/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.18164750]

Why is the craft beer scene so shit these days?
There is way less variety than 5-10 years ago, aside from within these meme styles like hazy IPAs and milkshake IPAs
Beer nerds always say "just go to microbreweries, dood". But I checked out the menus of most of the ones near me, and it's the same shit.
It will be 10 IPAs, 5 sours, 3 non beers, and a token pilsner.
I don't buy that there's "more variety than ever" and it does not seem that things are getting any better.

[Anonymous No.18164775]

>>18164750
The entire novelty of craft beer is waning. Breweries are sticking to a few safe bets that still sells.

[Anonymous No.18164779]

>>18164775
I can't believe this meme IPA/meme stout shit is the "safe bet".
You would think they'd make really good beers that you'd want to drink several of at once (like good German beer).

[Anonymous No.18164801]

RIP Sam Adams Boston Ale
These kind of beers are hard to find

[Anonymous No.18164821]

>>18164801
>RIP
Has the brewery closed down?

[Anonymous No.18164826]

>>18164750
sounds like your neck of the woods just sucks.
i can get everything from meme IPAs to medieval table beers.

[Anonymous No.18164856]

>>18164821
No but they discontinued this beer and I doubt they'll ever bring it back

[Anonymous No.18164910]

You would think "regular" beers from these places would sell more volume

[Anonymous No.18164920]

>be me
>enjoyer of stouts and porters
>visit micro brews
>1 stout or porter
>7 IPAs
what the fuck is it with IPAs? are they just easy as shit and cheap?

[Anonymous No.18165023]

I gave up and just drink Coors Banquet these days

[Anonymous No.18165026]

>>18164920
it kind of serves the same function that Guinness did in the 70s.
a couple generations grew up on flavorless adjunct lagers, IPA is the first style they came across that has Actual Flavor, and then dudes with no personality turn it into a pissing contest to see who can make the Most Flavor

[Anonymous No.18165085]

>>18164750
19 choices for beer sounds like more than enough, and you sound like a whiny little bitch desu

[Anonymous No.18165243]

>>18165085
t. Milkshake IPA fag

[Anonymous No.18165255]

>>18164750

I'd rather drink a four loko than whatever this shit is supposed to be.

[Anonymous No.18165317]

>>18164750
>these days

[Anonymous No.18165339]

>>18164920
My brother

[Anonymous No.18165417]

>>18164750
Idk it's pretty nice in my area. Most breweries have a few traditional beers, pilsner, here, schwarz, and then an IPA and special release stouts. There's a few that do the Belgian stuff too. I can find pretty much anything I want from my state

[Anonymous No.18165460]

>>18164920
It's a combination of IPAs being easy and >>18165026
IPA is pretty much babby's first brew and because it's hoppy as fuck and you can hide a shitty brew behind the bitterness of the hops, and sad fucks will flock to it anyway because it's different. There are decent IPAs out there but for every good IPA there's like 40 shitty ones.

[Anonymous No.18165713]

>>18164750

Look at the styles of beer out there on Wikipedia, most definitive authorities have listed over 50 styles that are based on what each major beer producing country has produced based on available water profiles + immediately available ingredients. Where only a few new styles have been created in the past decade.

The craft beer scene hasn't become shit, it evolved into what it set out to avoid... That is the macro producers, who brew the same / similar beers all day long. They can say they are craft and independent but act as big business and pretend they're different because they brew beers with more flavours and charge a premium price.

There are breweries that exist as unique and make beers outside of just hop bombs with the token pilsner/lagers. I would look out for those beers and breweries, an easy way to find them is to look on untappd for lagers that are 4+/5 stars or higher, or highly rated German beers. I would also be on the look out for anything that isn't hyped up by beer nerds that has high ratings and/or good reviews. Even look over the classic styles of beer and find the examples that set those styles.

[Anonymous No.18165753]

>>18164750
>milkshake IPAs
This is a joke right? Right?

[Anonymous No.18165759]

maybe if you all went to your local craft brewer and demanded non-ipas they'd start making some. right now ipas are selling and they're easy to make so that's what they make.

>>18164779
>You would think they'd make really good beers
most of them can't, so they add a ton of hops and make ipas.

[Anonymous No.18165861]

I just drink Kirin like a true weeb.

[Anonymous No.18165881]

I am fucking tired of all this IPAs, just give me a god damn stout, for fuck's sake.

[Anonymous No.18166493]

They've hit the ceiling man
The basics are done best by a couple of large indie brewers, the experimental stuff is being done by the 2nd string guys and the smallest brewers are trying to find the one niche beer that they can use as a flagship: Belching Beaver and their peanut butter beer for example.
Milkshakes were cool a couple years ago, but they've been done to death. I'm glad sours got popular there's a bit more play with those, but there's only so many POG flavored beers that the market needs.
IPAs are just over, but the market keeps pumping them out because that's supposed to be the defining factor of craft beer.

There is more variety than ever, but you need to look at the breweries rather than just one beer here or there. Great Notion, Breakside, and some others that just knock whatever they do out of the park. There's others that just seem to make meme beers, I don't know how they survive. I guess shock value of seeing some crap and buying it as a goof but over all the scene is all the better if people can experiment. Seems like most just want to live long enough to get bought out by InBev anyway (looking at you, 10 Barrel)

[Anonymous No.18166505]

>>18164750
I fucking hate IPAs
I have like 7 breweries within easy stumbling distance of home, all of them specialize in IPAs. Most of them ONLY make IPAs and nothing else. Only one of them does lager and they only make one and it's only OK.
so i just get good beer from the grocery store and hope the local places go under and someone else moves in

[Anonymous No.18166838]

>>18164750
>kriek guuuud
>american strawberry ipa baaad
soyjakjapan.jpg

[Anonymous No.18166871]

>>18165753
You been living under a rock? Must be nice

[Anonymous No.18166881]

>>18164750
All markets eventually consolidate in this manner because the very notion of running a business is a huge money pit. Logistics and transportation, labor, liscences to distribute goods, new safety standards every year, and on and on. Intelligent business owners build up a brand and then sell it to larger corporate concerns.

[Anonymous No.18166908]

>>18164750
The American craft beer scene has always been shit. IPA has always been monotone. Loud and monotone. 1 Sip: that's a lot of flavour! 3 sips: well that's growing! Half a beer: I had enough of that. As boring and predictable as it was 20 years ago.

Making a sour beer is easy, just use wild fermentation. Making a sour beer with depth and length is impossible without the right wild yeast and bacteria. Eventually you'll find a spot somewhere that'll mimic Gueuze. You'll call it Belgian-style Gueuze and make a fool out of yourself (as you did with the buffalo-style mozzarella and Serrano-style ham).

Good luck with your beer. It's a shame you're you're looking for quick, cheap profit as usual, instead of developing your own style of slow movement beer. Which is what craft beer is all about.

[Anonymous No.18166949]

>>18166908
sometimes I try and imagine the people who write things like this.

kind of like politics, this place is a constant reminder that we live in our own bubble and people in different places have completely different worldviews.

I hope you have the self awareness to reflect and accept that the world is bigger than your own experience.

have a nice day, anon.

[Anonymous No.18166961]

>>18166949
sometimes I try and imagine the people who write things like this.
And all I see is a fat cunt with no sense of tradition.

[Anonymous No.18167486]

>>18164920
check out "belching beaver" brewery

[Anonymous No.18167493]

I just want more good abbey style ales dammit

[Anonymous No.18167649]

>>18166908
You know it's all mental right? People who think this way just believe x is better than y because x was made here instead of there, when in reality you wouldn't be able to notice any difference if they did a blind taste test

[Anonymous No.18167718]

>>18167493
Abbey ales are made by men of God. Such quality cannot be replicated by nihilist fad-chasing bugmen.

[Anonymous No.18167835]

>>18167718
>Abbey ales are made by men of God.
not anymore, they just supervise at this point. the actual brewers are rarely, if ever even, monks.

[Anonymous No.18168010]

Modelo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN9dSvUJB2o

[Anonymous No.18168028]

>>18164750
IPAs are out. Stouts and sours are in. Get with the times.

[Anonymous No.18168148]

Craft beer is interesting in that the "safe" and popular choices have generally stuck around for a reason. Old Rasputin or KBS are better imperial stouts than 90% of the small-time stuff that tries too hard to be unique. Space Dust or Lil Sumpin are generally going to be better than some local IPA.
I wish more breweries would get into growlers or singles, the slight increase in overhead would definitely attract more curious customers. I'll happily try something weird if it's on tap, but I've had far too many bad experiences with $30 4-packs that ended up being undrinkable.

[Anonymous No.18168158]

>>18164750

Because it was a fad and all the hipsters have moved on to whatever the next thing is. Knife sharpening or shoe shining or some shit.

[Anonymous No.18168239]

>>18164750
The novelty of "beer that has actual flavor unlike the shit boomers like" wore off and not they're getting extra gimmicky to stand out, but the brands that got big will just take over all the smaller ones.

[Anonymous No.18168242]

>>18164750
Things are alright here. Maybe your neck of the woods is behind the times

[Anonymous No.18168542]

Drinking an IPA right now, hustle-and-bustle-bros. Love that classic American west coast style. It doesn't get any better than this. Grapefruit, tropical fruit, weed, and the vague sense that a cat may have went tinkle in your glass. Beer peaked with this and all other iterations on it are merely attempts to catch lightning in a bottle twice.

[Anonymous No.18168646]

>>18168239
This
Also it's funny because craft beer is mostly a 40+ thing, all the youngsters I see either drink Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, Mexican beer, or are complete non beer drinkers and just drink gay seltzers.

[Anonymous No.18168648]

>>18168242
t. Milkshake IPA drinker

[Anonymous No.18168727]

>>18166493
> Great Notion, Breakside, and some others that just knock whatever they do out of the park.
Portland is the most overrated beer scene in the country. The majority of brewers are mediocre at best, and the losers in the beer scene are endlessly chasing after the new. That said, Breakside is great, and there are a few other breweries making good stuff. Great Notion is not one of them. The epitome of the meme brewery.

[Anonymous No.18168732]

The people who claim "craft beer has never been better" are either in denial or are the type to love those wacky experimental beers

[Anonymous No.18169077]

It's simply what's popular and profitable.
No way you can convince me it's hard to make a good beer in 2022, this isn't a new science

[Anonymous No.18169078]

>>18164750
>There is way less variety than 5-10 years ago
must suck living in a beer desert

[Anonymous No.18169082]

>>18169078
t. guy who thinks 30 different hazy IPAs is "variety"

[Anonymous No.18169086]

>>18169082
If you live in a place with many breweries you're bound to strike gold

[Anonymous No.18169090]

>>18169086
I live around a lot and they're all IPA/fruited sour oriented

[Anonymous No.18169098]

>>18169082
more of a pilsner guy but stay thirsty anon

[Anonymous No.18169100]

>>18169098
you're cheating, this is a rare lager themed craft brewery

[Anonymous No.18169120]

>>18169100
It's not its just the closest brewery to me

[Anonymous No.18169135]

>>18169098
Their IPA is great

[Anonymous No.18169164]

>>18169135
Award winning too but don't tell OP that, they'll blow a gasket

[Anonymous No.18169172]

>>18169164
lol why would I give a shit?

[Anonymous No.18169318]

>>18169098
ABV 5% or less?
That's not beer.

[Anonymous No.18170069]

>>18168648
There's one place around here that makes a drinkable milkshake/lactose IPA. Alpha acids and lactose are incompatible flavours - they need mid-L malt as a buffer.

[Anonymous No.18170188]

I'm sorry that brewers and drinkers near you are looking more to marketing and numbers than the beer itself.

We're spoiled here. We might not find everything at one brewery/brewpub, as quite a few specialize, but there's almost always a pale or blonde pilsner or ale as a litmus test, and chances are if they're not great, the place is empty on a Friday night anyway. There's also usually some hybridization happening in one of the test tanks/taps, where the specialists will see if it's worth bringing extra hops to their Belgians, or some dark malt to their IPAs. When it works really well, these are usually out to market by the time the third keg's hooked up, pushing some of the less-balanced imports off the shelves.

What are you looking for? The technological changes have been geared a lot more to the hops and machinery than the brewing methods themselves in the past few decades, aside from the addition of lactose and blending of hops. If you're looking for a brand new beer, you might have to think it up yourself.

[Anonymous No.18170720]

>>18170069
Even the better ones shouldn't take up 80% of a taproom's beer list

[Anonymous No.18170740]

>>18170720
No. 1, 2 max. Why would you go if they cater specifically to a crowd that doesn't include you?

[Anonymous No.18170752]

>>18170740
Unfortunately, most of the microbreweries by me are like that.
And the ones that aren't are still 90% IPAs of some sort.

[Anonymous No.18170755]

>>18169318
Not all of us are alcoholics here

[Anonymous No.18170771]

>>18170755
I'm a big drinker and I prefer 5% ABV beers.

[Anonymous No.18170783]

>>18170752
You'll have to deal with the large number of IPAs in most places - that's what their patrons are buying. You might find a decent one - something fairly balanced that isn't just straight Cascade/Citra/CTZ, whether that's with English hops and a more blonde/copper grain bill, or late additions of more tropical hops without resorting to blending or lactose - or you might not, but some of these places make some really decent reds and lagers or kolsches, sometimes just to prove that they can.

Unless you're in the Dakotas. You might have to import if you are.

[Anonymous No.18170794]

>>18170783
that's weird to me because styles like pilsners, golden ales, helles, etc. are much more drinkable. Look at how much beer people buy when they go to German beer halls, surely it's more than people at an IPA centric taproom would buy.

[Anonymous No.18170810]

Reminder that the reason why soys love IPAs is because hops reduce testosterone.

[Anonymous No.18170814]

>>18170794
A lot of that demographic's split. There's the group that will absolutely murder a good festbier if given the chance -knockoff or not-, a second that will only drink German pales, and the third that will only drink American pales, unless at (an) Oktoberfest, or in an environment that makes it feel ok to not order a Busch Light. Some places in the world are just 5x5 lager and IPA; I'm glad I have options.

[Anonymous No.18170816]

>>18170810
Girls who drink IPAs must be hot as fuck then
Imagine having a cute soy gf with big ass titties

[Anonymous No.18170818]

>>18170814
I mean, there's a reason IPA taprooms don't usually offer giant steins of their beer.
German styles are much better for heavy drinking, while I feel that IPAs are for 32 year old nerds who will have just a beer or two with a burger when they go out to eat.
Massive generalization of course, that's just my perception of things.

[Anonymous No.18170821]

>>18170810
I keep trying, but I'm still large, hairy and full of a rage-fueled need to fuck. Maybe I need to switch to imperial IPAs.

[Anonymous No.18170826]

>>18170810
Is that a scientific fact that plant estrogens reduce testosterone?

[Anonymous No.18170832]

>>18170818
It's fair. Even when I'm in the mood for hoppy beer, it's certainly not going to be a dozen of the same in one sitting. You can coax those 32 year old nerds to have a few more pints than usual if you offer some variety - heavy to start, with a better malt balance, west coast early on, something a little lighter and fruitier to kind of cleanse the palate, maybe a sweeter heavy stout for dessert, and a few lower ABV pints to swindle a few more quid on their way out.

[Anonymous No.18170839]

>>18170818
>>18170832
They do usually sell sealable jugs (growlers, etc.), and you are allowed to drink from them here.

[Anonymous No.18171233]

>>18168148
Accurate. The craft beer scene has produced a small handful of really spectacular beers (like that Old Rasputin you named), and a lot of stuff that's as mediocre as miller high life but costs 2-3x as much. And with as much time as everyone's had to figure out which is which, there's little point in trying out random novelty beers.

[Anonymous No.18171275]

>>18164750
>strawberry milkshake IPA
really makes me wish i wasn't lactose intolerant

[Anonymous No.18171281]

>>18170826
>Is that a scientific fact that plant estrogens reduce testosterone?
they bind to estrogen receptors and prevent the more powerful endogenous receptors from acting on the body, they actually increase the influence of testosterone by way of reducing the influence of estrogen

[Anonymous No.18171287]

>>18171281
endogenous estrogens*

[Anonymous No.18171342]

>>18164750
People finally realized that all beer tastes the same just with varying levels of bitterness

[Anonymous No.18171384]

>>18171275
any strawberry milk flavor would be immediately killed by overwhelming bitterness

[Anonymous No.18171558]

>>18171384
you're probably right but i still want to try it

[Anonymous No.18171730]

>employee owned
how does this work

[Anonymous No.18172135]

>>18171384
These tend to either have very late/dry hop additions, or hops blended in post-boil. If they're done right (which can, admittedly, be a crapshoot), it would be just enough bitterness to keep this from being cloying. Something like Galaxy, blended in and left to lager for a month would could work quite nicely with strawberry and vanilla. The lactose and unfermented/unfermentable sugars from the grain bill should (ideally) be more than enough to turn 30-ish IBU back around to sweetness.

[Anonymous No.18172199]

IPA's are unironically easier to make. You don't see lagers and German ale copies because those require more time of knowledge to get them right. IPA's are low risk and, if your area's demographic is full of homos, high reward.

[Anonymous No.18172349]

>>18172135
>should (ideally) be more than enough to turn 30-ish IBU
they wouldn't bother calling it an IPA in that case

[Anonymous No.18172368]

I WILL NOT REST UNTIL EVERY IPA, AND EVERY IPA BREWER IS DESTROYED


GRUAAAHHH *rips shirt*

[Anonymous No.18172371]

>>18164750
craft beer is for fags
busch light, and busch light apple are the only 2 u need

[Anonymous No.18172493]

>>18172371
Regular Busch is better

[Anonymous No.18172577]

>>18172349
It's a milkshake IPA.

[Anonymous No.18172585]

>>18172493
He's jesting, Gary.

[Anonymous No.18172603]

>>18172199
I see lagers, kolsches, Goze, Berliner weisse, schwarzbiers, festbiers, and even the occasional rauchbier. You have to have slightly cleaner water, and occasionally have to lager the beer. There's a slight price issue with importing hops, or getting new-world versions of old-world hops to behave appropriately sometimes.

[Anonymous No.18172604]

>>18172603
slightly cleaner as in less carbonate and zero chlorine. Sulfate's alright, and sometimes even beneficial.

[Anonymous No.18172606]

>>18166493
>your’re missing the real g’s: Upright, De Garde, Cascade, Alesong

[Anonymous No.18172608]

>>18172577
no shit.....

[Anonymous No.18172616]

>>18172606
De Garde actually wild ferments... good for them!

[Anonymous No.18172622]

>>18172608
so they called it a milkshake IPA. If you go much over 40, even theoretical, you're looking at a lot of lactose to bring that back to being a dessert beer. Which is probably why the style itself tends toward being fucking gross.

[Anonymous No.18172712]

>>18172603
I see those too, but not from upstarts.
Breweries like Schlafly, Urban Chestnut make good german beer, but they're big and don't make too many retarded beers.

[Anonymous No.18172718]

>>18172712
Tragic. They're just a general thing here.

[Anonymous No.18172756]

Most of y’all seem really mad.

[Anonymous No.18172805]

>>18172756
It's hard to be mad around shitty, gritty beards and kitties

[Anonymous No.18172879]

What does /ck/ think of pic rel.
I consider it pretty much the ideal IPA
Dry and crisp, supremely refreshing on a hot day.

[Anonymous No.18172980]

>>18164750
I hate IPAs so much. Always have. They are so bitter, I really don't understand how people actually enjoy them. Give me a lager or ale.

[Anonymous No.18172993]

>>18172980
>Give me a lager or ale.
sure thing anon *hands you IPA*

[Anonymous No.18173517]

>>18172980
>Give me a lager or ale.
ignorance is bliss

[Anonymous No.18173542]

>>18172879
fuck Aphria, fuck them inn their stupid aces.

[Anonymous No.18174963]

>>18173517
It's usually a few extra questions, but for the most part it's something like this:
"Hey man, can I get a beer!?"
"Sure thing! What kind and what size?"
"I dunno, a lager, an ale... a beer."
"We've got 30 taps of that. Anything fancy, or just a pint of beer flavoured beer?"
"Yeah! Exactly!"
... [pouring]
"Here you go man, 568 millilitres of our golden pilsner from tap number two. There are a lot of try, and we do test flights and tasting shots if you want to try anything else we have - taps 1 through 6 might be to your liking. The menu, and a few of the TVs will tell you a lot about what we have on tap, but if you have any questions, we have the answers. Are you hungry this evening? We've got a [beer braised/infused/syruped/sauced something or other] on special..."

[Anonymous No.18175002]

>>18172993
>>18173517
>acts condescending while sheepishly ignoring the truth that ipas are gross.

[Anonymous No.18175087]

>>18175002
They're just pointing out that "Ale" is right there in the name of an "India Pale Ale" and that (with very few hybridized exceptions) all beers are either ales or lagers.
You're allowed to dislike things. Not everyone shares your dislike for IPAs or the style would have died on the vine.

[Anonymous No.18175116]

>>18175087
IPAs literally taste like soap

[Anonymous No.18175239]

>>18175116
Maybe it's the limonene? I suggest you stop eating soap, and start drinking what you like.

[Anonymous No.18175417]

>>18164750
Because craftbeers a a shitty overpriced meme that taste like shit.

[Anonymous No.18175431]

>>18175087
>OH hell yeah I love how bitter and awful this beer tastes.
>The more hoppy the better
>Am I cool now?

[Anonymous No.18175432]

>>18175239
>start drinking what you like
fuck you. how about you start drinking what i like.

[Anonymous No.18175437]

>>18175432
Why would anyone do that?

[Anonymous No.18175441]

>>18175437
>Why would anyone do that?
great question. IPAs are shit

[Anonymous No.18175451]

>>18175431
>FUCK YEAH BREH! I LOVE COMING TO THIS MALAYSIAN GOAT HERDING FORUM, CHERRYPICKING CONCEPTS AND WEAVING HYPERBOLE AND THIN AIR TO MAKE THE WORLD'S FLIMSIEST ARGUMENTS IN A DEBATE NOBODY ELSE IS INVOLVED IN! I'VE NEVER FELT SO FUCKING ALIVE!!!

If you don't want to drink the IPA, don't order the IPA.

[Anonymous No.18175459]

>>18175451
I don't because I'm not a hipster memed into buying overpriced garbage. I will always make fun of fools who do though.

[Anonymous No.18175465]

>>18175451
why even take the time to type this post? at least the person who hates pale ales has an opinion to share on a discussion forum. you've done nothing but point out the obvious that people other than yourself seem to have opinions.

[Anonymous No.18175470]

>>18175459
That's kind of weird - you're basing a personality trait on what other people drink.

[Anonymous No.18175489]

>>18164750
I agree with you on the IPA's. Seems like everytime a new beer comes out its some sort of super hopped ipa garbage, tho not all of them are the same. If you don't like the skunk ass taste avoid any that makes hops the main focus of their packaging/marketing and look for IBU numbers, the lower it is the less bitter it will be and the more you will be able to taste the other flavors present.

Personally I love sours tho. My favorite brew is currently Dogfishhead sea quench ale.

[Anonymous No.18175491]

>>18175470
IPAs have been popular for hundreds of years until hipsters found them. There is a good reason for that.

[Anonymous No.18175499]

>>18175465
You're right. I want my five seconds back. I could put them to better use elsewhere. No... wait... I'm waiting on my wort to chill. I've got like 5 whole minutes to waste here! I could type up the recipe, or even explain what an Altbier is and the hows and whys behind the differences between mine and what you might get along the Rhine. But you (You) - and it is just you - are here for the sole purpose of harping on IPAs to a dozen people who don't give a shit. It would be like explaining the Group of Seven to a blind kid.

[Anonymous No.18175511]

>>18175491
There's a good reason behind their popularity, or are you insinuating that they're less popular now that they've been the beer of choice for professional trendhoppers for more than a quarter-century? Did you link back to the wrong post?

[Anonymous No.18175513]

>>18175499
if you don't give a shit. stop replying

[Anonymous No.18175528]

>>18175513
Make me. I'm bored; I fucking hate waiting on thermodynamic processes.

[Anonymous No.18175544]

>>18175528
some people like waiting on thermodynamic processes. maybe you shouldn't waste your life defining your identity on what you don't like.

[Anonymous No.18175553]

>>18175544
I see what you did there. Have an IPA on the house!

[Anonymous No.18175567]

>>18175553
thanks, i'll pour this one out for my dead homies.

[Anonymous No.18175651]

Altbier is essentially the German version of an amber or copper ale. Oldschool ingredients (noble hops, "German" malts) need to make up most of the bill, or you're just making sparkling schadenfreude. A lagering period does wonders for this beer.
The end result should be fairly well balanced, but unobscured - showing off the toast on the malt, the aromas of the Spalt and Saaz hops, and even a slight bit of sulfur in the water, but the yeast should be quite clean. It should be carbonated and heavy enough to hold a slightly off white head, but not syrupy or impossible to pour. Generally somewhere between a Kölsch and a Kellerbier. Stronger varieties (Sticke, Doppelsticke) exist, but the same rules apply - the hops and malt should balance, and the yeast and water can be noticeable, but shouldn't draw attention.

[Anonymous No.18175667]

>>18175651
>sulfur
That sounds gross

[Anonymous No.18175724]

>>18175651
My water is very clean. There is a bit of sulfate, carbonate, calcium and magnesium, but at or below taste thresholds, so decided to throw a bit of Rikawa (a Saaz-based hop) in 10 mins after the Saaz and Spalt to make up for the lack of "snap" that the sulfate would have provided; the bitterness from Rikawa is more of a quick hint of lemon zest than a lingering hop bomb when dropped mid boil like this. My colour will also differ because of the relative lack of sulfate. I've added a bit of C120 and a tiny, tiny bit of light chocolate malt to give a copperiness without going full on red. If I had more calcium sulfate, I could probably just go with more mid-range crystal malt and a bit more Munich in the base.
Once it's done, this should be about 16 SRM (coppery), with a final gravity of about 1.013 (medium body), 38-ish IBU (technically bitter, but the extra sweetness from the malt will bring it right back), and 5.8% ABV (a bit high, but not enough to call it something else).

[Anonymous No.18175731]

>>18175667
It's necessary for a crisp beer. Not enough that you'd taste it, but without it, pale beer tends to fall flat - it brings out the hops, and a bit of toast in the malt if it's there, but cuts off the aftertaste of both.

[Anonymous No.18175760]

>>18175731
interdasting

[Anonymous No.18175769]

>>18175489
Ironic meme for a sourfag to post

[Anonymous No.18175790]

>>18175760
Sometimes it's the difference between one German lager you might like and another one you don't... like 1 ppM differences. At high levels, yeah, it's gross - as Sulfur Dioxide or _Sulfate - but in appropriate amounts, especially with enough Sodium and Calcium salts to buffer, it's "Crispness" or "Terroir".

[Anonymous No.18175829]

>>18164750
keep drinking Michelob ultra, budweisers, bud light, miller light and other goyslop beers.
i dont drink beer unless its higher than 7% good tasting craft beer.
because i wanna get drunk and only need 3. meanwhile i would need to down 5 beers of empty goyslop calories.

[Anonymous No.18175840]

>>18175829
Milkshake IPAs are the ultimate "goyslop"

[Anonymous No.18175894]

>>18175769
Sour is a much more commonly enjoyed flavor profile than bitter.

[Anonymous No.18176021]

>>18175489
is that a lagunitas? lol it fuckin sucks, idk how people have the audacity and tastebuds to consistently praise it

[Anonymous No.18176045]

>>18173517
ah I see so Americans invented
>wheat ale
>amber ale
>blonde ale
>their own porter
>their own stout
>light beer
>'ice beer'
>malt liquor ok I'll give you that one
>>18174963
>568 millilitres
spare a thought for the poor yanks

[Anonymous No.18176072]

>>18164750
IPA's fucking get old tastewise real quick

[Anonymous No.18176162]

>>18176045
>Spare a thought...
You're definitely mixing and matching who you're referencing here, not sure about the 'what' of it.
568mL would be 20floz. A legal "Pint" in much of the commonwealth, including here in South Detroit.

[Anonymous No.18176165]

>tfw you really like IPAs, Sours, stouts, and porters
Sucks to be a lagerfag i guess

[Anonymous No.18176176]

>>18176165
I can't say that I don't get why there's this divide on here (It's 4chins, what else would we do?), but it really doesn't exist much elsewhere. Some people dress and live their stereotypes, and some really don't.
It's not like there's a shortage of beer, and for the most part, there's no shortage of choice.

[Anonymous No.18177001]

>>18176176
Eh this divide exists in other beer communities too

[Anonymous No.18177159]

>>18177001
It's not nearly as channed as it is here, and when it gets that way, it's usually pretty obvious it's one of us fleeing containment.

[Anonymous No.18177336]

>>18165713
I've seen this happen in real time. The craft beer "revolution" that was supposed to be the antithesis of the boomer macro lager/etc but they really just switched out macro lagers with IPAs.

[Anonymous No.18177343]

Milkshake IPAs are fucking shit. At least do a milkshake berliner weisse for it to be decent.

[Anonymous No.18177417]

>>18177336
And the meme IPAs are unironically worse than macro lagers.

[Anonymous No.18177436]

>>18164750
It's because hops are way more estrogenic than soy, and that's the primary vehicle by which the government has been targeting men to make them more servile and submissive.

Point to me a "soyboy" and I'll point to you a Craft IPA drinker

[Anonymous No.18177527]

i can give my opinion on different kinds of beers, i mostly only like well made euro beers and some american craft ones, and act like a redditssuer for a nice beer but the moment i say i like some basic macro beer just because i think the taste is good all normal autists will start hiveminding against my opinion

[Anonymous No.18177624]

>come up with cool name "india pale ale"
>tastes like cat piss
>make a really decent beer
>call it "bitter"

[Anonymous No.18177693]

>>18174963
>>18175002
When someone asks for a lager or ale I just assume they don't get out much and I give them whatever is closest to a coors light

[Anonymous No.18177781]

>>18177693
What's worse is when people say "Guinness is like a meal in a glass"

[Anonymous No.18178139]

>>18164920
>enjoyer of stouts and porters
>visit bar that goes craft beers
> stout or porter is nitro
what a fucking meme that is

[Anonymous No.18178150]

People have realized that eating a meals worth of calories via a few beers is a big fucking mistake

[Anonymous No.18178186]

>>18164750
Just drink non-meme craft beer like trappists etc. They have been around for centuries and will always be good. Beers like Westmalle, Karmeliet, Omer etc. are never a bad choice.

[Anonymous No.18178187]

>>18178186
Agreed - Belgium style will never go out of style

[Anonymous No.18178352]

>>18176162
American pints are smaller, so they don't even get a full helping of their undrinkable craft concoctions

[Anonymous No.18178516]

>>18177343
I think that would just taste like malted cheese.

[Anonymous No.18178522]

>>18178186
That shit was cutting edge way back when. Between Trappist monks' dwindling population, and White Labs and Unibroue/Chambly doing some funky Dr. Frankenstein things with that Belgian banana yeast, Trappist/Abbey beer might get the front-line hipster treatment in the next decade or so.

[Anonymous No.18178538]

>>18177693
When they walk in here, and expect a sports bar that would serve Coors... I kind of sympathize. It's like they went to the corner store and fell into Wonka's factory of murdered children. I mean, even our spirits are either local or collabs where our mash goes through their stills.
We've tried to make it easy (everything points to what a beer is - the art on the placards and handles, the colour of the uplighting) and we get a lot of those MGDbrehs back, but yeah, some people just assume we only do hop bomb IPAs... which is kind of funny, considering we did one actual hop bomb as a test batch, and it bombed like a flight to Nagasaki while the hipsters were murderfucking our "Old English" IPA.

[Anonymous No.18179420]

>the virgin craft beer
>the chad real ale

[Anonymous No.18179982]

>>18179420
>t. chad chugger

[Anonymous No.18180087]

Natural wine has replaced craft beer

[Anonymous No.18180118]

i just love booze bros
i drank half a bottle of shitty smirnoffs and played battlefield 4 with the lads..
woke up in bed with my shoes still on..
WHAT A LIFE

[Anonymous No.18180186]

>>18180118
On one hand, yeah, you shouldn't do this all the time. On the other, if you haven't done this at least once, you should try it. It might start with vidja, but it goes to strange places that only photographic evidence can explain.

[Anonymous No.18180210]

>>18180186
a mate of mine picked me up and we hung out for the night, before he even got here i had a quarter of a bottle of scotch
we went to the pub, had a guiness, played pool
stopped off at a liquor store and got a bottle of vodka and one of those little 5 dollar jager bottles for myself
Had a nice time at his, reminisced about school, knocking back vodka
Next thing im waking up with my shirt off in his spare bedroom very confused, threw up into a cookie time bucket he'd left there
apparently i played a game of connect 4 with him, and he later found me face down in my puke
went out to the pub again later that night lol

[Anonymous No.18180240]

I worked in the craft beer industry (retail, bartending, and even brewing) for almost all of my 20s and while I don't hate craft beer on principle and an IPA is good when I'm in the mood for one, I just don't like how everything's got shit in it now. I don't like beer with fruit in it and when I want an imperial stout, I want something like Old Rasputin, not these pudding-y sugar bombs that make me queasy. I've gravitated more toward old world style beers and they're almost impossible to find fresh where I am. I just came back from the UK where pubs have hand-pumped cask ales on tap everywhere you go and I already miss them.
I just really resent how anything slightly interesting about American beer turns into an arms races to make it as overloaded as possible to stand out in the now over-saturated market. I just want beer that takes like beer, damn it.

[Anonymous No.18180490]

>>18180240
Taps 1-6, as per >>18174963

[Anonymous No.18180540]

>>18180490
Yes I'm familiar with craft beer bars with like 30 taps. I don't know about that anon's bar, but the ones I've been to, I ended up having to do quality control because a lot of the old world stuff simply doesn't move that fast. Dirty lines are also rampant in those places.
My issue is that I don't know what I want, like I said I was a bartender at a brewery, I have given that entire spiel from >>18174963 almost word-for-word several times a day for years. It's that the stuff I like just isn't that popular stateside.

[Anonymous No.18180545]

>>18180540
>My issue isn't** that I don't know what I want

[Anonymous No.18180657]

>>18180540
I was just being an ass, I have no idea what taps 1-6 would be at any bar but the ones here, and they're not consistently beer flavored.

[Anonymous No.18180700]

>>18180240
>I just want beer that takes like beer
This. Even back here in bongland I've noticed a huge increase in flavoured "craft" beers over the past few years. Loads of weird cocktail smoothie IPAs or dessert flavoured stouts seem to be in vogue and popping up everywhere. Like it's not seen as trendy to just brew a plain old oatmeal stout or something anymore.
I've been sticking more and more to traditional cask pubs for this reason, there's just far less gimmicky shite

[Anonymous No.18180738]

>>18164750
It's a wonderful thing, I enjoy many styles of beers as well as ciders. But I know at the end of the day, that even though most people look at me like I'm nuts, from my first sip Moosehead tasted exactly what I always thought a great beer would be. It's like returning home every time I have it and could drink that stuff all day every day and never get bored.

I know not everyone loves fizzy swamp water, but I hope you all can find your equivalent!

[Anonymous No.18180782]

>>18165881
I crave a good brown ale but it's such a rare find, even at the liquor store. Getting a good dark ale that isn't some dirty meme water is rough

[Anonymous No.18180934]

>>18164750
The whole IPA thing with waves of sours, porters etc. that's dominated the US beer scene pretty much put me off beer and booze in general from my early 20s to now in my early 30s. I've got my other vices but alc hasn't snagged me aside from the 16-22 party days.

That said I really enjoy lagers, German especially. There's a German restaurant near me owned by a couple that moved over from Munich and at least there I can slam back liters of König Ludwig. Life is good but we don't go out there often. Everywhere else is just as you described, a shit ton of IPAs and other shit I won't bother wasting the calories and cash on. The whole brewery vibe in general is pretty awful as well, a lot of parents with their babies or toddlers.

[Anonymous No.18180949]

>>18180934
>The whole brewery vibe in general is pretty awful as well, a lot of parents with their babies or toddlers.
i feel you on that. if i drive up to a brewery and i see a playscape out front i'll pull a 360 degree turn and drive away.

[Anonymous No.18180971]

>>18180700
Trendy: no, but once the honeymoon phase is over, good beer tends to stick around.

[Anonymous No.18181062]

>>18164775
>insert ___ hops
>remove ___ hops
>replace ___ hops with ___
>inflation
>sells drop for ___ hops drink
>demand rises for ___ hops again
>replace farmland with ___ hops
>repeat until everyone is happy

[Anonymous No.18181149]

>>18181062
We should be brewing beer with cows.

[Anonymous No.18181177]

Went on a holiday and went to a brewery in the city and a popular one at that.
Got the taster set that's 6 200ml beers they brew them selves.
5 where horse shit and 1 was ok but tasted imbalanced like it had way to much malt.

[Anonymous No.18181272]

>>18164920
simple grain bill 80/10/10 pils/wheat/oats. Little risk of contamination or off flavors due to tons of hops. They are in style, and really easy to change/update. You just use different hop strains and slightly change the grain bill.

Every single IPA i've brewed has turned out great. Dry hop or not, high or low abv (6-14%), variety of yeasts ect, they are always super drinkable. I've brewed probably 10 dark beers and maybe 2 or 3 actually turned out well. Same thing goes for just about any other style.

If you can't lager, I do recommend baltic porter. 40/40/10/5/5 Vienna/Munich/Red Wheat/oats/chocolate. Use a wheat yeast and aim for ~7% abv. Fucking dank.

[Anonymous No.18181356]

>>18164750
I AMA SO FUCKING SICK OF IPAS AND THE SOY DRINKING MOUTH BREATHERS THAT CONSUME THEM

t. works in a beer/wine store

[Anonymous No.18181415]

>>18181272
What went wrong with your dark beers?
You don't even need the wheat or the oats (they do help with the body, but some low/mid L crystal malt, carapils/carafoam, or a slightly less dry fermenting yeast would as well), actually your Baltic bill's really specific as well.

Kind of general for the rest of the crowd: West coast IPAs focus on limonene and pinene heavy hops (Cascade, CTZ, Citra and Mosaic), partly due to this influence, and partly due to what's available and cheap to ship, most American IPAs will have that grapefruit fucking a spruce tree flavour to them. If you go with East Kent Goldings, Fuggles (yes... Fuggles), and even some noble hops added really early in the boil, you can get pretty far away from that American flavour, into more of a spice, herbal and floral bitterness that makes balancing the malt and hops much easier. It's also possible to go the other way with late additions of fruitier, more tropical hops like Galaxy, Topaz, or even Mosaic if done late in the boil (it gets grapefruity early, and grassy when dry-hopped, but has more of a passionfruit thing going on when added in the last 10-15 mins of the boil) - you wind up with a hoppy IPA that doesn't taste like every participant in the west coast clone wars.

[Anonymous No.18181420]

>>18181356
You should really work at being less mad at things you can’t control, and simply enjoy what you enjoy without the air of superiority. Life gets so much better

[Anonymous No.18181428]

>>18181420
Some people strive to live up to their negative stereotypes. It's hard to embrace these people, even as my enemy.

[Anonymous No.18181753]

>>18181420
>t. soyboy IPA enjoyer

[Anonymous No.18181775]

im seeing a return of good craft lagers, not just helles stuff either.

[Anonymous No.18181784]

>>18181775
I'll add that craft american lager, especially light stuff, is very hard to do right.

[Anonymous No.18181790]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6RC7UFHSOM

[Anonymous No.18181830]

>>18181784
What would you consider light?
But yeah, American craft pilsners are hit or miss. A lot of them are too floral and/or too hoppy

[Anonymous No.18181862]

>>18166493
There is always more room to develop hops and yeast

[Anonymous No.18181894]

>>18178150
I don’t hate IPAs, but what I don’t understand are double and triple IPAs, milkshake IPAs, etc.

Hazy IPAs can be okay, usually I’m looking for something a little cleaner and crisper nowadays

[Anonymous No.18182026]

>>18164750
My favorite? Narragansett. It's shit, but I fucking love it so much. Especially this time of year when they break out the vintage 1975 cans in honor of Jaws.
It's technically a craft beer now. Isn't that sad?

[Anonymous No.18182031]

>>18181775
I don't see a lot of Helles though
Helles is a great style, like a pilsner but even more enjoyable to drink

[Anonymous No.18182484]

>>18170755
Alcoholics don’t give a shit about abv. People that larp as “heavy drinkers” on a laotian sound art forum do, apparently

[Anonymous No.18182496]

>>18180700
>Loads of weird cocktail smoothie IPAs or dessert flavoured stouts seem to be in vogue and popping up everywhere. Like it's not seen as trendy to just brew a plain old oatmeal stout or something anymore.
all the staples have been nailed to the wall by mega brewers like fuller's or greene king. weird craft brews are for middle-class alcoholics trying to disguise their habit as being trendy

[Anonymous No.18182856]

>>18164750
Thank god I don't live in the US. Over here we have proper beer and microbreweries that actually brew good stuff.

[Anonymous No.18183140]

>>18182856
The US is the best place in the world for beer though, I wish I lived there every time I want a beer.

[Anonymous No.18183371]

>>18182856
>>18183140
You gotta take the bad with the good. For every brewer with a good product, there are ten who have more money than brains, and more hops than talent.

[Anonymous No.18183418]

>>18164750
Because

>Craft beer isn't this new crazy thing anymore
>Pretty much every town has at least one brewery now, and if not, the next town over does
>Lots of people of drinking age now are in the "craft beer? ew my dad likes that" phase
>The ones getting attention are meme-tier ones like pastry stouts, smoothie sours and super gimicky beers
>Breweries are now shifting over to stuff like seltzers, smoothie sours that are basically alcopops, and in many cases wine, all to appeal to basic bitches

Good news is that lots of the bad breweries are closing down and the days of even shitty breweries making lots of money are over. Bad news is I'd still say for every good, inventive and creative brewery, you'll still have 3-4 DDHNEDIPA/Pasty Stout/Kettle Sour/Meme beer heavy breweries.

>>18164920
They sell and are what most people default to. Even beers that aren't even IPAs are getting labeled as an IPA solely for marketing reasons. Breweries literally just make hoppy lagers and call them "cold IPAs" because the name sells better.

[Anonymous No.18183513]

>>18183418
>>Lots of people of drinking age now are in the "craft beer? ew my dad likes that" phase
who gives a fuck what zoomers think

[Anonymous No.18184072]

>>18183513
The people trying to sell them things

[Anonymous No.18184100]

>>18182856
Every country has good beer and bad beer. Shut the hell up

[Anonymous No.18184168]

>>18182856
There’s about a million different craft breweries. Plenty of good and plenty of bad. That’s a good thing about the US is the amount of options.