Beer Impression, Balance vs. Impact

While I think there's a place for both, I'm more impressed by balance. I'm not a home brewer, but I feel like it's probably tougher to achieve. And I enjoy a great balanced beer longer. Something that slaps you in the face is great, but can get old after 8-12 ounces sometimes.

 

Wait, PtE is distributed in South Korea?

 

When you say "balance" over impact, there should be a caveat for "complexity" as in many cases a big impact ale tends to be more two dimensional, in my opinion, thus the balanced ale tends to have those "nuances" I find so enjoyable.

 

Nice rhyme.

On topic:

Definitely this. No need to limit yourself to one or the other.

 

To be honest, I think a well balanced beer does have a good impact

I could go either way. Sure, on the weekend, when I'm enjoying a Sunday morning beer I want it to have some sort of impact. Week nights, when I review a beer or two, and am otherwise just drinking during Netflix, grading, or what else, I prefer balanced.

 

The beers you mentioned don't have any additives. Bomb is made with espresso beans, chocolate, vanilla beans, and ancho chile peppers. When I buy a regular imperial stout I enjoy the wonderful flavor that the malts provide. When I buy an IIPA I am enjoying the wonderful flavor that the hops provide. I really enjoy Bomb but sometimes I don't want a beer with all of that extra stuff in it. To put it into perspective of coffee you can really enjoy the flavor of a specific bean or roast. When you throw chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and pumpkin pie spice in it...sure it's going to be an enticingly sweet beverage...but it just buries the flavor of the coffee.

 

I have to join the team of people who feel that balance brings its own form of "wow" factor. I tend to feel my eyebrows rising and then noticing I've been staring at my glass for a solid minute in quiet awe far more often when having a fantastically well-executed pilsner as opposed to a bourbon-rum-port barrel aged chocolate cherry jalapeno graham cracker peanut butter ham sandwich dijon mustard whipped cream garlic guacamole and enchilada imperial stout.

 

i like a mixture of both. too much balance and a beer is just boring. too much impact (especially of a taste you don't particularly like) and it can be overwhelming.

it all depends on the beer itself

 

Both I say, but balance over extreme most of the time.

 

I much prefer a well crafted and balanced beer.

Anecdote time:
In college I was in a practical brewing class. Even though I was a 19 year old math major, I was widely considered the expert of the class because I had been homebrewing for 4 years at that point. Other than me, there was a large contingent of food science brewing emphasis students and a smaller group of viniculture and enology students-- winemakers. My teacher loved to shit talk wine and these students and some of his prejudice rubbed off on me. At the end of the quarter we had a competition, and my group brewed a really balanced IPA. It was a great IPA, I didn't even like IPAs at this time, and this one got me into them. The class agreed it was the best, our keg was the only one tapped when we all shared. The judges complained it was too cloudy and dinged us out of the top spot, which I'm still salty about, and guess who won. The winemakers. They brewed a 100IBU Black like night "Everything but the kitchen sink" type brew. It was what you describe as "Impactful" it wasn't balanced or even in my opinion tasty at all. I hate them. Yep, still salty.

 

Your friend is right.

Beer advocate typical progression is this

Keystone > Boston Lager > hoppy > stout > imperial & barrel aged > Barleywine > Belgians > sours >

Then once you realize you've tried most everything there is to try you'll likely settle down andlearn to enjoy a well made Pilsner and occasionally sprinkle in beer of "impact" from time to time.

I've done this cycle in about 6 years. Now I mostly drink pilsners and toss in nice fresh IPAs and an occasional BA stout from the cellar when friends come over. Oh and Hefeweizens in the summer. Never forget to drink a Hefeweizen in the summer.

 

Impact.

Whats with the paragraphs? It's an unbelievably simple question.

 

Artistry

 

You remind me of me from six years ago.

 

I like being blown-away, but not necessarily just by 'impact'. I've had some hop-bombs that were high-impact, but didn't blow me away because the malt-base, bitterness level, hop profile, complexity, and balance weren't were I like it. It's complicated and very personal. I like NE hop-bombs that have a touch of malt and middle of the road bitterness/aggressiveness. Abner, Upper Case, Haze, Tesseract are all beers that hit all the right 'notes' for me personally. They of course are still impact, but there are plenty of IPAs that are way more bitter, less/more malty, etc etc.

Balanced impact? Does that even make sense? I think of Hill Farmstead porters and stouts a perfect example of balanced impact. They are super refined, balanced, and drinkable (especially the BA stuff), yet they are pretty high-impact flavor wise. They just don't blow your palate away with straight bourbon, booze, vanilla, etc. Not that those don't have a place. I also do enjoy some bourbon bombs, but they need the right body.

And it's not just the 'high impact' beers. A well executed, fresh Kolsch, lager, session ale, etc can hit the spot and be just 'perfect', making what might as well b an 'impact'.

It's complicated. I'm just looking for what ever beer fits my mood and hit's MY sweet spot. Sometimes my sweet spot changes though. Actually, it changes a lot!