Most Underrated Beer

Considering that they call it a pilsner, that's what I was basing my opinion on.

BA has a lot of beers that aren't correctly categorized, so I don't really ever know what to trust. As a result, I generally defer to what the brewery calls it these days.

As an APL, it's a decent beer, but as I mentioned in another comment, I just don't like some aspect of how Founders does hoppy beers.

 

Interesting perspective.

I think they're more similar that you'd let on here. Are they the same beer? Nope. They are, however, reminiscent of each other? I think so. I, personally, like both.

Some say "simplistic" some say "straight-forward". Either way, I think Double Trouble is a good beer, but in no way great.

Never liked this beer. Just not a good concept all around.

Ehh . . . I feel the same about this comparison as I did with your Two Hearted/Centennial one.

Both of these beer are OK. Nothing more. Nothing less. I'd certainly agree that better things could be done with them, though.

Guess you just don't like how they bitter. Myself? I like how they do it. FWIW, LOVE Ruination, but can't stand Palate Wrecker, so . . .

Understood.

Hard to compare all of those beers as they're very different and not one of them is any type of Gold Standard. I get what you are saying about comparing subtlety among them, though.

 

Well, Budweiser is a commercial beer so perhaps a homebrewing judging method is not optimum? Budweiser would be judged at Brewers Association sponsored competitions (i.e., GABF, etc.) using the Brewers Association style guidelines. Do you know whether the judging of beers at GABF, World Cup, etc. have a category of "overall impression" and if so what percentage of the overall 'score' would this comprise?

Cheers!

 

Woo-Hoo! Something we can agree on!!

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-580.402889/#post-4657907

Cheers!

 

Hey man, we agree on most things in general, I think. Some of the finer points and specifics are where we sometimes deviate, but I appreciate all of that; it helps me add nuance to my tastes.

 

Well, that is worth another Woo-Hoo!

Cheers!

 

Saison Dupont

 

Any Mild.

 

Good points on the English beers. They have been pushed off the store shelves by over the hop heavy DIPA's. Nothing better than a nice Fullers or Old Speckled Hen off a fresh keg or bottle/can. What I find interesting is American brewers can't make them taste the same.

 

I find this same thing with American attempts at classic Belgian Trappist beers. Most US brewers don't seem to have the attention to detail that it takes to make these types of beers well. That always strikes me as odd, as there are a fair few excellent US producers of German style lagers, which is an exercise in attention to detail.

 

I can't speak as a professional brewer, just as a homebrewer, but, assuming the mentality is similar, the average American homebrewer cannot fight the temptation to add their own individual "twist" to a recipe or is convinced that a good recipe has to be complex (grain selection, hops, etc).

 

About a year ago, I tried a St. Pauli Girl for the first time since 1995 (I actually remember the last time I bougth a sixer). This was the first time I've ever had one reasonably fresh/unskunked and it was surprisingly a very tasty light lager/pilsner despite being stereotyped as "Euro macro swill" by most of the BA community. I'd buy it again easily if fresh/unskunked and it was better than quite a many American craft attempts at a pilsner IMO.

 

I think that you're onto something there.

 

I seem to have weird 180 degree difference of opinion on big ABV Belgian styles but I may be an outlier. Many newer / micro brewers seems to pull off Belgian Dubbels/Tripels/Quads/Strong Darks etc. at surprisingly well crafted and authentic to style not too far off from the many Trappist versions I've had. Even if the rest of their styles are average or bad, they frequently nail the Belgian styles well. It's the majority of the mid to large American craft brewers that seem to really miss the mark on the big Belgians IMO. Even my one pal who homebrews really nails the big Belgian style at a high level getting all the complexity, dark fruits etc in there nicely.

 

Just curious, but which breweries do you think are doing a good job?

 

Not new by any means but Victory V12 was one of the American Belgian styles that impressed me, even given that I haven't had it in ages.

 

I think Victory does a pretty good job, as well. Not exactly up to my Trappist standards, but close.

 

So just some examples of small local breweries I gave high ratings to their Belgians where many other beer styles they made were kinda "meh".
Belgian Strong Dark - Milkhouse Brewery, Brewer's Art (Beazley/Ozzy ale),
Dubbel - Vanish, Steinhardt, Brewers' Art Resurrection
Quad - Lickinghole Creek's Redneck Wedding and an honorable mention although big brewer is Sam Adams Tetravis is a darn good quad that many people probably overlook)
Tripel - Rexx Rsrv "Self Portrait", Sprechter, (once again, Sam Adams New World Tripel is very good and overlooked I'm sure).

For what it's worth though if you just still to the beers from Belgian and Unibroue on this side of the pond you're pretty much getting a safe bet at greatness.

 

Its price actually works against it. I used to see it for $6 for four pounders and thought "Yeah, it's German, but it's got to be crap, like their Bud" and left it there. I bought a case of 12 oz cans off a discount shelf a few months back and my first thought was "Well, I'll be damned - that tastes like beer". I like beer flavored beer, and if I can get some Bitburger I won't ever again look at even an uncommonly good AAL like Narragansett.

 

Definitely liked their versions the one time I visited Baltimore.