Which Beer Really Let You Down?

Deschutes Black Butte Porter

 

Anchorage Love Buzz.

I bought it online, saw the very good reviews (from reviewers I trust, no less) expecting a crisp, refreshing, complex, rustic saison.

Instead, I got a muddled, slightly messy saison that wasn't remotely rustic. In fact, the brett itself seemed painfully generic and one-note. In comparison, the bottle of Logsdon Seizoen Bretta I bought at the same time was pretty much everything I expected Love Buzz to be (minus the wine barrel, natch).

 

Another Dark Lord vote. At best (1 year old, IMO) it's okay.
I still don't like any of Alpine's hoppy beers and that goes way back to the mid 2000's. While okay, I don't really get all of the talk about the TG Sue beers, although I do like most of their other stuff.
Just my opinions of course, though.

 

OUCH as others have said on this thread.

 

Ommegang Abbey Ale


As a huge Belgian fan, i dont know what i expected but i just didnt like this one too much, in fact ive had much better for the style.

 

Biggest one for me was West Ashley. That beer was seriously lacking in the body. Flavor was good but it was missing something.

Others that I've been really let down by:
Lunch - I can go to the most average local brewery and find an IPA on the same level. Another One is 100x the beer Lunch is.
All Green Everything - So over the top hot
Julius/Haze/Green - They were nice but nothing special. Alter Ego was awesome though.

 

My infected Madness and Civ #4 : (

 

ZOMBIE DUST What is the fascination with this beer? It's not that good. Gimme Arctic Panzerwolf ANY time!

 

Darkness and Dark Lord. Really any of the old-beer-hype-train imperial stouts. Sweet messes.

 

Huna let me down - it's just a messy stout

 

Zombie Dust, Toppling Goliath Golden Nugget, All the Sculpins (I don't know what I'm missing, they are just meh at most), pretty much all the Green Flash I have tried.

 

It's interesting, threads like this seem to be always dominated not by terrible beers, but beers that were letdowns relative to hype and/or cost. To me this demonstrates the increasing importance to minimize whale chasing and appreciate the amazing beers from your local breweries and sitting on the shelves at local shops. I've never been let down by a Dragon's Milk, or Expedition, or Founder Breakfast Stout.

 

For me it was Jai Alai...Had it on tap in NYC and after all I had heard about it, was seriously "Meh" after drinking it

 

I've always agreed on this one. Had Jai Alai many, many times, and never tasted what everyone else is.

 

My bottle was just around 3-4 weeks old. If it suffers such a strong immediate drop off that is unacceptable. I'm quite sure my bottle had nothing wrong, it was just not great.

Weird enough, Green Flash's own standard IPA lineup (West Style IPA, Green Bullet, Road Warrior, Citra Session, etc) has been very good and they all have been 1 to almost 3 months old. Nothing wrong.

 

For me, a recent letdown was Bissell Brothers and it is completely due to the hype. I visited there with expectations of a supreme experience, and while the beer (Baby Genius, Substance, and their rye) was very good, none were revelations-grade. If I'd gone in with no expectations, I may have felt differently. I generally try to not let the hype invade my brain, but in the case of being on a trip and looking forward to trying something a lot of people rave about...well, the dark side got a temporary victory.

 

Zombie Dust. I always heard how it was very similar to Psuedo Sue but for some reason I think they taste a lot different.

 

This may be where different palates come into play. I am wildly underwhelmed by anything Green Flash, to the point where I was expecting a craptastic experience from an Alpine label on a GF bottle.

You also mentioned in a previous post that you could find beers just as good in Mexico as Pure Hoppiness -I interpret your statement more as an endorsement of what must be a very unappreciated beer scene in Mexico. I for one (maybe being in Virginia...) couldn't name more than a few beers from Mexico (Los Muertos is about it, and picked those up in Michigan) that aren't a macro. If you have a chance, pass along the names of either great beers or great breweries form there - sadly, I never pay even a little attention to the "Mexico" section of the Total Wine aisle, but if what you are saying about quality IPAs is true, than perhaps I should spend time investigating!

 

I won't call beers overrated because I know everyone's tastes are different but I was really disappointed by Pliny the Elder. Admittingly I am not a huge IPA guy but I really enjoyed the Heady I had a few days prior so I expected Pliny to be up there as well. That was not so.

 

I think there are so many good beers out there (both local and non local) that any beer being head and shoulders above those is pretty much impossible. Hyped beers are copied and even improved on all the time. We love to hype our favorites, but the fact is there are no unique beers anymore other than the gimmicky stuff. And I am not putting down the gimmicks. I love me a good gimmick every once in a while.