What is your biggest problem as a craft beer lover?

I went to the local tavern with my Dad a few times when I was a kid. A dollar worth of dimes for the pinball machine and one of those little packs of pretzel sticks and a draft root beer kept me occupied and I think that I was no problem.

 

Agreed.

 

I always buy the wrong stuff for parties. I buy what I want, but other people want to drink more than a couple, and my choices don't work well for that.

Other problems include freshness (even from good dealers) and the fact that life is so short and there is so much brew to drink out there.

 

there's a new/1yr old brewery near me (Goldfinger) that just does traditional German beers - lager, pils, kolsch. I find myself going there more now.

I haven't had Hamm's in years. Had you said Olympia...

 

It has gotten to point for me that I will not buy a beer from a brewery I have never heard of unless I have gotten feedback from someone else that it is worth buying. I only buy "new" beers from breweries I am familiar with.

In some ways I feel the growth of craft beer is a detriment to itself. There is so much over saturation on the shelves currently that most of the beers there are past date, close too it, or will sit their forever until they are past their dates. These beers also usually come with hefty price tag which scares people off (looking at you Equilibrium.)

There is also the lactose, fruited IPA, sour, smoothie, etc that others have mentioned. Don't care for those either, but that is only personal preference. Its all gimmick.

Seltzers have their place. I would never actually buy alcoholic seltzer myself, just seems lazy to me. I just drink them way too fast. Just a sensory thing for me. If I want seltzer with kick, I add gin or vodka to it.

 

Rest assured, I am not annoyed by the hype, because in Germany there is no hype for IPAs. I am annoyed that so many IPAs are one-offs, mediocre and overpriced. I can live with any 2 of these characteristics, but all 3 together is annoying. This would be just as annoying to me if it involved quads, weizens, stouts, etc...

 

Didn’t even notice your location buddy. I agree with you for sure though, it sucks to get a 4/5 beer and to know in your head you’ll never get it again. And it would be a lot easier to live with that fact if it was 10 a 4 pack instead of 20+. My only point is these breweries(stateside, I can’t speak for Germany) are doing what is putting money in their pockets.

 

Well, finding new beers to try is never a problem - the problem is, as others said, same beer different label.
Almost every new beer I see is a hazy IPA. Not that I don't usually like them, but it;s swarming the market now. And too many of them are hazy for the sake of being hazy, not as a byproduct of the brewing process, like the originators of the style did.
Other than that, problems are pricing, not enough clear dating on the cans, and trying to work off a couple beers a night. I've gone from a 6-pack, to a growler, now I'm sporting a sixtel at least.

 

Let me tell you a story.

A while back I was having a conversation with the owner of a local small brewery and we were both drinking sample size pours of a new hazy beer they just released. I asked some technical brewing questions and the conversation 'turned':

Owner: "We added flour to get the haze in this beer" (with a sheepish expression on his face).

Me: "Oh no! Say it isn't so!!"

Owner: He just shrugged

Non-cheers to breweries just adding stuff like flour to haze up the appearance of their beers.

 

I think I've reached the peak of the mountain and obtained beer nirvana. I can't think of the last time a beer really 'wowed' me. Even stuff I used to love is just okay now. I'm also not in love with some of the new beer trends (fruit, lacto, selzer, etc). So going to new breweries isn't as fun because I don't care about their new brut-lacto-pastry-amber-stout.

Maybe I'm desensitized or spoiled or something. I'll go to the store and pass over stuff that I would have left work early for a few years ago if I knew they got a shipment.

Maybe I'm the proverbial dog who's caught the proverbial car. Now that I finally have the car, I'm not really sure what to do it with.

 

The paradox of choice. So many breweries, so many labels. It’s awesome and frustrating at the same time.

 

Latest problem is having a several year vertical of a heavy-ish stout, but not many friends that want to split it.

 

A friend (not me, of course!) who loves craft beer was having a problem as a lover but the MD gave him a prescription for the macro* little blue pill and everything is fine, now.

* There are generic brands now but still no "craft" manufacturers, but he made an exception.

 

Breweries hiding their beer behind expensive paywall memberships

 

Exactly. When you know how much better a beer tastes at three weeks versus two months, it's perfectly reasonable to pass it up for something fresher. I don't spend $14-18 a 4-pack for something to taste "fine."

 

Who does this? Or do you just mean membership societies?

 

ohh, ohh, pick me pick me! I hear angels sing whenever a nice, dark stout touches my lips. I'm seriously thinking I need a side trip to your place the next time I visit family in St.Louis area.

 

Yes. What annoys me is they are full of people who use it to sell beer on the secondary market, and use some of those profits to pay for various membership fees, pricing out the locals

 

I find it kind of wierd that some peoples "biggest problem with craft beer" is style X or style Y. Really, that's your biggest problem?
BTW, mine is calories.

 

Not a fan of dark, high ABV beers going from bottles into cans. I like to drink some and put some aside, to age. I'm not okay with the idea of aging beer in aluminum cans that are lined with BPA platic.