(Why) Are imports overlooked?

Lots of good fresh German beer here in my neck of the woods!

 

Plenty of good points in this article (freshness, price, different palates, reasons/ways of drinking) that I can agree with. One thing that hasn't been mentioned, and this applies to the traditional old world breweries, not your modern Mikeller, Nogne, Brew Dog, etc.) is the lack of new beers. Name one highly regarded American brewery that doesn't come out with several tweaks to it's lineup on a consistent basis, in addition to things like one-offs and collabs. I can't think of one.

Compare that with more traditional Belgian and especially German breweries who have had the same 4 or 5 brews for many people on here's entire lives. They have there fans and folks who will dip into the waters on occasion, but nothing to build up any excitement about newness. Like it or not, this is big especially in the American craft scene.

On a semi-related note, we just started seeing Beavertown from the UK show up here, and they are doing some excellent brews!

 

You brought up an excellent discussion point. Craft beer drinkers do indeed get energized by new and one off beers.

Cheers!

 

I wish that I could like this post more than once; your comments are spot on!!

Cheers!

 

Long ago in a far away galaxy.... the market used to be dominated by the BIG 3. That was when imports were highly revered by beer drinkers who wanted more out of a beer. Fritz Maytag and a few other brewers provided U.S. made beer with real flavor.
Fast forward to present time. Now the U.S. is experiencing a boom of brewers who kick butt by creating beer with flavor. The public has been recently concentrating on more local, fresher, dynamic American made brews.
That is my reason that imports are being overlooked at this time.

 

This is exactly my issue; apparently Pilsner Urquell is one of the best beers around but I would never know it for what's available in the states.

 

The ONLY import I have drank in the past year has been Weihenstephan... and I've put back quite a few of many of their styles...

I don't know... it's all that appeals to me... They're just so badass ("old school") and make truly benchmark beers.

 

Now do the same thing with Ayinger- they are all just as solid, maybe even better in some cases.

 

Michael, I sort of agree with you since I am a HUGE fan of Ayinger but when it comes to bottled Ayinger the challenge is that there is no dating on the bottles (e.g., bottled on dates or best by dates).

I recognize from you previous posts you appear to be in a ‘Nexus’ zone of getting fresh German beer but for the rest of us poor slobs the lack of bottle dates on Ayinger bottles is a real challenge/problem.

Cheers!

 

Half the battle may just be in finding a store that moves it quickly enough. I realize that the newer deliveries could be old ones sitting at the distributor, but at least that removes one impediment in terms of a retailer adding insult to injury.

 

Michael, believe me that I have been 'fighting' the battles on many fronts!! I have gotten to know and make friends with many of the owners/beer buyers of multiple beer retailers. After multiple exchanges (and numerous battle scars) and I have sort of come to the conclusion that the aspects of economics of supply and demand are playing here. There just isn't sufficient buyer demand (despite the fact that SEPA is a VERY BIG area for non-BMC beer) for beers like German imported beer. Without this demand the retailers are not extremely motivated to demand from the wholesale distributors fresh product and what product they do get just sits for an extremely long period of time.

I suppose it is what it is!?!

Cheers!

 

That's really the biggest issue with imports... The COST of getting it over the ocean is pretty astronomical... so it is very likely it is only done a select number of times through a year... that said.... your distributer LIKELY gets enough to "last him" 6 months before getting another delivery....

I'm pretty much convinced that we never ever have fresh imports in America... (also why many "macro-imports" have begun brewing operations over here to combat this)

 

It may just be my market, but most import beers are just not my style. German brewers love to make heffewizen and very crisp, light lager/pilsner style beers. Many English beers taste alright, but come up very short on alcohol content. For example, why should I get Sam Smith's chocolate stout when I can get Speakeasy's Blackhand Stout for the same price, which is stronger, fresher, arguably better, and comes in a bigger bottle.

Apply this line of thinkign to most imports, and many just don't hold up like they used to. I still enjoy them from time to time though, especially Belgians like Draak and Delirium.

 

+1 Sorry, but I will not buy a beer from Europe when I live 4 miles from Great Lakes Brewery and all of the U.S. craft beers I buy have freshness dates on them.

 

Most imports are not American double IPA's

 

Haven't read thru all the replies, but I think the fact that a number of famous Euro beers have been around for a while (duvel, chimay, orval, sam smith) so it's kind of like the sexiness factor - a lot of people want the latest newest model

 

Honestly the short answer is....American beer is the fucking shit right now

 

Coming from Colorado, we didn't have a lot of available imports in my formative beer years. Though there was plenty of great local stuff. The interesting thing for me now that I live in Japan is the general import availability is high, if you look in the right places. So you can find American beers, along with German, British, Belgian and Czech stuff. I have really enjoyed dipping into classical styles and broadening my beer knowledge. A nice hoppy American IPA will always please me, but I have learned to appreciate a far wider range of styles and flavors.

 

Imports were my introduction to craft beer many many many moons ago. Like many people have said, its about freshness issues. I will always have a special place in palate for imports because they led me to the promise land!

 

Ah, how the times have changed. When I was a younger drinker...in the 80's, we were digging through the couch cushions to find the extra scratch we needed to buy imports cuz we were trying to expand our horizons beyond the usual swill we were brought up with. Hell, I'd say we were Craft Beer Pioneers.
But now, there's soo much great beer brewed here I only buy imports ocassionally.