Craft Beers, do people really like them?

You can find em. What part of the country are you in.

I have never gotten the craft beer thing since (as I recall) microbreweries started popping up around 1990. To me, there is nothing better than an ice cold Bud, Yuengling or Rolling Rock -- except Bourbon.

Earlier this year, I was on a business trip to St. Louis with a colleague. I made a comment that when you are in St. Louis, you have to have a Budweiser. He said that he had never had one. (I'm late 40s, he's early thirties).

Echion wrote:

I'd say that not only are craft brewers oversaturating... I feel like a lot of these breweries really aren't masterful craftsmen and their flavors go toward the circus act (chocolate habenero lime jackfruit....). I wish the movement focused on quality grains, grain and bittering variations, and making truely excellent standard beers.

Bingo, Echion! That multi-flavored weird beer description made me laugh out loud. I agree I think small-batch brewing has peaked, but do like the choices compared to my early beer-drinking days.

dude, really? wrote:

What if you're not a hop head and you want a drinkable lager...sorry, you're SOL.

Actually, any microbrewery worth its malt will have among their permanent line-up a crystal-clear lager and/or a pilsner.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM wrote:

you need to get some help if you're embarrassed to be drinking a beer you like. Get help soon my friend.

I'm with this guy.

Hop head here wrote:

I only drink IPA. It has nothing to do with thinking it's cool. I moved to a place where there are a lot of local breweries and I began trying the different IPAs. Suddenly my palate had totally changed and everything else now tastes like garbage.

I love when people who are just getting into beer say things like this.

I was the same, drinking every possible IPA and learning the distinctions between west coast, east coast, english, south pacific, etc. Then a brewer said to me "once you've burnt your taste buds on IPA, try a rauchbier or a sour." Not to mention legitimate stouts and porters.

There's more to taste than IPAs.

LagerOnly wrote:

Check out Jack's Abby - lager only craft brewery. Pretty good stuff.

http://jacksabby.com/

Cool.

I actually came across an India Pale Lager just yesterday, which was interesting. Hoppy, refreshing, quaffable like a session IPA, tasty enough to dig your teeth into but still clean on the palate...recommended to my Canadian friends!

The more I run the more I just want to drink cheap American lager. Busch ..pbr..etc. even frio light

reformedhophead wrote:

Can you provide some examples of good session IPAs? I haven't been able to find any that don't taste like light beer with more hops.

Red Racer has a good ISA. Same with Muskoka's "Detour" - great summer sipping.

IPA train is good but wrote:

Hop head here wrote:

I only drink IPA. It has nothing to do with thinking it's cool. I moved to a place where there are a lot of local breweries and I began trying the different IPAs. Suddenly my palate had totally changed and everything else now tastes like garbage.

I love when people who are just getting into beer say things like this.

I was the same, drinking every possible IPA and learning the distinctions between west coast, east coast, english, south pacific, etc. Then a brewer said to me "once you've burnt your taste buds on IPA, try a rauchbier or a sour." Not to mention legitimate stouts and porters.

There's more to taste than IPAs.

Sorry to disappoint you friend, I guess I'm not as sophisticated as you. I drink what tastes good to me and at the moment that happens to be a handful of different IPAs.

I second the Founder's All Day as a session. As good as any I've had.

well not anything wrote:

joho wrote:

Fun to use but comes in real handy when the bartender doesn't know the difference between an IPA and stout.

That's when you order a whiskey, neat. My reasoning there: if the bartender lacks such basic information as that, the place hires the cheapest D class people who probably wouldn't bother putting in the effort to maintain the beer lines, etc. Unless you're already six in, in which case you won't notice the subtle nuances of mold anyway!

Good point but I usually stick with beer anyway. And I have been stung by bad bourbon or what I think was putting cheap bourbon in a good name brand bottle. I know what Woodford Reserve tastes like and I have been served something from a Woodford bottle that wasn't good bourbon.

I never went back to that place again.

Hop head here wrote:

IPA train is good but wrote:

I love when people who are just getting into beer say things like this.

I was the same, drinking every possible IPA and learning the distinctions between west coast, east coast, english, south pacific, etc. Then a brewer said to me "once you've burnt your taste buds on IPA, try a rauchbier or a sour." Not to mention legitimate stouts and porters.

There's more to taste than IPAs.

Sorry to disappoint you friend, I guess I'm not as sophisticated as you. I drink what tastes good to me and at the moment that happens to be a handful of different IPAs.

I second the Founder's All Day as a session. As good as any I've had.

I am a hop head also but will force myself to get a stout every now and then. I can enjoy a good java porter or a chocolate, maybe a vanilla porter but not enough to seek them out.

I do enjoy Belgian ales and German wheat beers but those are not as easy to find as a good IPA.

I've tried a couple of sours and absolutely, positively cannot understand how people drink them. Different tastes I know, but gawd those are awful.

Trendy thing for hipsters with unkept facial hair and poor grooming habits.

There's definitely some craft beers that are great. I just had some sours by Odells and Funkwerks in Fort Collins that were great.

Of course, just because you like craft beers, it doesn't mean you don't drink non-craft.

joho wrote:

Hop head here wrote:

Sorry to disappoint you friend, I guess I'm not as sophisticated as you. I drink what tastes good to me and at the moment that happens to be a handful of different IPAs.

I second the Founder's All Day as a session. As good as any I've had.

I am a hop head also but will force myself to get a stout every now and then. I can enjoy a good java porter or a chocolate, maybe a vanilla porter but not enough to seek them out.

I do enjoy Belgian ales and German wheat beers but those are not as easy to find as a good IPA.

I've tried a couple of sours and absolutely, positively cannot understand how people drink them. Different tastes I know, but gawd those are awful.

Sours: you just need to keep working.

feldman wrote:

Hop head here wrote:

I only drink IPA. It has nothing to do with thinking it's cool. I moved to a place where there are a lot of local breweries and I began trying the different IPAs. Suddenly my palate had totally changed and everything else now tastes like garbage. There are also now several decent session IPAs so you don't need to get smashed every time you drink.

Same here.

Although I did something totally out of the norm this summer while golfing. I had a couple of coors lights on a really hot day. Actually hit the spot.

Of course, water is good for you.

Heck, if I starved you for a few days vegimite (sp?) might taste good.

You are 100% correct! I have lived in Germany since 2005 and every time I come back home to the states my friends and family want to give my some strange craft beer as if to say " see we also can brew a good beer". They all suck! They are usually too acidic. My wife is German and she thinks the best US beer is Miller Genuine Draft. It is just a fad folks. If our want to be snobby and act sophisticated you buy this crap. Oh by the way even the German imports you drink are often not the real thing. The are brewed in the states and have less alcohol than the real thing. The best pilsner beer is Krombacher. The best Weiss beer is Paulaner. Everything else is second rate. Fat Tire and Blue Moon are lousy. My German friends agree. Just buy Miller HD or an import.

Mit freundliche Gruessen,

Der Ammie

Perhaps your aversion to "American craft beer" stems from the fact that you think that Blue Moon (a beer brewed by Coors) is supposed to be a craft beer.

Ackley wrote:

To me, there is nothing better than an ice cold Bud, Yuengling or Rolling Rock

I'd honestly rather drink cat piss.