[denny]

It's kinda like since IPA is trendy it's trendy to not like it!   

[MattyAHA]

i don't dislike IPA, i just dislike the amount of shelf space they take up in my beer store and esp dislike any beer that has wacky ingredients in it but that's just me, if people like buying/making beer with oysters and crab legs in them for example, go for it but its not my bag, i think the best brewers can use extremely simple basic ingredients and make unbelievable awesome beers without putting a chocolate cake in the mash, you know beer flavored beer

[BrewBama]

It's kinda like since IPA is trendy it's trendy to not like it!   

While that may be true for many, I’ve long had a personal distaste for the hop blasters that IPA became in America.  When you enter a brewpub, look at a brewery’s range and see that most of their offerings are 75+ IBU I tend to look elsewhere.  I have the same issue with a majority of a brewery’s portfolio in the 7+% ABV range. A lot of people must like extremely hoppy high ABV beers because the supply certainly seems to be meeting the demand.  I guess I’m just not in that market.

I realize the BU:GU ratio has issues and may not tell the whole story, and likewise the IBU calculation is suspect, but it’s what we have so I use them as a benchmark to evaluate beer. A BU:GU ratio of around .75 is a ‘very hoppy’ beer in my world and I prefer more like .6-ish for balance.  When everyone started hitting a BU:GU of 1, 1.5, 2... I baled. I recall having this conversation with Tommy years ago. I simply don’t enjoy that much bitterness.

Having said all that, you have one of my reasons to brew my own. My goal with hops is not primarily bitterness. Of course I need some bitterness for balance but I am primarily shooting to use hops for flavor like I do spice/seasoning to flavor food. (see: techniques to maximize hop flavor thread)


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[tommymorris]

Most beers I brew are 1048-1054 SG and 30-45 IBU. My beers have gotten hoppier overtime though. I’ve been brewing Czech and Classic American Pilsners lately and loving them.

I like IPAs but rarely make them myself. They are readily available at craft breweries and I tend to want one once only a month or so.

[fredthecat]

another good reason to be sick of "craft beer" is simply the price. this isn't usually on my radar because i completely block out the obviously trendy "our beer is expensive so it MUST be good" stuff. but just saw someone post about an 18 dollar /750ml bottle "tart" sour from well known but imho not actually respected regional microbrewer.


18 dollars for 750ml of malt and hops? are you out of your f---ing mind??? and.... wait who are you again? i could get world class beer from extremely solid and time-tested european breweries for a quarter that price... why would i put down 18 dollars on that?

on beer review sites it gets completely middling reviews. these craft breweries are so into themselves its just pure delusion.

[denny]

another good reason to be sick of "craft beer" is simply the price. this isn't usually on my radar because i completely block out the obviously trendy "our beer is expensive so it MUST be good" stuff. but just saw someone post about an 18 dollar /750ml bottle "tart" sour from well known but imho not actually respected regional microbrewer.


18 dollars for 750ml of malt and hops? are you out of your f---ing mind??? and.... wait who are you again? i could get world class beer from extremely solid and time-tested european breweries for a quarter that price... why would i put down 18 dollars on that?

on beer review sites it gets completely middling reviews. these craft breweries are so into themselves its just pure delusion.

I regularly pay $16-18 forma bottle of Alesong.  Amzingly good beer and I dont drink it every day to, so to me it's worth it.

[Village Taphouse]

I have a wide range of options in my area but I have absolutely gone into small craft brewpubs and found myself scratching my head over what to get.  I generally do not brew stouts, IPAs or Belgians so right there I could be in trouble at a brewpub.  I also generally dislike "gimmick beers" like the ones mentioned in the OP.  Hey, how about a nice American Pale Ale?  They're getting hard to find.  I walked into a place once and there were 10-12 beers on tap.  Every one of them looked like a gimmick and every one of them was 8% or more.  I was in another place that was similar but wait, what's this?  A Mexican Dark Lager named something like El Varon Viejo (old man?).  Oh, it's 9.7%... forget it.  I see dry hopped pilsners, a never-ending river of citrusy IPAs and IIPAs, whacked-out stouts and funky Belgians and for those reasons I am very happy I brew my own... mostly Helles, Pilsner, Viennas, Festbiers, Dunkels, Bocks, etc. 

[Visor]

 18 bucks for a 750 of barrel aged heaven is relatively cheap, not that there is any barrel aged beer available here for any price.

[Bilsch]

I like the way this Fredthecat guy thinks.

[chumley]

 Personally, I kinda like to drink beer I brew myself. Although PBR will do in a pinch.

[reverseapachemaster]

$18/750ml isn't a bad price in today's beer market for sour beer although any price is too much for lousy beer.

[fredthecat]

Personally, I kinda like to drink beer I brew myself. Although PBR will do in a pinch.

Mainly this, I had favourite beers I knew well, but they've been pushed to the side for constantly rotating microbrews that, while being labelled "porter" could be insufficiently roasty, or too sweet, too hoppy, simply poor quality, anything.

I know roughly what I want, and it'll be a lot cheaper than buying beer.


Preaching to the converted, I know. But it feels like commercial beer is worse than ever, cause we had a taste of peak microbrewing and it's gone downhill since.

[beersk]

Personally, I kinda like to drink beer I brew myself. Although PBR will do in a pinch.

Dude, I feel like I've come full circle to this. I was this way back when I started brewing. Had only my own beer on tap and dirty thirties of Peebs in the fridge. Got back into craft beer a while after that and now I feel like the OP and Ken...just nothing is appealing and it's all way too expensive. Now I'm back to PBR or Hamm's for the most part. I did get my yearly stash of Oktoberfests from Costco this week though. Looking forward to those.

I guess I'll add... no one is really brewing much that I want to drink - helles, kolsch, vienna lager, hefeweizen, bitter, witbier, oatmeal stout, brown porter. Maybe these styles exist elsewhere, but here in Iowa, you really can't find them much. It's all hazy something or other, or it has fruit, or it's a peanut butter porter (what in the actual f*ck...), or some freakin' shandy or sour. Ugh, Craft beer, come on! I will say, I'm seeing a resurgence in pilsners, but they're all way too hoppy, way too bitter, and have very little malt character. Surly Hell anyone? (Yeah, that's not a helles, probably not even a lager).

Sorry for the rant...

[denny]

Personally, I kinda like to drink beer I brew myself. Although PBR will do in a pinch.

Dude, I feel like I've come full circle to this. I was this way back when I started brewing. Had only my own beer on tap and dirty thirties of Peebs in the fridge. Got back into craft beer a while after that and now I feel like the OP and Ken...just nothing is appealing and it's all way too expensive. Now I'm back to PBR or Hamm's for the most part. I did get my yearly stash of Oktoberfests from Costco this week though. Looking forward to those.

I guess I'll add... no one is really brewing much that I want to drink - helles, kolsch, vienna lager, hefeweizen, bitter, witbier, oatmeal stout, brown porter. Maybe these styles exist elsewhere, but here in Iowa, you really can't find them much. It's all hazy something or other, or it has fruit, or it's a peanut butter porter (what in the actual f*ck...), or some freakin' shandy or sour. Ugh, Craft beer, come on! I will say, I'm seeing a resurgence in pilsners, but they're all way too hoppy, way too bitter, and have very little malt character. Surly Hell anyone? (Yeah, that's not a helles, probably not even a lager).

Sorry for the rant...

I think it's location.  No problem with variety around here.  Sure, there are lots of weird beers, but there are also lots of straight ahead beer flavored beers, too.

[Slowbrew]

Depending on the month I can easily find at a couple these ("helles, kolsch, vienna lager, hefeweizen, bitter, witbier, oatmeal stout, brown porter")  on tap in Urbandale, IA at the same time.  Of course they are in my keg fridge in the basement.   

Iowa has a large number of breweries but they all want to chase the current fads.  Even before COVID and land hurricanes I didn't go to very many of the tap houses.  They're too crowded, to loud, too many young'uns, too many IPAs and I'm too old. 

Paul