The Beer Thread

sweetcell wrote:
roll the calendar back 15 years, and beer nerds were all excited about bell's, stone, lagunitas, goose island, etc… is this just a cycle?  will history repeat itself: in 15 year, will aslin buy out your favorite micro-mini-brewery (makes 2 to 3 kegs a year), long after the next generation of beer nerds have stopped caring about aslin?

Yes. That this is surprising to you shocks me.

sweetcell wrote:
i think the change in the craft brewing scene is fascinating.  nowadays we're all excited about small local craft breweries, and the bigger older boys (bell's, stone, lagunitas, goose island, etc) are of limited to no interest to us.  they're now being bought out.

roll the calendar back 15 years, and beer nerds were all excited about bell's, stone, lagunitas, goose island, etc… is this just a cycle?  will history repeat itself: in 15 year, will aslin buy out your favorite micro-mini-brewery (makes 2 to 3 kegs a year), long after the next generation of beer nerds have stopped caring about aslin?

I don't know anyone that cares about aslin in present day tbh.

sweetcell wrote:
i think the change in the craft brewing scene is fascinating.  nowadays we're all excited about small local craft breweries, and the bigger older boys (bell's, stone, lagunitas, goose island, etc) are of limited to no interest to us.  they're now being bought out.

roll the calendar back 15 years, and beer nerds were all excited about bell's, stone, lagunitas, goose island, etc… is this just a cycle?  will history repeat itself: in 15 year, will aslin buy out your favorite micro-mini-brewery (makes 2 to 3 kegs a year), long after the next generation of beer nerds have stopped caring about aslin?

Who still drinks Aslin?

None of the breweries you mention have produced anything new and good in years. Have they? And some of them have abandoned stuff that made them good in the first place, or have been surpassed by others.

Yada wrote:
I don't know anyone that cares about aslin in present day tbh.

fair enough.  reminder: i'm 5 years removed from the  DC/VA/MD beer scene, so i don't know who the new hotness is (and i feared the blowback of proposing sapwood…).  aslin was a stand-in for whatever small brewery is blowing up, locally.

God beer snobbery… so ridiculous

I loved this brewery but now that others discovered it and it’s become popular “I don’t know anybody who drinks ____!”


Pitiful

sweetcell wrote:

Yada wrote:
I don't know anyone that cares about aslin in present day tbh.

fair enough.  reminder: i'm 5 years removed from the  DC/VA/MD beer scene, so i don't know who the new hotness is (and i feared the blowback of proposing sapwood…).  aslin was a stand-in for whatever small brewery is blowing up, locally.

In the case of Aslin, it's not really snobbery. When they started, they made amazing hazies. They blew up and expanded and started a much larger location in Alexandria, and the quality of their beer just went way down. Sometimes you can't duplicate the quality of your beer on a larger scale. Add that to the fact that they don't put canning dates on any of their product that no longer sells out quickly, and you have no idea how fresh the beer is. Sad, really. I'd love for them to be the amazing brewery they once were, but they're just not.

They've also gotten into the lager game, but none that I've had were any better than decent.

*Note, their barrel aging program is supposed to be top notch, but I don't have 35 bucks to pay for a pint bottle of Barrel Aged peanut butter stout. I just don't like stouts that much.

Shoooore

I admittedly stopped trying to keep up with hype brews at this point almost three years ago (for a plethora of reasons, primarily my waistline). I think bottom line, there is just way too much good beer absolutely everywhere you go and no reason at all to buy below average beer…. Anywhere. Whether it’s the local hype train brewery that has gone to shit or a conglomerate that hasn’t put out a good beer in a decade, just too many good choices. I think the “big” breweries will always be around, but I can’t imagine the present day boom breweries (let’s say the last five years) ever getting to a point where they’re buying other nano breweries. I think more and more will just close.

A few random examples… In Vermont with a fellow forum legend a few weeks ago, a deli in Stowe had the following beers terding it up in a cooler: Heady Topper, Sip of Sunshine, multiple beers from Foam, Frost, Titled Barn, and at least another dozen house hold high end breweries. A mere five years ago in the same exact location, I was on a wild goose chase at 6am following a heady topper truck around town.

Additionally, two beer stores within one mile of my house in MoCo have Aslin, Other Half, Commonwealth, and any other brewery within a 40 mile radius that distributes in the area.

I’m not sure what the point of this story is, but long story short, just too much good beer!

Space wrote:
None of the breweries you mention have produced anything new and good in years. Have they? And some of them have abandoned stuff that made them good in the first place, or have been surpassed by others.

be honest: have you been keeping up with them?  following their releases?  if not, how can you say that they haven't produced anything good recently?  it would the equivalent of reviewing a band's show that you didn't attend…

have some good beers from that lot, but mostly when visiting the brewery and tasting their one-offs, in-house-only's, etc.  the stuff that sits on grocery shelves needs to have mass appeal, so isn't going to be their most creative stuff.  lagunitas distributed Mozango somewhat recently, i was in love with that beer…

but i agree that i'd rather have something fresh, crafted locally.  once you get into wide distribution, it's almost impossible to keep innovating.  you need to keep pumping out the same ol' thing which might have been interesting at one point, but we have the attention span of oysters so you move on while the big brewery keeps making the same ol' thing.

Yada wrote:
I think bottom line, there is just way too much good beer absolutely everywhere you go and no reason at all to buy below average beer…. Anywhere.

agreed.  that hasn't always been the case.

Starsky wrote:
God beer snobbery… so ridiculous
I loved this brewery but now that others discovered it and it’s become popular “I don’t know anybody who drinks ____!”

Just replace brewery with band and drinks with listens

eggs-hatch wrote:

Starsky wrote:
God beer snobbery… so ridiculous
I loved this brewery but now that others discovered it and it’s become popular “I don’t know anybody who drinks ____!”

Just replace brewery with band and drinks with listens

 
eggs-hatchly!!!

i fear that Firestone Walker is too old for you hipsters here, but in case someone's snobbery - and budget - allows for it, you can now sign up for the 2022 season of the Brewmaster’s Collective, FW’s exclusive beer club.  open to residents of VA and DC (sorry MD…), shipping available.
https://www.firestonebeer.com/brewmasters-collective/

sweetcell wrote:
i fear that Firestone Walker is too old for you hipsters here, but in case someone's snobbery - and budget - allows for it, you can now sign up for the 2022 season of the Brewmaster’s Collective, FW’s exclusive beer club.  open to residents of VA and DC (sorry MD…), shipping available.
https://www.firestonebeer.com/brewmasters-collective/

I had a 12 oz bottle of Sucaba the other night. Probably wouldn't seek it out like I used to, but would grab a bottle once a year if i was one on the shelf. Maybe more due to growing tired of the style more so than the brewery.

True confession: we went to two Firestone locations while on vacation last summer.

sweetcell wrote:
i fear that Firestone Walker is too old for you hipsters here, but in case someone's snobbery - and budget - allows for it, you can now sign up for the 2022 season of the Brewmaster’s Collective, FW’s exclusive beer club.  open to residents of VA and DC (sorry MD…), shipping available.
https://www.firestonebeer.com/brewmasters-collective/

LOL.

2022 Brewmaster's Collective Membership
$575.00

Think of all of the really good beer you could buy for that price.

But yeah… another brewery that hasn't been too exciting in 5+ years or more.

sweetcell wrote:
i fear that Firestone Walker is too old for you hipsters here,

I know I'm not hip, I admit that.  But I often pick up union jack IPA when I see it and Nitro Merlin on a regular basis

What is hip?

Starsky wrote:
What is hip?

Seeing Krungabin when they played DC9.

Space wrote:

Starsky wrote:
What is hip?

Seeing Krungabin when they played DC9.

Can confirm

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1azG4wnLrF7DWkTr6