Incredible Hot Takes

My Hawtest Take remains that murkbombs are dull, boring, unimaginative messes that mostly taste the same: like the artificially flavored 'juice' boxes that many modern beer drinkers grew up on.

 

If you ask me the current state of Craft is and/or has crested so what we are now seeing is a return to the traditional, long lasting quality and greatness of those OG craft brewers and beer styles. Life is cyclical. Case in point, your SN Pale Ale and Yards brews...Or the resurgence of traditional German Lagers. The beers we loved near twenty years ago are the ones we find ourselves still reaching for again and again.

Maybe it's just a West Coast mindset here but I never really understood brewers/beers to ever be "hyped". The industry ranges from the very poor to the elite and those top tier echelon types are only going to naturally be more sought after imo. I don't love every single beer style but one thing that transcends all is great craftsmanship. Plain and simple, if I am going to grab a Hazy NEIPA it's a safe bet to stick with brewers like Tree House, Trillium, Fidens, Monkish etc because of their known pedigree and ability to produce a premium product of that style of beer...Just as in the same vein if you are looking for a solid Wild Ale you go for a Cantillion, 3F, Side Project, etc. A great beer is a great beer and vice versa. And above all else you will only keep drinking what you actually like/enjoy.

I recall a long time retired BA of ours that used to state there is always room for more beer here...and I tend to side with that perspective..not the contrary.

I more often find myself agreeing with Bourdain in that "those beer nerds are merciless". No offense to anybody on here but you want to bitch about too many Pastry Stouts yet that is what the industry has demanded...we have forced brewers to push the absolute boundaries and this is ultimately the end result. Some do them very well and others not so much...yet they still sell because there is a market for them...just like there is a market for everything else. Supply and demand at its finest. Your favorite style is near extinct why? Because they do not sell. Hello Black IPA's!!! You don't like a certain style or beer so then don't friggin buy it only to rant on the internet of your displeasure.

There is a bit of an ongoing joke too with the industry in that the West Coast IPA is dead but it's obviously just a scoff of that notion right. Anyways, I have said a lot but not sure any of this is really controversial or that I am even tracking what OP has laid up ha just my few cents in the moment

 

I like the new school hops to be balanced by the C-hops we came to know and love back in the 90s-early 00s (Torpedo was the first nationally marketed beer to use Citra, but it is balanced by quite a bit of Crystal).

So far NEIPAs, being more bitter and aggressive than clearer IPAs, I think that most IPA brewers have reduced IBUs in response to folks wanting less bitter beer, and what most folks perceive as bitterness in hazies is actually hop burn/tannins.

 

I’m not sure it’s as simple as that. Can it not be possible that the industry sometimes gambles on trends that turn out to be less popular than originally thought? Is it possible that people are buying certain styles because they’re what’s easiest to find, and not because they’re actively seeking out those styles? Sure, maybe you and I know what we’re looking for, but the average consumer probably doesn’t. I liked NEIPAs before I discovered WCIPAs and English Bitters. I didn’t buy them because I liked them more than other styles. I bought them because I had yet to find those other under-represented styles that I now prefer.

Obviously I don’t actually expect brewers to sink their business playing against trends. I’m just a little frustrated with today’s selection. What’s the point of having 800 microbrewers all brewing the same thing?

A couple weeks ago, my go-to beer cave brought in a brewer from out west that I don’t often find in my region. 7 different brews… 6 were NEIPAs and the 7th was like a wild ale or something. What a disappointment. The brewer isn’t even known for their IPAs. I refuse to believe 6/7 represents the will of the market. Now if those 6 NEIPAs sell -and how would most people even choose between them?- does that prove that it’s what everyone wanted? or just that they didn’t have an alternative?

I don’t honestly know. I’ve just been waiting for a good excuse to vent that.

 

Hot Take:

Hill Farmstead stouts are mediocre

 

TL;DR

 

No

 

Hoppy lagers are fantastic and just what the beer world needs. They highlight hop character and can introduce non craft beer drinkers to flavors they wouldn’t expect in beer

 

Tree House’s ratings are inflated.

 

I essentially stopped drinking IPO spectrum beers probably 5 years ago because quite frankly I just don’t think most of them are very good anymore. Is that a hot take?

 

182 years and people are just noticing?

 

Lagers are an abomination.

I'll hang up and listen.

 

Not so hat take: I tend to love all IPA's, except Bruts and Belgians.

 

Brut IPA could have been better executed, and really didn't need to become a trend. Same as Cold IPA. Good ideas for a light, crisp, hop-forward beer, but overly hyped and the novelty wore off quickly when everyone started making mediocre versions.

Love me a well made Belgian IPA.

 

100 years from now, folks are going to be looking up Brut IPAs recipes for revival like it was Mumm or Adambier.

 

After almost 40 years of craft beer, I'm still a kid in candy store drinking my "old" established styles/beers and going to a new brewery and trying the pumpkin coffee stout.

 

The beer scene was more fun when it was smaller.
Having a lot of local breweries only means the shelves at stores are loaded with a lot of mediocre local beer that has pushed out superior imports and beers from other states.