Founders too big?

I did a trip around Lake Michigan in 2011 and stopped at Founders even though I was not a craft beer drinker, not much of a beer drinker at all really, but heard good things from a friend. My wife and I were fortunate to try Cashew and were blown away. Their tap room is amazing - ambiance, service, beer and food. Other than GI Clybourn, there is no other brewery / brewpub that I would rather visit.

We made our second trip to Founders just a couple weeks ago....a 9 hour drive. I was able to try 8 new beers while there and had a great lunch. My only complaint is that I wish it was much closer.

I can understand how someone living in the area could get tired of the usual offerings. I equate that to celebrity dudes that cheat on their ridiculously hot wives. My recommendation is that you appreciate what you have so close and focus on the positives. You will never see me on here complaining about Surly, we are lucky to have them in Minnesota.

 

Founders is small. I think the lack of class 3's etc. is do to them focusing on more pressing long-term matters (such as the brewery expansion etc.)

 

Deja vu, man..

 

Oh sweet mother of god, no more.

 

Did anyone see Scanners?

Didn't I drink something called Walter Melon last week, that seemed pretty experimental? Granted it tasted like watermelon gummy bears and I wasn't a huge fan of it, but it was experimental and probably (hopefully) a one-off. There building out their brewery, give em time.

 

Another one of these threads.....god help us all.

 

Seriously? there are only like 20 of these same type of threads here..everyday people complain that Founders does not cater to them personally, but think of different ways to say the same thing...You dont like it? Too Bad...Frequent another place....Geez

 

Are you sure it's not simply because you've tried them all? (You lucky dog!)

Seriously, I've never even been to Founders (I envy you living so close to such a world-class brewery!) so my opinion means nothing here, but I think the last thing we need is another brewery that is more interested in producing strange new stuff than they are in perfecting the strange stuff they produce. We already have a brewery like that and I believe it's called Dogfish Head.

 

I don't read his comments that way at all. Seems like he's disappointed that there aren't as many limited beers on tap, but he doesn't seem to be calling for the brewer's head or bashing the brewery. It's on observation on his part. There seems to be way too much jumping on people for simply sharing their opinions.

These "well if you don't like it take your ball and go home" responses on this site are every bit as irritating.

Maybe you think my opinion sucks and that's cool too.

 

Okay, to take this thread in a slightly different direction than the current one which is bound for oblivion: So how do you feel about a Founders vs Three Floyds comparison? They seem like a decent comparison off the top of my head.

You could make the argument that while FFF gives zero fucks about increasing their distro, they usually have a pretty expansive tap list with some of their better current offerings including stuff that isn't bottled, with some cool guest taps. Sure, they don't have DL on tap or whatever unless its DLD. But that's the nature of the beast- again, they give zero fucks what you think, they just happily take your money. They'll just tweet that DLD tickets are on sale, and then rake in the cash when people go nuts.

On the other hand you have Founders who wants to keep increasing their distro, who expanded their KBS program 3x just to try to keep up, and have mostly Class One stuff on tap in GR. And they seem to be actively trying to make the craze more fair for people- witness the KBS ticketed release (even if the online ticketing was a snafu).

And obviously both breweries are here to make money, not to cater to every customer's whim.

Now which approach do you favor? Just genuinely curious what you guys think.

 

*insert snarky comment here to get likes only to have them disappear forever*

 

Founders

 

More of my money goes to the breweries who release more interesting and good one-off beers more often, whether it be distributed or taproom only. I'm guessing this is likely the case for mos BA'ers. That would be Three Floyds.

I couldn't care less if Founders decides to distribute farther than they already are.

 

As for me, I'd rather Three Floyds not have an extensive taplist, and instead just be able to actually get Alpha King or Gumballhead, rather than the occasional bomber that drops here.

I can see where someone from the Grand Rapids community or even someone from Michigan would see differently, but I can get to Founders, if I'm lucky, once a year, and that's just because I'm in the area on business.

Using this year as an example, we got a ton of Founders Imperial Stout down here this year. In previous years, I was lucky to get two four-packs. I've probably gone through two cases. If I was to pick, I'd rather this stream of supply through distribution than having an interesting selection of beers the one time a year I visit Founders.

 

Yeah, I get you on that. With FFF, they don't have as many issues with being overextended for distro; they have plenty of demand at home. And make lots of one-offs and 'collabs' with bands that you pretty much get only from the brewpub whether on draft or in bottles. So I feel they more or less take care of the people who come in their proximity (in terms of selection) and especially at the brewpub. The difference is that FFF seems to be focusing on their current area while Founders doesn't seem to be. But which approach would you rather have? This of course assumes you live in the Great Lakes area and have fairly regular access to both (I know FFF doesn't distro in Michigan).

That's the other side of the argument. People aren't going to be able to go to FFF or Founders' brewpubs all the time to get these one-offs. They want the regular offerings and a chance to get the limited release distro stuff like KBS. Not everyone is lucky enough to live next to FFF's burnt down brewery or in Grand Rapids.

 

The official 2013 trend is to hate on Founders.

 

Let's see.... Founders is expanding both facilities and distribution.....maybe then need to focus on production at the moment......maybe they have to limit the small batch to accomplish these short term goals......maybe people are overreacting all over the place......maybe everyone should give it a rest already.

 

Maybe people need to stop replying to threads that hate on Founders.

Wait... Shit..

 

It really is a bummer that people choose not to wish a brewery succeeds just because they aren't putting out specialty stuff or enough crazy beers.

We should all be thankful that we've been enlightened by great beer and a chance for others to get to try great beer like the normal Founders line up is great. Instead of thinking about what they could do on a personal level, we should be wishing them well and congratulating them for being able to continuously expand and get great craft beer further.