Most Overrated Brewery...

Ratings and hype are a product of regional availability. As a prime example, 3 Floyds is very good with many solid beers. But then you have people all over the country who hear rave reviews about their stuff but do not have regular access to it, so it becomes somewhat of a mythical object of affection. Then people from outside the midwest get their hands on it and have a jizfest. Mostly psychological. Don't get me wrong, they are fantastic, but neither they nor anyone hyped to their level can live up to that kind of hype. As a rule, get local/regional lighter beers as fresh and new as you can get them, and darker beers from reliable shippers. Don't buy into BA or RB ratings cuz those are mostly skewed by people who like overly bitter IPAs or overly coffee stouts. Just drink what you like, close your eyes and pay attention to what pleases your palate, then write it down.

 

Okay, that's fine if he disagrees with me. I honestly don't care. You gave a response why you thought that. He just outright called me a troll without so much as an explanation. The bottom line is that it's my opinion, so there's no need for people to be pricks about it. But that's the internet.

 

Surly. Maybe not the brewery as a whole, but...um...that, er, one IPA they make...

 

Baffled at all the Stone responses. I don't get it. Just because a brewery has become big and successful doesnt mean that all of a sudden their beer is shit. Thats silly. EnjoyBy, Fyodors Classic, RuinTen all world class. Not to mention Ruination 2.0, Xoco, IRS, IPA. Yes, there are lots of new small breweries that are great. I happen to like those too. But hate on Stone? Just send all your unwanted Stone beer to me, it will find a happy home in me belly.

 

Fresh Palate Wrecker is outstanding. Double Stout is quite delicious too.
But yeah I rarely ever purchase their offerings given all the other more tastier stuff out there.

 

I would go with Dogfish Head. 60 min is pretty good as well as 75 min. 90 or 120 do nothing for me and every other beer I've tried from them was either just OK or down right awful. They aren't hyped much but the Raison series is very pricey, not easy to get and they are flat out terrible. I drain poured the last 4 Raison D'extras I made the mistake of buying.

 

No brewery bats a thousand (well, except The Alchemist in their monoculture days). I'd say these five make some of my favorite beers and have a higher batting average than most. I find about 1 in 3 of their beers to be special. I'd add Maine Beer Co. to my own list of personal favorites.

To me, overrated is a well-regarded brewery whose beer *at best* you find average, no better than beer that is easily accessible at any credible bottle shop. For my taste, these include Ballast Point, Sierra Nevada, Dogfish Head. And there's something about Mikkeller that just doesn't do it for me.

 

Bell's, I don't find any of their offerings to be anything special...Has some Sierra Nevada last night and was once again disappointed as well.

 

As one of the rare few fans of craft beer who is not physically capable of enjoying hops and bitterness, I'll present my take on overrated breweries. Being a supertaster for bitter is not as cool as it might sound. Bear in mind this is entirely due to my perception, and I'm a guy so senstitive to hop-forwardness that I cannot taste any heat or spice in a Habanero Sculpin past the "Wall O Hop" one-really-disagreeable-flavor effect.

Sierra Nevada, to me, makes three beers. They make Narwhal, which is good, and they make Tumbler, which I enjoyed before it was relegated to a seasonal pack with a bunch of other beers I do not like. Everything else they make is SNPA to me, just in various forms and colors. Kellerweis is a yellow SNPA, Vienna was a brown SNPA, and so on. Given that SNPA tastes to me like what taking a swig of Pine-Sol floor cleaner mixed with Chanel No. 5 concentrate would probably taste like, this is problematic. I have officially given up on ever trying another Sierra Nevada beer, especially because this brewery seems to enjoy releasing hop-forward versions of various beer styles, including ones that are not known for being hop-forward, while labeling them as a regular beer of X style. Those beers then get lauded as fantastic examples of the style, but that's an entirely different discussion.

Three Floyds makes two beers, out of their lineup that I have tried. There's Robert The Bruce, which is a decent Scotch ale. Then there is effectively Arctic Panzer Wolf in a variety of colors, which tastes to me exactly like SNPA, which tastes exactly like Two Hearted, which tastes exactly like 80 Acre. I've never been to their brewery, and I have no reason to ever want to go. I have also never had Dark Lord, but given my experience with their other offerings, I'm not at all interested in the effort or expense to try it.

Stone gets a mention here as well. I have not had many of their beers, mostly because I believe their advertising and labeling, as they don't try to claim their beer is anything but hoppy most of the time. Their RIS is good, apparently having enough malt and gravity going on to allow me to actually enjoy it. Just about everything else they make may as well be labeled "Don't Buy This", for me.

Needless to say, I am not exactly queueing up to try to get anything by Alpine, Alchemist, Jack's Abby, and so forth. I am, however, quite glad that sours are catching on.

 

I love Short's as a brewery and as people. It has been awesome to see how much they have grow. The passed 2-3 years. With that said, there beer just doesn't do it for me. Wood Master is the only one that sticks out for me(a favorite of mine). I love that they do specialty releases like twice a month! But.. They're always IPA's(yuck) or some type of ale. Would love to see them pump out some more stouts and porters!

 

I find Firestone way overrated.

 

Being in Florida I would say it is most certainly Terrapin. They put money and unique ideas behind their beers, but they just never deliver. Flavor wise and always too thin no matter the style.

 

I couldn't agree with you more. I was in Bellaire for the first time last Friday and at Short's Fest on Saturday. Their beers are good but not earth shattering. I enjoyed their beers but there wasn't one beer that made me want to go back for seconds.

 

This is ridiculous. Everyone has his or her own palate. That's part of the fun of it. You can't lump a whole brewery into over-rated or under-rated. There are even beers from the Big Three that I have enjoyed, and beers from small craft breweries that I usually enjoy that I didn't like a certain brew. Each beer should be evaluated on its own.

 

Most overrated in my area- Prairie. They make some decent ales but their prices are just
ridiculous. Most of their sour-ish stuff has been disappointing for 14$ a bomber... Cherry Funk in particular. The one
solid beer they make is Prairie Bomb! at almost 30$ a 4 pack... It's Belgian prices without the Belgium.
A solid stout but I'm not sure it's 7$ a small bottle good. The rest I've tried has given me buyer's remorse.

Russian River - Sorry, Blind Pig is mediocre and Pliny is not worth the Line-y

Dogfish Head - Only 10% overrated.. a minor infraction. I loved their shortlived tv show, they have a good attitude.
I feel badly about even listing them on here but...
I like a lot of their beers but I think some of their specials are way overpriced and their IPAs are good, but
not spectacular.

Also, an overall trend here is that I see a lot of east coasters overrate west coast stuff. Not to suggest
an east-west rap war like the 90s with tupac, but perhaps some of the stuff you're getting isn't as fresh?

It's also interesting to see Stone as overrated, but to just see their basic shelf stuff listed. As the previous
owner of 2 Stone Growlers when I lived in SD, I would never say they were overrated. But of course,
I got to try all their stuff fresh and lots of draft / growler / local only stuff. I'm sure the people near Dogfish
are shaking their heads because they get it all fresh and have had lots of awesome stuff from them : ) It's all subjective, except for pricing!

 

Definitely. I feel like they try too hard to make heavy hitters. I'm all for a big beer, but I feel like Weyerbacher is always swinging for the fences with their boozy beers, to a fault. Not everything has to be super intense.

 

too many to list

 

WOW well damn 8 pages of rehtoric its beer damn enough already try it....like it or hate it...... its just beer. Geesh half the fun is trying new beers and finding out what you like. What I am finding overrated is beer geek beer verbiage. DAMN NOW GO DRINK SOMETHING YOU LIKE OR LOVE. I am about to go drink Avery mephistopheles since I thought it was not my cup of tea the first time around. I'll find out if my tastebuds have changed or did cellaring the beer clam it down some. And if it turns out I don't like doesn't make it overrated..... just means its just not my cup of tea.

 

'Only ever talk good things of beer.'
Michael Jackson

Now stop this stupid bitching thread.

 

It's always fun to see some of the highest rated breweries in the US mentioned in threads like these...