer. Been burned too many times at this point trying something new. I still want to try something new every now and then but more often than not I'm sticking to breweries and beers I trust.

 

Definitely in a similar situation to you but I'll also say that it's breweries that were once my favorite that kind of drove me to this (e.g. Trillium sucking).

Hm, there was a BA New Year's Resolution thread on the main board and I don't think I really had a goal, but maybe it will be to increase the number of breweries I review, just to get more exposure to these breweries...

 

My friends and I were "tickers" in the 70s, but I'm over that. For consumption at home (maybe one a day average) I want one or two regular beers that are pretty much always available. I'll try something else if the alternative looks really promising. I prefer traditional styles also.

 

More wah wah threads. Its 2022 guys
Let's shut up

 

I sorta have the opposite goal. A small local brewery could take over my #1 spot in terms of reviews for a specific brewery by this summer, and another local smaller brewery may move into my #2 spot by the end of the year, both replacing a local regional craft brewery. Both of these small local breweries have surpassed other regional and national craft breweries, putting them in my #2 and #3 most reviewed breweries already.

Sometimes I think I should branch out, but I know these two breweries brew to my taste, and execute their releases consistently. To be fair, I do go to other breweries, but these two get the bulk of my craft beer money these days.

 

To be honest, your post is more unnecessarily negative than the “wah wah threads.”

 

IDK. I work downtown so I have checked out their beers with coworkers twice since being back in the office in July. I'm not eager to go back but I also wouldn't not meet friends there if they wanted to go. I just got burned by too many four packs a while back (like 2016/2017) that it kind of taught me, hey there are so many other breweries that I can get beer that isn't objectively bad/inconsistent. I'll support them instead.

Hah, my other resolution was to support more local breweries. All of my most reviewed breweries are local (both MA and New England) to me already. Besides CBC (who I believe is 2 or 3 currently for me), I don't think there is a small local brewery pumping out the number of brands that it'd take to get them into that spot. So maybe I'll drink more CBC too...

 

It'd be easier to try a wider array of breweries if new entrants to the market priced their products more reasonably. If your IPA costs $17 for four cans, I'm not taking a chance on it when Little Sip is right next to it at $13. And if your pilsner is $15, you're gonna have a real hard time getting me to look past Post Shift at $9 or, if I'm feeling splurgy, Alexandr at $13.

 

Too many gimmicks not enough variety or quality. Lactose in everything? Puke. If I want a milkshake I’ll get a milkshake not in my beer and forget pastry sours. My school age kids have better palates than today’s brewpies.

 

I always find it strange when people post on a thread just to complain about the existence of the thread (like when a topic has been covered before) instead of just scrolling past to find one more of the person’s liking.

 

Along these lines, I've been finding myself having a harder time finding something to buy as more and more new breweries' beers fill up the coolers and shelves. Cartoon labels, tiny font, unknown breweries, goofy beer names and "innovative" styles full of flavorings and lactose.

I mean, I always was one of those guys "just browsing", and walking out without making a purchase. 20-30 years ago, lots of stores found that "suspicious" and a cry of "Can I help you find something?" from behind the register often accompanied my empty-handed exit.

But these days, I often have to hit 2 or 3 stores to find something I want to drink.

 

Ditto. (with shopping in general rather than just beer)
I can't identify with the posts I've seen on BA from people who feel that they have to leave with beer once they enter a store. My wife and I are different in this regard as well. If we're at a store and I can tell that she's buying something that she doesn't really want, I tell her we can leave without it. Her response is that if she leaves empty handed, it means that the trip was a waste of time.

 

Even the Beer Store employees can't keep track. I found an IPA half-case in a cooler, then dragged it to the register. I asked the clerk what the date code was. She acted surprised when she saw that it was almost two years old. The stocker rummaged around for a while and found another half case for me that was on the right side of the expiration date. I wonder if the rejected package went back on the shelf? Costco near here is a straightforward alternative, but with a miniscule choice of styles I like.

 

I still like trying new places if I find myself near one, but tbh at this point I mostly just do a once every month and a half or so hour ride to Tree House and drink miller lite if out. Lawson's or Allagash in in the rare event I need to grab beer at a store. Doesn't hurt to have Notch in Brighton, either. I'm not anti trying something new, but I really don't have any interest or need in branching out when my two favorite breweries can easily fit into 90% of my Saturdays if I want them to.

 

I have the same feelings. It has been years since I have gone into a proper bottle shop to get beer. Most of my experiences are at the brewery. When it comes to trying a new place, I always check the menu first. If half the tap list is IPA, it's a pass for me. Especially if the other half is full of pastry stouts and lactose/heavily fruited sours. Just not my cup of tea. The best brewery experience I have had in the past year was my trip to Allagash. Before that, my trip to Notch. Otherwise, I get my fill from homebrew, where I tend to focus on German, Belgian, or the odd historical styles (Scandinavian farm house beers lately). And my homebrew tends to satisfy my urge for imports, whose level of "freshness" can vary even with some of the best bottle shops.

Honestly, IPA's are all starting to taste the same to me. With so many places using Citra or Mosaic in their beers, it tends to drown out a lot of complementary hops. Everything becomes the same "hop juice". Descriptions are all the same too: "tropical, mango, guava, passionfruit..." blah blah blah... At this point, you could probably give me a glass of juice with a shot of vodka and I wouldn't know the difference!

I wish more places would attempt to explore historical styles of beers instead of just adding hops, sugar, fruit, and acid to their beers and call it creative... When 2/3rds of the shelves at the local store are all the same style, I don't think that's being creative anymore...

End of rant.

 

I am totally with you here! I have gotten to the point where I have even stopped looking at packaged imports since invariably they are too old at my local beer retailers.

Yesterday I bottled a batch of Tmavý Ležák (Czech Dark Lager) and in a few days I will be brewing a Bohemian Pilsner (Czech Pale Lager).

My previous batch is an Altbier (Sticke version) which is drinking very nicely right now!

As with most beer styles, fresh is best!!

Na Zdravi

@rotsaruch