Controversial Beer Opinions Thread

If you want to visit, that's cool, but their stuff is everywhere in the city.

Never been to Finback, but Mikkeller NYC is neat. It's right in CitiField so access is easy from the subway. LOTS of Mikkeller stuff (obvi), but a TON of local NYC stuff, like Suarez, as well.

 

Fwiw- Suarez is from up in the Hudson Valley, but well worth getting while you're in the city. And saves you a trip . Their stuff can also usually be found at Torst in Brooklyn as well.

Sure, our point of view is shaped by where we live and drink, but the way I phrased it in that post doesn't preclude going to breweries either. If someone would respond with "no real good beer bars here, but try these breweries...", that would obviously be cool, too.

 

Not a controversial opinion but I'm seriously curious as to what percentage of your beer purchases are entirely based on how cool the artwork on the bottle or the name of the beer is? There are so many options out there it's like beer shopping is almost a chore now. I wish every place was like trader Joe's where I can buy one of everything

 

Let's accept that NYC, and probably the top 10 population cities, are a very different beast than the majority of the country.

A 45 minute drive for me, is drastically different than a 45 minute "bus and tunnel" commute from the Burbs into the city.

There's just no way NYC, LA, Dallas, Miami,etc in an urban core, can be compared to a less dense location.

Bars, just due to space and access issues, cant be expected to provide the brewery culture smaller cities have.

 

0% is answer for me, although I did buy my first bottle of Hop Stoopid due to its name, so maybe 0.01%

 

No influence for me in the decision to buy, though it may draw my attention, and if real fancy it may earn my appreciation. One example is BCBS, which I really admire the design of. Still, I can't help wishing they offered it in 12oz doses, didn't used a custom bottle and fancy label, and cut the price a bit.

 

As I rarely drink bottled beer the artwork is of no importance. But in a pub when a clip looks interesting I ask for a sample. Half of the time I don't particularly like it but occasionally something special turns up.

 

Back in the day before my head was in the game? I'd have to think a pretty decent percentage was. In the beginning, definitely over 50%, but once you get an idea of the quality of beer a place produces the labels and names don't matter. Hell, I've bought beer that I chose in spite of their labels and/or names. Now, it's a solid zero. Art and names don't matter in the least and the only reason that I really pay attention to them is to talk about them here or order them at the pub.

 

Can you explain what you mean here?

 

Yeah, I'd fancy an explanation, as well, as that doesn't seem to make any sense.

 

Virtually none, nor am I drawn to cutsey names that don't actually tell me what type beer it is.

 

Major cities can more easily accommodate beer bars, because of population density, and access to shipping. Real estate costs would also work against a small brewery. It would be easier to set up a 100 seat bar in Manhattan, than a 100 seat brewery.

Out here in the smaller cities, it seems to work the opposite: my city of 80k people has 13 breweries, with at least two more on the way, and only a handful of beer-focused bars. Why sell somebody else's beer, when you can sell your own?

 

Thanks. Now I see where you were coming from.

 

Zero, if it is really for enjoyment of the beer itself. However, I do collect craft beer cans that I drank, so I like the ones with sports, maps and travel (including outdoor scenes, places of interest), animals, and transportation (cars, trains, planes, bicycles, etc.). So if you count that, about 90%.

 

The amount of people insisting that marketing and branding play zero role whatsoever in their decision-making is hilarious.

 

I feel that Sip of Sunshine doesn't taste as great as it did when I had to go to Vermont to buy it. Maybe it's because of being brewed in Connecticut? IDK but I feel its over priced and I could get beers of the same quality for less $$$

 

So what a ya tryin' to say?

 

I can say with certainly that artwork is irrelevant to my decision making. Some of the beers I enjoy the most have plain clips, just a name and the ABV.

 

The fact that people think marketing has no effect on them is proof that it works.

 

Or it's proof that the history of marketing failures is actually understood by some who also understand when and how marketing actually works, when/if it works.