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Magic hat leaves behind a transformed craft beer industry in Vermont

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

#111

Post by subpixel »

amyjess wrote: post #110
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You might want to look at hazy IPAs a.k.a. New England-style IPAs. They've completely transformed the market, and they're the first hoppy beers I've ever really liked. They're not bitter at all, and instead they focus on extracting the fruit juice flavors of the hops. A lot of them taste like alcoholic orange juice mixed with other kinds of juice. I've developed a huge taste for them, and they're the perfect antidote…

I’m less of a fan. While novel, they are cloying.

I long for the days when my college friends would bring me bottles of Augustiner in their suitcase when they came to visit. Absolutely boring. Utterly perfect.

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

#112

Post by [deleted] »

amyjess wrote: post #110
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You might want to look at hazy IPAs a.k.a. New England-style IPAs. They've completely transformed the market, and they're the first hoppy beers I've ever really liked. They're not bitter at all, and instead they focus on extracting the fruit juice flavors of the hops. A lot of them taste like alcoholic orange juice mixed with other kinds of juice. I've developed a huge taste for them, and they're the perfect antidote…

[deleted]

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

#113

Post by bpyne »

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 supported American craft beer since the mid-90's until a few years ago when everyone went nuts with hops. American breweries seem to have become a copycat industry.

Nowadays I'm going back to European beers. In particular, I'm looking for German doppelbock these days. But anything from Belgium is usually excellent.

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

#114

Post by amyjess »

subpixel wrote: post #111
amyjess wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might want to look at hazy IPAs a.k.a. New England-style IPAs. They've completely transformed the market, and they're the first hoppy beers I've ever really liked. They're not bitter at all, and instead they focus on extracting the fruit juice flavors of the hops. A lot of them taste like alcoholic orange juice mixed with other kinds of juice. I've developed a huge taste for them, and they're the perfect antidote…

I’m less of a fan. While novel, they are cloying. I long for the days when my college friends would bring me bottles of Augustiner in their suitcase when they came to visit. Absolutely boring. Utterly perfect.

See, I like cloying. Before hazies became a thing, I'd mostly drink wee heavies (strong scotch ales) and milk stouts.

I also live in Texas, where it gets really damn hot and humid out, and the refreshing citrus taste of hazies really helps deal with the heat in a way that wee heavies and milk stouts just don't.

Edit: I've also seen, thanks to Drizly, a new trend of light hazies that's starting to appear. They're a bit too thin for me, but if you don't like cloying you can always check them out. Sixpoint Trail Haze and Firestone Flyjack are the ones I've seen.

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

#115

Post by bpyne »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #89
sharadov wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to love Belgian beers and now I've come back full circle to them

I get the impression that Belgians are going to be the next IPA. I'm seeing lots of mediocre ales slapping on the "Belgian-style" moniker with nothing in the bottle that justifies their claim.

Most of the "Belgian-style" beers I tasted have been crap. Recently I tried Allagash White and was pretty impressed with it. But, whenever possible, I just go with an actual Belgian beer.

Back in the late 90's I fell in love with a Belgian beer called Moinette that came in a large bottle with a cork on top. It had a high alcohol level at the time. Loved it! To this day, it's still my favorite beer ever.

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

#117

Post by scottlocklin »

bpyne wrote: post #113
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 supported American craft beer since the mid-90's until a few years ago when everyone went nuts with hops. American breweries seem to have become a copycat industry. Nowadays I'm going back to European beers. In particular, I'm looking for German doppelbock these days. But anything from Belgium is usually excellent.

Americans are as much sheep with beer now as they were when your choices were Bud, Michelob and Schlitz. Overhopped beer is disgusting and generally (badly) hiding infections or stale malt tastes. The only good thing you can say about it, besides the fact that it's estrogenic enough to make boobs grow[1], is it tastes as shitty when it travels as it does when it's fresh.

[1]https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/84/6/2249/2864760

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

#118

Post by zoomablemind »

Craft beer craze seems to overpower any ability to discern flavor subltieties across so many offerings. Won't balme consumers to shop by the labels, one craftier looking than other. Even established brands like the MH can drown in the colorful sea of the labels. So gone the days, when I readily paid for overweight luggage just to bring home a case of UFO from Boston.

These days, I'm very much utilitarian about beer, as long as on touch it's colder than room and not much more than 2bucks a bottle. In most cases (for me), the buzz and burp are just unwanted side-effects, so cool water sans ice serves the function ... free of charge. I pick up the missed carbs from the dessert :)

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

#119

Post by sharadov »

bpyne wrote: post #115
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the impression that Belgians are going to be the next IPA. I'm seeing lots of mediocre ales slapping on the "Belgian-style" moniker with nothing in the bottle that justifies their claim.

Most of the "Belgian-style" beers I tasted have been crap. Recently I tried Allagash White and was pretty impressed with it. But, whenever possible, I just go with an actual Belgian beer. Back in the late 90's I fell in love with a Belgian beer called Moinette that came in a large bottle with a cork on top. It had a high alcohol level at the time. Loved it! To this day, it's still my favorite beer ever.

I like the Allagash White, recommend "Delirium Tremens" if you've not tried it yet.

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

#120

Post by 0xffff2 »

monocasa wrote: post #44
chrisseaton wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fresh beer ideally lasts about five days. Are these places getting through a whole cask of all their forty beers every five days? Doesn't seem likely to me. I'm guessing that they're using shortcuts like putting it into kegs rather than casks, Pasteurising rather than keeping it fresh, and using carbonation instead of pumping it naturally, in order to support their huuuuuuge ranges. If they focused on a smaller numbe…

Are you from the UK? Cask is considered a sub genre in the US, and not something to shoot for in the general case here. Most consumers here don't want a cask beer, but instead a carbonated one from a keg. If you serve them a cask beer they think it's flat. There's a craft brewery near me that specializes in cask (shout out to Hogshead in Denver if you've never been), but they're embracing the niche aspect of that rat…

Even "sub genre" is overstating it. Cask is extremely niche in the US. The vast majority of establishments do not regularly serve cask beers, no matter how craft focused they are.
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