Why are some breweries unable to brew great beers?

I think some of it is just a difference in taste preferences. We all have different palates and also different experience with great beers. But even among really good beers there is a divergence of opinion. All that being said, I would not be happy with brewing most of the beers I taste at local breweries.

 

I worked at a horribly run brewery that brewed straight up weak beer. It was basically due to horrible management who created a miserable work climate and employees who just didn’t care anymore. The brewmaster was stuck in the 90s and never took any chances on any new styles. He was always trying to ride the coattails on other brewers’ popular hits. A little creativity does not hurt in the beer industry.

They were also unwilling to hire an experienced, knowledgeable head brewer which obviously didn’t help matters. Having a crew of inexperienced, crappy brewers did not help matters at all. Will not be surprised when that spot inevitably goes out of business.

 

The problem is that a LOT of brewers try and do these steps in reverse.

In truth, all I think brewers need to do to make great beer is to know what great beer is and what it isn't. If what they make is great and they know it then they can make sure to be consistent about it. However, if what they make isn't great, they should constantly aspire to achieve that greatness that they recognize that they haven't achieved yet. Again, the issue with this is that a lot of brewers think they're great when they're not.

 

Fair enough, if they are trying to brew a beer true to certain style specifics and they don't do it successfully, they have failed.

But which, if either, of these two is a failed beer? The one successfully brewed true to style that folks don't like enough to buy? The one purposely not brewed true to style that folks love and buy?

 

Taste and flavor is certainly a matter of opinion. I've visited some breweries where I just can't seem to find anything good in them overall, yet they are very popular with the local crowd. Numerous small breweries tend to have weekly events/activities in order to attract its clientele, or they seem to be sort of a secondary source of revenue when in reality their main business model/drive is either entertainment/music/restaurant, and the beer is secondary to that.

However I feel that a good brewery, no matter is size, will certainly see what its clientele likes and will do its part to provide a decent product, after all that is what we are looking. Bad beers will fade away, while the good ones prevail. Another thing to keep in mind is the cost of the product. Years ago no one will though of paying $7-8 a pint, yet we are there, however some high end stuff goes on the $10-$15 range and not everyone is buying, hence the beer will not sell, and it will be lost. They need to find that happy medium

I'm sort off turn off now by IPA's in general, however, I do seek out those high IBU ones. Stouts, Porter, now that is my cup of tea.

 

A few years ago, I was pouring Shiner Dopplebock for a beer event. One of my co-volutneers was describing the style, and the head brewer (who was passing out merch) insisted it was their "interpretation of the style."

I grew up in Texas and will always have a soft spot for Shiner Bock and the Black Lager. But in general, I feel Shiner beers are thinner and less flavorful than most other beers in whatever style.

 

Using Pilsner was probably a poor choice as an example since that discussion has been had before. Anyhow, let's take a better example. Failure is also a bit of a harsh word but if a brewer claims their IPA is a West Coast style IPA you expect some bitterness to it. If a brewer claims they brewed a Hazy NE IPA and there's no haze, its very bitter, and has no hallmarks of a NE IPA do you consider it a success? The need for a NE IPA to be hazy can be argued but if the brewer uses the words "Hazy" in their name of the beer and its not then I'm a bit concerned about their understanding of adjectives. There is some leeway in what you can consider true to style but if its way off and the brewer doesn't believe its way off then there's a problem. A beer doesn't have to taste bad to fail.

 

Well, it could certainly fail at being what it's advertised to be. However, if it tastes good, how can it fail at simply being a good beer?

 

That's definitely true- taking things on their own terms is a pretty major way to approach them . The bad ones tend to give you no decent way to look at them.

 

Beer means different things to different consumers, and sometimes the best thing about a beer is the occasion or place in which it is served. If we're bashing breweries that aren't on par with, say, Tree House or the Alchemist, then we've lost our way a bit. If they stay open, they obviously found a market for their beer, and/or their tasting room experience. I'd much rather read/discuss the opposite question, i.e., what separates the most successful breweries from the others?

 

Here is my theory....sometimes brewers blow it. Then they call it a cool name and us suckers/hipster pay $16/4 pack. It sucks, but yet there are a great number of people on this site that rate it highly. Case in point, Finback Dogs and Cats...this was absolute swill, IMO, yet had a 4.3 rating on BA. IMO, this was a mistaken brew that was called cool.

We, the purchasers are the blame a lot of times.

 

That's because they're made for a different crowd who want them that way. I wouldn't call them bad, but mainstream.

 

If that's the best thing about your beer, you're drinking the wrong beer.

You seem to have answered your own question there, hoss.

 

Some brewing companies simply don’t ‘want’ to brew good beers because they make $millions selling ‘dishwater’. Many people loyally drink that ‘dishwater’ because they don’t understand that there are wonderful options available to them that don’t have to cost a fortune.

 

I think it comes down to basically three things (these are generalizations):

1. The brewery is stuck in the past for some reason.

A lot of the time this is because for a commercial brewery, dumping previous brands and chasing hypetrains is a big gamble. It's a gamble because in order to succeed with a brand in the long term you have to build momentum for that brand, which means a lot of investment in time and marketing. No one knows for sure how long any given hypetrain will last, and putting your eggs into that basket is a bold move when you already have established brands in the market. Some of these breweries will kind of dabble in these hypetrain styles (barrel aged beers, NEIPA, sours, etc.), but dabbling often leads to mediocrity. Of course, some old school brewers just don't care about hypetrain styles one way or the other.

2. The brewers/owners are ignorant of their beer's faults.

Brewing beer is not just hard because it's hard, it's hard because it requires knowledge. A lot of new brewers are ignorant of what they don't know, whether that be a palate issue, not understanding water chemistry, not understanding TPO, etc. While many of these new brewers are focused on learning how a brew system works, I think that the real knowledge is had by digging into the science of brewing, which is something most homebrewers don't do. Most homebrewers just don't know what they don't know (I like to point homebewers to the MBAA podcast when they tell me they are opening a brewery, and hope the light clicks on that this is an industry with specialized knowledge in every little aspect). Another example of this is that most small brewers don't have a quality control program. I've known people who opened breweries who don't know what quality control is. If a brewery is not pushing for at least a small micro lab, then they fall into this "ignorant" category for me.

3. Craft beer enthusiasts don't actually know what good beer is either.

This is the flipside that some people have brought up. The way that I put it is that there is a general disconnect in the enjoyment of beer between a lot of craft beer enthusiasts and many brewers. As a brewer, you get bored easily with hypetrain beers (this helps reinforce #1 above to not chase hypetrains). I am personally pretty bored of NEIPA (I know that a lot of craft beer enthusiasts are too, but I would say that most aren't and therefore this is a generalization). That's why at GABF all the brewers can be found at Bierstadt drinking lagers. They don't want to think that much about the beer, they just want to enjoy several pints of something that they know was executed well AND is easy to drink. They don't want waffles and shit in their beer. A lot of craft beer enthusiasts don't drink this way. If you are giving pFriem Pilsner less than a 4-5 point rating (I would argue 5), then you don't appreciate beer in the same way brewers do. It's not really that one way of enjoying beer is better than the other, but it's a general disconnect that just is, and I think it's one of the biggest reasons craft beer enthusiasts say things like, "Brewery X makes 'meh' beers."

 

Not even gonna lie, I'd put my stuff up against most without question!

 

Yes, sometimes it seems like the water, and maybe it is, but on a recent trip to Central Calif, I visited to brewery pub/tasting rooms within a few miles of each other. In one I tasted a wide range of styles that I enjoy and they were very good; even a few styles I am not a big fan of, but the style was distinct from the other styles... that falls into the preferences category, not quality control. At the other brewery the different styles had little variance, and a certain aftertaste, other than color and look... it seems like some serious quality control issues like the tap lines or other plumbing not being cleaned out. And the tap water was fine.

 

The 2 examples I have experienced what you are talking about, are 2 small brewery 1/2 hour south of where I live. One brewery is many years more seasoned with years of experience, from west coast and in Florida. This brewery’s beer just ok, I would not drive 30 miles to have a pint. The other brewery is a year old I believe and I regularly drive 30 minutes to get enjoy a pint or two or 3. Differences are water, the newer brewery uses reverse osmosis adding what is needed to water which is different with each style, this younger brewery is brewing some of the finest beer in the US! The older brewery uses filtered city water with high magnesium levels! Unfortunate because I really like the owners of both but it is all about the beer!

 

It's not so much a disconnect as it is that there's just a whole hell of a lot more casual beer fans than the more hardcore enthusiasts, and always has been. It's been said before, but bears repeating- being on sites like this one tend to give you a distorted view of the landscape out there. But hey, there's always rising tides and all that .

 

My opinion on this, but I hold the Head Brewer responsible for the beer I drink, whether its teffiffic or mediocre. There's lots of variables, but I'm assuming he is making sure the water is right, the ingredients meet his high standard for the beer styles he's brewing. He's responsible from start to finish that his beers hits the marks for the style, there's obviously room to free lance a bit, but vision , skill and passion drive it. I expect him to be the expert on what he's offering, and for being knowledgable about every facet within his control. My duty is to understand the style, and when drinking it remember what it is and what's it's supposed to be. I suspect it would be easier for popular IPA styles to use multi hop recipes just to allow for hop variables, blending I'm supposing allows repeatibility. I'm also supposing the malt and yeast isn't all that tricky. But I'm not a Brewer and I'm quite sure I'd be a lousy Brewer, it's that attention to detail thing. But like most things skills vary, some guys can hit a curveball some can't, some guys can put a vision to canvas and make beautiful art, most can't, some Brewers can turn a vision into reality and create magic with incredible beers, some can get it scientifically right by following a recipe, but all it is is ok and scientifically right but it's not near being memorable.