The Murtaugh Rule in Beer

I like to think of myself as 62 years young and still follow some fads. For instance, I think NEIPAs is the best beer development in 100 years. But I am with you about classic style availability.

My wife loves all craft lagers and I do too, just not exclusively like her. Try and find some in our rural area outside of the summer months, good luck.

 

Sure the preponderance of hazies and pastries gets old, but it's easy enough to overlook them provided your palette is wide enough and you have good access to all.

 

My feelings exactly. I miss Green Flash WCIPA, always thought Ballast Point was overpriced, but the beers were once great, Smuttynose Finestkind IPA ( ahead of its time), Smuttynose Robust Porter and the dearth of English ales is annoying. The ales paralleling London southward were always my favorites. You could just taste the fresh barley. Still, finding very good beer now is easier than it ever was. Brands come and go.

 

And this is the tricky part for some folks. Based upon what I have been reading in BA threads there are areas of the US (and Canada for the specific case of the OP) where what is allocated in the retailers for craft beer is a preponderance of hoppy beers (particularly Juicy/Hazy IPAs) and other popular styles (e.g., Sours, Pastry Stouts). I personally feel for these folks.

Cheers!

 

Yeah, I’d trade him beers for some pressure treated wood...

 

At one level (spirits and wine) I fully understand what is happening for you since in Pennsylvania we have the PLCB (Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board) and if I want to purchase liquor in state I have to go to a 'State Store' to buy that beverage. Over the past few years I can buy some brands of wine at other retailers but the majority of the wine product line is sold at the 'state stores'. Luckily I can buy beer elsewhere than a 'state store' but the PLCB still regulates where beer is sold but the variety of beer brands available is quite good.

I am pretty confident in saying that you would agree with me: government should not be in the business of retailing alcohol. Yes, the sale of alcoholic beverages is a regulated industry but the less the government participates in the sale the better IMO.

Cheers!

 

Don’t forget that Froth charges $24 or so for a 4 pack of pints. So, they obviously think they are Thee Sh!t when it comes to brewing.

 

You should find lagers in colder months when the yeast likes to work best.

 

Can someone call Herr Cuomo and tell him maybe we don’t want to order food when we order beer? Is he going to force/regulate me to actually eat the food I buy, before/during/after I consume said beer? Do I have to clean my plate, or can I take some home if I’m full? He’s had too much airtime with this pandemic, and now he wants to be the beer morality police, IMO. F him. That said, back to your point, kind of, government should not be involved in the business of alcohol.

 

When I went there in late January/early February, a flight was in the ballpark of $14, for four 4 oz samplers served on an ostentatious candelabra-like contraption. I hated all the beer I tried enough to be fooled into thinking that the IPA they had in 4pks to go would somehow be better because they weren't serving it on draft. Shockingly, I was correct, but the (at the time $20) money spent on that was a waste, too because that beer was mediocre by comparison to anything offered by Pressure Drop, Thin Man, Resurgence, or Big Ditch.

 

I miss fresh Finestkind. I know that they went through a great deal of financial upheaval a few years ago, but prior to their previous ownership's ill-fated expansion, that beer was one of the best and most consistent IPA's available. I'm interested to see what their cooperation with Sloop will lead to, because I think that they're unfortunately following in some similarly misguided footsteps. Juice bomb has been 'off' for a few batches, in my opinion, but I may be reading into the situation more than it's worth and projecting frustration as a result. Regardless, I'd like to see that Finestkind makes a well-deserved comeback.

 

This was my EXACT experience at the Froth. As soon as I walked in and saw a whole line up of beers with What was literally a Candy Land theme, I knew I wasn’t going to enjoy their beers. Being that I didn’t have much choice in what to order in my flight, it ultimately consisted of mediocre IPAs and fruited kettle sours that literally had little bits of gritty fruit. Like when a smoothie has been sitting out a while and starts to separate. Meanwhile, people are making ridiculous trades and successfully selling their beers for a decent markup in our local beer trading market. I just cant comprehend any of this. Do you like beer or do you like juice? Because Bolthouse Farms and Naked Juices are much cheaper and usually taste the same or better. Splash of rum or vodka and you get the same gloop glop that these breweries are putting in cans for a fraction of the cost.

 

I grew up at the time when we were served by three excellent local breweries, with their cask beer being available in all the local pubs. Limited choice but exactly what we wanted.
Fortunately the brewer from one of these breweries set up on his own, about 30 years ago and I am still able to buy the beers I grew up with sixty years ago (of course I drank under age before I was 18, nobody seemed to mind)
The beer world has turned upside down since then, unfortunately I find nothing new that I like better than the beer I grew up with. And it has gone from dirt cheap to quite expensive.

 

You probably are nuts, in general, but in this case I do agree with your post.

 

The only beer my wife likes are sours. She didn't drink at Big Ditch, and was excited for Froth. Then she tried the flight, got 1/3 of the way through one of them, and immediately felt sick. She dealt with GI issues the rest of the day. I personally think that there's something off with their process and that they care more about the cash-grabbing hype than making anything good.

 

It seems to be different where the OP lives, and I can relate to that frustration. But from my vantage point, I can easily focus my attention on the shops, brewers and bars that cater to my preferences and just ignore the rest. I don't really see the need to go everyplace or try everything there.

 

These are the beers that opened my eyes 50+ years ago and steered me into a 40+ year career selling beer and wine.

 

On a related note, below is something I posted along those line in a recent thread:

Do you really think it is an “intensity” thing?

Permit me to suggest a differing explanation: familiarity of flavorings.

There was a BA who would use the analogy/explanation that the reason why “NEIPA’ beers are so popular with millennials is because those beers are akin to the juice boxes they drank when they were young. And as you pointed out many (most?) of the sours being produced today are significantly influenced with fruit flavorings which again relate to the juice box theory.

And another popular beer type, which you did not mention in this post, are Stouts/Porters which include flavorings (sometimes referred to as Pastry Stouts). Perhaps these sorts of beer are popular since they remind the millennials of their favorite cereals they ate when they were young (and maybe even today?): Count Chocula, Froot Loops, Franken Berry, Trix, Boo Berry,…

Cheers!