How many "mulligans" do you give a brewery?

Established breweries that I feel make products I enjoy I will usually always try something, particularly if they make a lot of beer that I like. New places... 3 strikes and after that I tend to look elsewhere.

 

Bingo! Unfortunately I'm getting too many butter bombs these days (I'm actually pretty careful about who I buy beer from, and it's still happening at a rate of at least one per month.) I'm not sure that's a one-strike policy, maybe two- but after that, then there are too many other brewers who know what they're doing for me to mess around with that kind of thing.

 

If it's only available as a bomber or 750 I'll give one another go if I didn't especially dig it the first time, but I've usually made up my mind by the end of a sixer.

 

yup



@SixpointJMH @CleanFiend @BeerTruth

 

For a new brewery I haven't tried before, it's usually 3 strikes and they're out. There are a few I've given more than their fair share of chances only to be disappointed again and again. I abhor giving my money to shitty breweries.

 

Yeah, I'm kinda the same way. I guess I don't write off a brewery, just because I've had several beers I didn't care for from them. If I did(in the case of Stone, and since every Enjoy By ___(date) beer I've tried has disappointed me), I wouldn't have been open-minded enough to trying say, w00tstout.

Speaking of disappointing breweries, dunno what it is about their beers, but I have to say Lagunitas feels too often that way for me. Other than liking Brown Shugga and Gnarleywine(latter was to a lesser extent), there has to be something about the way they make their beers where a lot of them too often have similar taste notes that are somewhere along the malty and bitter side. Just wish they more often made beers, that weren't along these lines.

Yep, also agreed. I guess I'm open minded enough to try such beers as a sampler at a bar or store, to see if I find a random one that's better than usual. Like recalling I liked Brown Shugga more, than the other beers I had when I went to Lagunitas' Chicago taproom.

 

Yep. I don't understand why people continue to give these guys money when they pretty clearly have no understanding of quality control. Also, their "Sour Tea" was insulting to me... "hey guys we made a batch of a retired beer sour, should we dump it? it's pretty bad" "nah, sell it. kids these days love sour whatever, even if it's insanely ugly, smells like stomach acid and tastes like a vinaigrette" Ugh.

There are a few others for me too, but generally I'll give a brewery like 2 to 3 chances unless, as others have said, someone I trust recommends a specific beer... and even then, if it's a brewery I don't like on the whole (taking into account stuff like their business practices, customer communication, ease of access/availability of fresh product, etc.) I'll be pretty skeptical regardless...

 

Its definitely a sliding scale. It takes a real lack of brewing ability for me to completely write off a brewery.

 

Unlimited. I'll try absolutely anything.

 

I'm always willing to give breweries a chance, but I become more circumspect about my purchases if their recent history has been less than compelling.

 

Should've said above that with my probs drinking Lagunitas beer, that has often led me towards other beers instead of beer from Lagunitas(i.e. if you're doing a create your own 4 or 6 pack). And totally agree with you, that I become more circumspect about purchases if I notice a trend with one brewer's beers not tasting as good as I've hoped(i.e. Lagunitas). Tried Waldo's 420(or whatever it's called) the other night, and I was yet again somewhat disappointed w/a Lagunitas beer.

 

Unlimited, everyone has different taste. Also circumstances, I have had beers that I really didn't care for and later tried them again and became quite attached. Certain brewers have certain "styles" for lack of a better word, and once you become accustom to them you tend to appreciate it and like it, least for me it goes that way

 

It depends entirely on the situation for me. There are so many options these days that I tend to avoid breweries when my experience with their offerings has been mediocre or negative. Not out of animosity, merely because I have limited funds and time to spend on beer and it seems the odds of getting great beer is greater from breweries that have previously impressed me. Recommendations from trusted sources can easily get me to try a different offering from a brewery however.

As for an individual beer, I tend to trust my palate these days so I'm unlikely to give a mulligan unless I have reason to suspect there was something wrong with it (out of date, bad taplines, etc.) or I think my palate has evolved. A couple years ago I granted a lot of IPA mulligans because I developed a taste for hops that I didn't have when I first started trying craft beers.

 

If the beer is bad most likely it's my fault for not doing my research as I do not like certain styles that can be disguised as others such as pilsners but insanely hoppy or milk stouts and IPAs that are Belgian which I did not care for until lately. Or I buy a ridiculous thing like sweet baby Jesus just because of how off the wall it is to the point of being novelty to me. So I'd say unlimited unless they are mediocre than I would forget about said mediocre brews. And not return.

 

Domingo is spot on. Are there technical flaws or is it personal dislike...
I had a Belgian Dub that was mildly sour. I actually liked it, but I gave the brewery poor marks for being off style. For me, that is worse than a brewer taking chances with something and failing.

 

Be great, be offensive, be traditional, or be cutting edge. Whatever you do, just don't be BORING, and we'll get along just fine!

 

I've written off a couple of well-regarded breweries. To me, the vast majority of what they put out, regardless of style, tasted exactly the same. OK, that's an exaggeration, but they had a particular "house style" that just didn't line up with my palate. It was all just mediocre and boring. They put out a couple of seasonal releases that I'll buy every year, but I've given up on trying anything new from them.

 

"It's Aliivvvve!"

 

Generally I'm always willing to give a brewery another chance. However, it will take a lot to get me to spend money on them again. Take White Birch in New Hampshire. I've met the guy several times at various tastings and fests, he is a nice guy who does have a passion for beer and brewing, however, he had issues a couple times with the beers, and they were all off-flavors. (My girlfriend at the time, now wife, described one of them as tasting like bologna) I understand he's dialed everything back in, but it's still a stretch for me to buy one of his beers.

 

I'll try and retry mostly anything. And that includes trying and retrying breweries. For example: Founders and HF have both been very disappointing breweries for me. I just don't think they are that good. However, I will continue to try their new beers just to see if this one will be good. If I don't like it then I move on and wait for the next beer to come out. I think it's stupid to not buy anything from a brewery just because you haven't liked all their beers or even a majority of them. There's always that "what if" factor.