Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

I am sick of all the "back in my day" bemoaning. You can still get amazing beers in all styles, there are still plenty of generous folks out there, and NEIPA is a style and people who like those NEIPAs are no less beer fans than some smuck who only drinks non-adjunct-non BA stouts.

 

So when you're at a bar and someone asks you what you have there and how is it, your response is, "Fuck off, can't you see I'm not on BeerAdvocate right now?".

 

Guess we have a winner here

 

Am I the only one who is wondering how that works?

 

Sure, there's always been some well done outliers, but overall things could be better

For whatever reason, though, Pilsners are well represented. And black lagers seem to be coming on strong lately, too.

Enjoy the trip! I hope to hit up the Czech Republic one of these days myself.

 

So . . . you're sort of asking if someone can be a beer geek and not have ever consumed an NEIPA or pastry stout?

Absolutely.

 

No, but their Pickwick Ale was...
Well, it wouldn't have been considered "craft" until recently (the once-dreaded "adjunct brew") but, man, I miss that beer (along with the other Narragansett-brewed "golden ales" of the 1970s, like Croft and Ballantine XXX and Brewers Gold Ales. Never did find any Narragansett Ale).

 

This

I know I am old and my "palette" is not great, but it amazingly always tastes like beer to me.

I will add one. I enjoy being a ticker.

 

I think sometimes people confuse "tastes like" with "is reminiscent of" or "makes me think of", as smell (and taste) and memory are closely linked.

 

Perhaps not 80% IPA but if you toss in every other style that has been bastardized and made hop forward (saisons, wheat beers etc come to mind), you're probably going to get close.

Also, Philly is a pretty special market. Most places where I live, in central PA, the taps are by far over represented by hop forward beers.

 

Not really --- I know the correct answer, just trying to stay on-topic and be "Controversial"...

 

I meant "within a year of bottling"

 

Where? Grew up in Schererville and wouldn't mind stopping in next time I head back home

 

I have no trouble believeing it is like that where you live and in the paces you have access to. But, that was exactly my point. Broad sweeping generalizations about the state of the beer scene in the US based on a local experience just don't work when there is so much variabiity from location to location. Philly is not really more special than either of the Portlands or a dozen or more other places throughout the US.

I'd expect that if I lived in a different area I might have similar complaints about lots of hops and only lots of hops (much as I currently am unhappy with Victory for their shift to more IPAs, etc. while relegating the Saints to occasional offerings only on draft at one of their tap rooms). But I also recognize that those offerings are not necessarily sustainable for distribution to their entire distribution footprint. Breweries offer what sells and leave behind those that don't sell well. Our reality is some beers sell better than others. Still I don't think the whole beer scene has gone to hell in a hand basket.

 

This times a thousand!

Edit: I agreed with pretty much everything else in your post, but I was just about to post that brown ales seem to get no love.

 

People who have no job and go to every beer release/"rare" beer tapping at a brewery. day or night.

Can't believe no one has mentioned this (as far as I can tell), but people, typically the ones I mentioned above, who get beer and take it straight to secondary to sell at extremely inflated costs. I legit think that's how they make a living.

 

Right on, thanks.. Those would both be on my way back home from Lakewood

 

Crowd-sourced beer review ratings are dumb.

Good Beer: 100 (5 star)
Bad Beer: 85 (4 star)

Ridiculous.

 

Got some good ones in MA, Notch and Jacks Abby make some.