Oh, be that guy. I can't believe I made that mistake. I wasn't even drinking last night. Maybe that was the problem.
Back in CA, I'm surrounded by fresh Pliny, and when I have a hankering for a solid hazy, there's plenty of Alvarado St. around. Also, the last few Heady/Focal drops in the area have been jaw-dropping, more than I could ask for.
I agree, on aver7, you can get some good beer options at most restaurants, whereas 10 years ago it was Bud Lite and Coors
It's a style that doesn't cross my path very often. 20 years ago I remember enjoying them at brewpubs, it was a favorite style for me. But I haven't seen one for as long as I can remember. Maybe now I should try it again, I think the local pub in Silver City may brew one but I don't think I've tried it. As I say often, I live in beer hell, 14 miles from civilization, so pub drinking is a real rarity for me.
Yes and no I love the fancy shit, like Lindemans Framboise and Dragon Fandango, but if nothing else is around and I desperately need to unwind, I will settle for a Michelob Ultra if I *really* have to Modelo and/or Heineken are usually the restaurant choices, they're not refined, but they're not dirt-cheap pisswater either
I can relate to being spoiled—so many options that you forget how good something like Spotted Cow actually is. It’s always there, so I end up reaching for something different just to mix it up. I’ve been lucky enough to visit New Glarus Brewing Company and have it fresh on tap at the source. It absolutely lives up to the hype. I flew there on that trip—but next time, I’m seriously considering a U-Haul. But that’s not really the point. Earlier this year, I hit a bit of a crossroads in my beer journey. Getting deeper into tasting and reviewing pushed me somewhere I didn’t expect—I became a “whale chaser.” Always hunting the rare, the hyped, the hard-to-get. My cellar still has plenty of those bottles waiting their turn. The question I had to ask myself was: am I actually discovering great beer, or just chasing exclusivity? The honest answer? I’ve missed out on a lot by only wanting what I couldn’t have. There are beers—sometimes overlooked, sometimes inconsistent in reviews—that still have something to offer. I’ve found that even stepping into something like SeaQuake Brewing led me to discover some genuinely great IPAs with unique hop profiles I wouldn’t have appreciated otherwise. It’s a shift in mindset. Not just defaulting to what’s rare, but staying open—whether it’s a “lazy pick” like Spotted Cow or something unexpected off the beaten path. Does anyone else find themselves reevaluating what they reach for?
Yeah, I got this feeling when Anchor closed. My initial reaction was "oh man that's too bad" then I realized I hadn't bought their stuff in forever. So now I try to make sure to buy an "old classic" along with the "let's try this new thing" more often than not.
I find the "whale" type beers on my list I want to try at the brewery, or somewhere close by. I want that contextual experience. So at home, I am just trying to spread a decent amount of local love.
I appreciate that sentiment—and I want to expand on it for a minute. Spotted Cow might be called “mediocre” by some, but I think that misses what actually makes it great: consistency. For a brewer to hit the same profile, batch after batch, year after year—that’s where the art of brewing really shows up. It’s easy to chase bold, rare, or experimental beers. It’s much harder to produce something clean, balanced, and repeatable at scale. Malt changes year to year. Hop crops vary. Yeast can drift. Everything wants to introduce variation. I’ve seen this up close—my brother works for Budweiser, and even their malt has to meet strict lab specs before it’s accepted. That level of control is no accident. So yeah—maybe Spotted Cow drinks like a simple farmhouse ale. Maybe it doesn’t blow your mind. But it shows up the same way every time. In that sense, it’s like a Big Mac. You know exactly what you’re getting, no matter where you are. And while that might sound like a knock, it’s actually one of the hardest things to pull off in brewing. Call it basic if you want—but consistency at that level is anything but. That’s what makes it impressive.
