The New Pale Ale

What about A lighter schwarzbier? Like austin beerworks 'black thunder' for the colder months.

 

Of course not, Koelsch is a product of protected origin and can only be brewed in Koln. Anything brewed outside the area is sold under false pretences.

Bitter and pale ale are the same thing , the first name is what drinkers called it and the second is what the brewers called it.

If ESB has a low ABV it simply becomes an ordinary bitter.

 

People love Gose's, although I don't know if they have the mass appeal to be widespread flagship beers.

I could see Saison's having a more prominent role, but they would have to be more of the light/floral saisons instead of the funky wild ones or massive yeast bombs that have less mass appeal.

I think one of the reasons Pales/IPAs are so often flagship beers is that its fairly easy to make them taste good. I think the more "subtle" styles such as Kolsch's are actually more difficult to produce quality products of. Its easier to load a beer with hop bitterness than it is to pull out intricacies from a light malt profile. I base this mainly off of my drinking experiences, but also, from my limited brewing experience. I am no brewing expert, although I have brewed a few batches of home brew and even when I would botch a batch if it was a Pale/IPA it would usually be drinkable and even "bad" batches had good aromas.

 

Founder's flagship beer is Dirty Bastard. A lot of people seem to enjoy a nice scotch ale.

 

for me, berliner weisse and gose, depending on how appealing they want to be to the mainstream considering you said "off the beaten path" i also would consider a saison, which could be appealing to many more, depending how its brewed

 

i think backwoods bastard could get alot of people into the craft beer scene, but its 10 plus % so some may be turned off

who doesn't? lol

 

I know. I said bitter or pale ale to be inclusive of the terms people use for this beer.

 

im with the few who mentioned gose and berliners, man I could drink them all day everyday. I am sure a lot wouldn't agree, but the low abv and the easy drinkability makes it even more enticing to me. Ive gone through a few cases of Anderson valley's gose in the last month and a half.

 

I appreciate that you did, but other readers may have thought they were two different things.

 

Some type/style of a golden/pale/blonde lager would be my choice.

 

I would love this too, but I can only think of a handful of brewers with the skill to do most of those styles justice.

Off the top of my head, Sierra Nevada and Troegs come to mind.

 

I'd be all too willing to forgive this legal infringement if that were the main problem with these "Koelsch" beers....

 

I'd love to see more breweries making hefeweizens and berliner weissebiers as a standard style. But I agree that those styles probably wouldn't work as a flagship beer.

 

The victory lager is good, and that's a bummer you don't get it. If Bell's distributes to your part of the country, I'd say their lager is a similar and slightly better than Victory's IMO, therefore it would be acceptable substitution.

 

I'd go Vienna Lager. Boston Lager has likely moved several thousands further into craft (I have NO empirical data to support my claim. Just stating that before I get shot to death for my assumption) and I currently use Devils Backbone Vienna Lager as the craft gateway drug amongst people I know, with success at that.

With that being said, if I were to open a brewery it would likely focus on pretty eclectic stuff and thumb it's (my) nose at convention. Live fast, die young would probably be my brewery's fate but dammit if it wouldn't be fun until the last bottling!

 

Brandywine Lager and it was an Export. I think this is a smart move.

 

Me too. Also, an English-style mild ale with big flavor and good balance would get people's attention.

 

I've drunk a good deal of cask mild in the UK and homebrewed a number of versions, too. I'd never describe any of the versions I have had as having "big flavor." They have subtle flavors and multiple layers of complexity that unfold the more you drink of it, but the flavors are anything but "big."

 

My favorite go-to beer to brew is this nice, slightly hoppy Pale Ale. It is intriguing enough for me, but not so much that the BMC drinkers out there lose their minds.

 

I've had some that screamed fresh new malt. I guess that's what I mean by big flavor. Malt without sweetness, nicely done, with fresh Kentish hops!