I found this good article about the effects of bad beer. http://theweek.com/article/index/269205 … gn=twitter
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It’s unfortunate how mediocre many craft beers have become. I attend a lot of craft beer festivals. I take detailed notes of all beers tasted at these festivals. Just for example, I just attended a fest last Saturday. I tasted 47 beers. I rate each beer on a scale of 1 to 10. How many beers scored a 9 or 10? Only two. How many were really bad and scored below 5? Only about two or three, so not too bad. But the vast majority? Scored 6 or 7. Very mediocre. Don’t get me wrong, I can drink a lot of mediocre beer just like the next guy… however, I wish there were a lot more excellent beers… because, why wouldn’t you?! It’s the 21st century. We should all be really awesome by now, right?!
A bit of a wash. The microbrew market is expanding, as is the microbrew crowd. I think the newbie brewers and drinkers still need to refine their palates a bit. Personally, I stick with the beers I like and don’t jump to new brews unless they’re really on sale and friends recommend them.
Nice read. I remember working for a place in Charlotte called Hops Bar and Brewery. They only served their crafted beers. It was really hard even in the early 2000s to get people to try new things even though it was quality stuff. Working there is what finally opened my eyes to the piss poor beers that I was drinking.
I agree with you (and with Dave, too)…it really is something of a crapshoot to buy new beers these days with so many newbies jumping on the commercial beer bandwagon; so much so that I long ago actually stopped buying sixpacks (except for a few favorites), opting instead for single bottles of beers I’ve not had before (and rarely buy ‘bombers’ of an untried beer, especially considering the cartoonsihly high prices sime of them command).
Better than 80% of the time nowadays, the single bottle purchase is the last purchase.
A few years ago, one beer blogger on the interwebs (I don’t remember who it was) remarked that while there are certainly a LOT more beers to choose from nowadays, the ratio of really great beers to average (or even downright bad) ones is really pretty much the same today as it was during the so called “dark ages”; the only difference being that there are far more of both the good and the mediocre these days.
I honestly have to say that I pretty much agree with his assessment…though when the rare, true gem shines through, it really is welcome.
:cheers:
I’m pretty happy with the state of the industry. I’ll take a ton of mediocre craft beer to wade through over a few crappy beers to choose from any day. The way I see it, I can rely on a few standards, and try a few others to spice up my brew supply. I’m no huge snob, so I’m happy to drink a little bit of just okay beer once in a while. I’ve only really dumped a Surly Smoke and most belgian/saisons over the past few years.
I can’t agree with that ratio statement. I remember it differently. Going into a deli or mini mart and having two to chose from one or two brands. I remember when AB introduced michilobe it was a big deal because it was something different. I don’t mind mediocre beers being out there I just don’t like paying premium for them. Luckily I have a shop run by some knowledgeable guys so I ask their opinion if I don’t care fore it I bring it back and exchange it no problem. They don’t have the good stuff on the shelf you have to ask or go in the cooler to chose
