Highly acclaimed brews that underwhelmed you?

Bitches Brew, yawn....

 

Heady Topper. I had much better IPAs then it before.

 

Black Tuesday. Total sugar bomb. Huge letdown

 

Virtually anything by Dogfish Head. Don't get me wrong, some of their brews are pretty good, great even. But I've had numerous ones (mostly their experimental ones) that quite honestly tasted like they were brewed with their namesake being the key ingredient. Yuck. And the way people talk about DFH as if it is the Mecca of craft beer just doesn't corroborate my experience with their brews.

Of course, it is all a matter of opinion and taste...my favorite brewery overall is Stone, and I've seen a lot of trashing of them on this thread.

 

Oh, and Miller High Life...I had high expectations for "The Champaigne of Beers"!

 

Kern River Citra
Alpine Pure Hoppiness


And to whoever said St. Bernardus, you may have had a bad bottle. I ran into a very thin infected bottle a few months back.

 

Dead wrong.

 

Agree with every word

Most recently, Black Ops. My friend was kind enough to open his bottle and share it with me (he also gave me two sips of Black Note which was amazing) Black Ops just didn't do it for me as far as BAs go. I just thought it was unbalanced and many many other BA stouts trump the hell out of this (and Black ops is soooo expensive)

 

Hopslam!!!, been reading so many great things about this beer for years now, I finally found a sixer and shelled out the 20 bucks plus tax. I was expecting a highly aromatic and hopped up flavor explosion.... In my opinion Two Hearted is a far superior IPA in the Bells line up, and it's not even a DIPA like HopSlam. I don't know if they are doing something different with this batch, but a lot of people are saying similar things about this 2013 batch, less aroma, less of a hop bomb, etc... Did I miss the boat on this brew or have I tried so many good IPA's already that my pallet has become adjusted to super hopped up beer? I can honestly name 4 or 5 other IPA's that are way more impressive. Oh well, I guess its for the best, why fall in love with a beer that comes out only once a year, and cost twice as much as my favorite year rounder's.

 

I don't get the Surly love at all. Beyond the fact that it is difficult to get, most of the beer I have had from them has ranged from "pretty good" to "meh". That being said, I have not had Wet, Darkness, or Abrasive. I will keep trying their beer when I am Minnesota or at festivals, but have always felt a bit let down by them.
(Before anyone flames me, I have had the following by them: Furious, Tea Bagged Furious, Bender, Moe's Bender, Coffee Bender, and CynicAle)

 

Btw, reading through this thread in some ways reminds me of when I was at Great Taste of the Midwest last year and I was in a group of people enjoying a pour of Bell's Blacknote. Most of us looked at each with amazement and thanked the gods for our good fortune. However, one guy took two drinks and said, "Man, what a let down. I was expecting this to be a a top 3 of all time beer and at best, it is top 10."
One his buddies turned to him and said, "How many beers have you had in your life, man?"
He looked at him and said, "Well, over a thousand."
The guy was complaining about a beer that he said could very well be in the top 1% of beers he had ever had.

Most of these beers that are being mentioned simply failed to meet unrealistic expectations.

 

I concur. I just bought a six pack of Sculpin this past weekend ($13.95 at my local package store), and while it was certainly tasty and of good quality, it didn't live up to much of the hype that I have read about it. Granted, everyone's palate is different, but I can think of dozens of other IPAs that deliver the goods for less money.

 

I enjoy Hopslam but at 17.99/sixer I'll stick to my locals (Head Hunter/White Rajah/Commodore Perry) if I want great IPAs. Also, I tried Black Ops last night and again, not impressed especially given its price point.

 

Westy 12 for sure. I acquired some a while back, and because of all the hype I was really excited. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it, and it's a top notch beer in my book, but about halfway through I realized that for less time and money I could've just gone to Total Wine and picked up some St. Bernardus 12 or Rochefort 10 and had an equal if not better experience. All that said Iam glad I got the chance to try it.

 

I'm glad Sucaba is getting some mentions here. The only thing it really has going for it is the fact it's so easy to drink for a 12.5% monster.

 

Utopias, bought one a few years ago, tried it. Haven't had it since. Why anyone would want to spend that much on it is beyond me. For that kind of cash, there are a lot of things i would rather have.

 

Founders Bolt Cutter for me.

 

I'll go with Chimay Blue

 

backwoods bastard just didnt get it saving a bottle from 2012 for a year or two just waitin to see what happens

 

hopslam for sure theres no hops in the 2013 batchs i was hoping for a hop bomb and felt i wasted 18 bucks on a honey flavored ale