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Magic hat leaves behind a transformed craft beer industry in Vermont

sevendaysvt.com

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Re: Magic hat leaves behind a transformed craft beer industry in Vermont

#71

Post by samcheng »

chrisseaton wrote: post #37
StrangeDoctor wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There may be a bit of confusion here, on tap, in the us, usually, just means coming from a keg. Having 40 draft lines is not that odd and beer lasts a long time in a keg. If you meant 40+ cask served beers, then that would indeed require a lot of turnover

Right, but that's what I mean. Instead of a couple of carefully produced natural cask beers, they have forty mass produced Pasteurised, carbonated kegs. Quantity over quality.

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, I've had servers at 'brew pubs' give me a blank stare when asked if they had anything 'on cask' - pretty much everything is kegged here.

I really miss the richer, softer head and 'alive' flavor from a proper cask ale. Well, not that anyone should be out drinking socially these days, anyway.

Re: Magic hat leaves behind a transformed craft beer industry in Vermont

#72

Post by snapetom »

polygotdomain wrote: post #15

As a craft beer lover, I'm really at odds with what to think about where the scene is today. There are so many breweries out there that are brewing some really great beer and coming up with some interesting styles. In many places there's a recapturing of what I'd call "beer as place" with beirgartens, brew-pubs, and breweries themselves having a more open and inviting experience to hang out and drink beer. It's tasty…

I've personally witnessed/been involved with the quality decline and the trendiness you speak of with two other "craft" markets - coffee in the mid 90's and liquor distilleries in the past 10 years.

When I talk to tourists here in Seattle, of course they eventually ask about the best coffee places. If they're at least able to add "not Starbucks," I'm honest with them and tell them that there's really only two downtown that I like. These days, there are plenty of roasters, but the majority are pretty meh to outright bad.

Same thing with craft distilling in the past 10 years. The first wave of small batch distillers were revolutionary, but then many imitators jumped on the bandwagon.

Bars and restaurants pitch them as being "local" and therefore, good. Being local has nothing to do with being good. Some of the worst alcohol I've had were "local." It's gotten to the point where I purposely avoid ordering anything "local" unless I know who's involved in the distillery. And don't get me started on "craft vodka."

As with the discussion of online communities (reddit, Facebook) recently, I wonder if there's anything that remains good once it gains popularity. Or maybe I'm just an elitist hipster.

Re: Magic hat leaves behind a transformed craft beer industry in Vermont

#73

Post by grasshopperpurp »

beezle wrote: post #30
grasshopperpurp wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to be really into discovering beers, but I usually just drink Founders All Day IPA these days, with a German Pilsner as a backup. There are only a couple months out of the year here in Florida where I'd want something that over 5%, though.

You should try to get your hand on some of Lawson's Super Session #N, N varying by time of year and reflective of the type of hops used.

I'll keep an eye out for it - very cool idea. Thanks for the rec!

Re: Magic hat leaves behind a transformed craft beer industry in Vermont

#74

Post by grasshopperpurp »

andygcook wrote: post #26
grasshopperpurp wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to be really into discovering beers, but I usually just drink Founders All Day IPA these days, with a German Pilsner as a backup. There are only a couple months out of the year here in Florida where I'd want something that over 5%, though.

As I venture more into my 30's, I almost exclusively drink session beers when I want something hoppy. Drinking even one 8%+ ABV DIPA leaves me pretty much useless the next day. Founders All Day IPA is a solid go to. Other session IPAs/APAs I enjoy are Notch Left of the Dial, Lagunita's DayTime, Harpoon Rec League, and Zero Gravity Little Wolf APA.

I like the Daytime, but I don't believe I've tried the others. I'll sprinkle them in the rotation - assuming they're available in Florida. Ty!

Re: Magic hat leaves behind a transformed craft beer industry in Vermont

#75

Post by aczerepinski »

tarentel wrote: post #20
ErikAugust wrote: post #17

Vermont today has much better beer than Magic Hat (even at its height). They tried a lot of different stuff, and most of it just wasn't very enjoyable. What Magic Hat did have was beautiful marketing and wider distribution. It has to be partially by choice, but The Alchemist and Lawson's make some of the best beer I have ever had, but they are both impossible to find outside of New England and a few parts of New York…

Lawson's started brewing at Two Roads in CT and got a distributor in CT and it's been a lot easier to find at least here in NJ within the past year. I also recently got Heady and Focal down here but I am not sure where the distributor got it from or if it was a one off thing. You probably already know about them but Hill Farmstead is my favorite in VT. I used to go there a few times a year when I lived closer by.

The Lawson’s from CT doesn’t taste like an elite beer to me in the way that Lawson’s from VT farmers markets did.

Re: Magic hat leaves behind a transformed craft beer industry in Vermont

#76

Post by Ductapemaster »

itronitron wrote: post #52
polygotdomain wrote: post #15

As a craft beer lover, I'm really at odds with what to think about where the scene is today. There are so many breweries out there that are brewing some really great beer and coming up with some interesting styles. In many places there's a recapturing of what I'd call "beer as place" with beirgartens, brew-pubs, and breweries themselves having a more open and inviting experience to hang out and drink beer. It's tasty…

If you're feeling down on the US craft beer scene just visit Europe (after Covid runs it's course) and you may realize that US craft beer is quite strong by comparison.

I was there a few years ago in the UK, and I found it to be a mixed bag. While most brewpubs I went to all had very similar beers in the styles one would expect, I found a couple places that really stuck out to me. For example, I discovered Brew Dog (originally from Scotland) while I was there and while, and they have since expanded to the US and kept producing great beer. That discovery, in contrast with being able to taste "classic" English beers made for an interesting trip.

However, that's the UK. Elsewhere I think there is much higher representation of the styles of a particular country. Germany epitomizes this with their beer purity law...

Re: Magic hat leaves behind a transformed craft beer industry in Vermont

#77

Post by astura »

x87678r wrote: post #47
andygcook wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vermont has phenomenal beers if you like hoppy IPAs. Besides being a very fun city, most bars in Burlington, VT carry beers from the local breweries around there: Lawson's (Sip of Sunshine), the Alchemist (Heady Topper), Fourteenth Star (Tribute), Zero Gravity, Hill Farmstead, and more. If you ever end up in MA, Tree House is worth checking out and has 4 of the top 20 beers on Untappd right now. Vitamin Sea in Weymou…

> hoppy IPAs I feel like that is pretty much all craft beer in the US is. I just wish we could get some good European style lagers that are ubiquitous in Europe but don't exist in the US for some reason.

Maybe on the west coast? Here where I live on the east coast there's plenty of high quality lagers, pilsners, and brown ales.

Re: Magic hat leaves behind a transformed craft beer industry in Vermont

#78

Post by aczerepinski »

doctorOb wrote: post #22
ErikAugust wrote: post #17

Vermont today has much better beer than Magic Hat (even at its height). They tried a lot of different stuff, and most of it just wasn't very enjoyable. What Magic Hat did have was beautiful marketing and wider distribution. It has to be partially by choice, but The Alchemist and Lawson's make some of the best beer I have ever had, but they are both impossible to find outside of New England and a few parts of New York…

From what I can tell, New England IPAs–especially the coveted ones such as Heady Topper–really only work when you can control for freshness. As soon as the beer gets canned its got 2-4 weeks where you can drink it and say "wow, that's amazing". After that you'll have it and think "ok, a bit overhyped". Distributing beer throws freshness out the window. A liquor store may put it in the back for a month before they thr…

This is the truth. They also aren’t the same batch to batch.

Part of what makes the most sought after beers so good is that you can sometimes drink them the very day they were canned.

Re: Magic hat leaves behind a transformed craft beer industry in Vermont

#79

Post by AnotherGoodName »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #61
polygotdomain wrote: post #15

As a craft beer lover, I'm really at odds with what to think about where the scene is today. There are so many breweries out there that are brewing some really great beer and coming up with some interesting styles. In many places there's a recapturing of what I'd call "beer as place" with beirgartens, brew-pubs, and breweries themselves having a more open and inviting experience to hang out and drink beer. It's tasty…

I'm really getting tired of the IPA fad. I loved IPAs when they were a niche product and you could sample most of them in a reasonable time span. Now they're 90% of the shelf space and other deserving varieties are hard to find. Most of the newcomers are poorly executed hacks that follow the simplistic formula: IPA == bitter hops, therefore let's overload on hops. I won't drink any IPA that wasn't around 10 years ago…

As someone that just wants a refreshing but quality lager there's nothing for me in this current wave. It's all group think. IPAs and Imperial Stouts everywhere. To the extent that you will find entire categories of beer on beer rating sites with nothing above a 4/5 in that category due to the groupthink that says more flavor = higher ratings. Refreshing, crisp and other such metrics don't count right now due to the current fashion. Overpowering flavor is what we judge beer on.

Re: Magic hat leaves behind a transformed craft beer industry in Vermont

#80

Post by m-ee »

Ductapemaster wrote: post #76
itronitron wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're feeling down on the US craft beer scene just visit Europe (after Covid runs it's course) and you may realize that US craft beer is quite strong by comparison.

I was there a few years ago in the UK, and I found it to be a mixed bag. While most brewpubs I went to all had very similar beers in the styles one would expect, I found a couple places that really stuck out to me. For example, I discovered Brew Dog (originally from Scotland) while I was there and while, and they have since expanded to the US and kept producing great beer. That discovery, in contrast with being able…

I liked their beers but avoided ordering them after they got trigger happy with trademark lawsuits

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/28/brewdog-law...

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