Devils Backbone Brewing Company Partners with Anheuser-Busch

Quick! Name a brewery who has been "doing it for years" that doesn't have a shit ton of medals. This is the most every kid wins a medal industry in America.

I was in Virginia 2 weekends ago and went to several places in Charlottesville, Richmond, Harrisonburg, and Lickinghole and the Devils Backbone 8 Point IPA I had was so bad I didn't waste any more drinking time on anything else.

 

Pardon my language, but if you didn't know anything about them, then why the fuck did you comment in the first place?

 

Starr Hill better than Devil's Backbone? Seriously? I'd have to disagree very strongly on that one.

 

So you have one beer at one location that may or may not have had a good tap line and that's it, just going to dump on them.

Their lagers are very good btw, but I know that isn't "sexy" around these parts.

 

It has been a "secret" for at least a year.

 

They specialize in lagers, and brew great ones. They're forced to brew ipa's because that's what the market unfortunately demands. Count me in as agreeing that they are a great brewery.

 

Their website is down right now (not too shocking) but they have won 28 medals at the GABF since 2009. That puts them in the top 3 most winning breweries since that time. One of the other two is a megabrewer. The other (Firestone Walker) is now at least partially owned by one. Plus, that's only in the last 7 years so it's not like they're still bragging about a medal for an IPA win in the 90's.

 

Not that I've kept records, but, it seems to me whenever I've seen them mentioned here on BA they've gotten good mentions.

 

Yes. I find that Einstein's definition of insanity applies to mediocre breweries.

 

Yes, but if everyone is trying to make the "best" IPA, Stout, Sours, etc, there is room for a brewer to make lagers too.

 

DB Vienna Lager will become InBev's nationwide competition to SA Boston Lager.

 

Drink what you want, but it's your loss to make such assumptions.

 

I've enjoyed the limited DBB beers I've had, nothing I'd go out of my way for. Disappointed to see another get bought up.

Last year when they were at Firestone, I stopped by for a VL as a nice little refresher. It's a damn nice lager.

Having said that, if DBB shows up in California, I won't be buying any.

 

Ok guys, their Vienna is honestly worthy of the medal. It's exactly to style, which is a concept that's been lost recently. I put them up there with Great Lakes. They make the staple styles that are what make craft beer great. Can they make a great BA stout? Maybe, can they exhibit the finesse required to make a great Vienna or German Pilsener?

There's a reason Germany does these styles best. It's been like hundreds of years of practice.

Now get off my damn lawn, kids.

PS it does sadden me that AB got a really good brewery, but if the beers stays the same then oh well. If it truly mattered to us then BCBS would have been a massive flop this year.

 

Really well made lagers aren't entry level beers. For some of us, that's what we want. I'll pass on your fruit, bourbon, or soy sauce beers.

 

Entry level when compared to mouth blistering IPAs, sours or bourbon bomb stouts. Vienna Lager is an entry level craft beer. It is a craft alternative to someone who has been drinking AALs all there lives just as much as Boston Lager, another Vienna that's entry level. Maybe instead of calling them "entry level" I could have said "gateway beers" but the description still carries the same idea - that these easy to approach beers make venturing into craft less intimidating, less of a crapshoot, and most importantly, most comfortable for a dyed in the wool Bud drinker.

My intention was not to offend those who enjoy lagers, as I also love them. Hell, I've even traded for lagers for goodness sakes! I'm only pointing out that it's beers like Vienna Lager that make it possible for a number of folks to discover the craft world.

 

Never really cared for the light style beers until I had a Devil's Backbone Vienna Lager, on tap it is sublime.

 

Solid local breweries producing quality beer is (in my opinion) the heart of craft beer. Threads like this underscore the problems inherent in the craft movement to compete against the macro breweries. The hunt for "whales" and other seemingly exotic variations on traditional styles is a great boon to the local craft industry, but it overshadows the accomplishments of quality unobtrusive offerings of breweries like Devil's Backbone, and numerous others. I feel that supporting craft beer goes beyond cherry picking the whales. Very few breweries are built on the backs of their "whale" beers. They are pushing other more mundane products to be able to expand and stabilize enough to create the highly sought after limited offerings that so many people crave. But where is their support? It's the local regulars and the everyday purchasers of the core beers, and when that support is lacking or insufficient such breweries have to re-examine their strategies, which sometimes pushes them into the wide net of the macros, like AB-InBev. And is this cause for concern? To a certain extent, yes. The more shelf space companies like AB-Inbev occupy the more they bolster their dominance of the market, which can be detrimental to craft breweries that can't compete on the same scale. The craft beer industry has experienced explosive growth over the past decade, and who are we to look down from on high and declare these partnerships betrayals if we have not supported the foundations of these breweries? If we are serious about defending the autonomy of these breweries that are susceptible to massive conglomerate buyouts, then we literally need to put our money where our mouth is. Buy the core beers, attend local events, get to know the people who make the fine beers we enjoy, and spread the word. Community is what strengthens these local breweries and encourages them to grow. So be part of the solution. Rant concluded.

 

I don't really think Duvel-Moortgat counts as a mega brewery.

 

Wish they would have gone for Starr Hill instead - that shit sucks