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So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

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Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#91

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

walrus01 wrote: post #35
munificent wrote: post #32

I live in Seattle where the IPA thing is just out of hand. My uncharitable pet theory is this: A certain class of men (sometimes women, but it's almost always men) get interested in something and then desire to make it part of their identity. That in turn means they want to convey that they are more into it than other people. Their passion expresses itself as competition. Most people that aren't really into beer don'…

As an enthusiastic road cyclist I don't think there has ever been a time in modern history when the cohort of people who ride 10,000km+ a year for general conditioning/cardio/training, and spend $2,000+ on road bikes, wasn't gender ratio skewed by at least 85:15 towards men. It is kind of unfortunate because there should really be nothing gender specific about cycling.

The body-saddle interface is gender specific. That is a problem for a lot of potential riders.

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#92

Post by gkilmain »

legitster wrote: post #57
walrus01 wrote: post #2

My personal taste complaint with a lot of people who open a brewery... Everyone seems to think that more hops = better beer. There are so many other possible flavors and types to a beer than some type of IPA that is absolutely overloaded with hops. But that seems to be a very common type of thing to brew. When I open something and am assaulted with the aroma of hops, it's not appealing anymore. It was interesting 7-8…

I love me a good IPA, but there is a certain type of person I call the "IPA bro" who goes out of their way to order whatever has the highest ABV or IBU every time. I think it's like how hot sauce guys must have the hottest thing. I've talked to many brewers and they said they would love to make more pales and lagers and sessions but that they don't sell.

Have you ever thought that maybe Ipa Bro just wants to get drunk?

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#93

Post by [deleted] »

walrus01 wrote: post #2

My personal taste complaint with a lot of people who open a brewery... Everyone seems to think that more hops = better beer. There are so many other possible flavors and types to a beer than some type of IPA that is absolutely overloaded with hops. But that seems to be a very common type of thing to brew. When I open something and am assaulted with the aroma of hops, it's not appealing anymore. It was interesting 7-8…

[deleted]

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#94

Post by vkou »

walrus01 wrote: post #2

My personal taste complaint with a lot of people who open a brewery... Everyone seems to think that more hops = better beer. There are so many other possible flavors and types to a beer than some type of IPA that is absolutely overloaded with hops. But that seems to be a very common type of thing to brew. When I open something and am assaulted with the aroma of hops, it's not appealing anymore. It was interesting 7-8…

> My personal taste complaint with a lot of people who open a brewery... Everyone seems to think that more hops = better beer.

Microbrewers don't actually think that.

The reason that a lot of them flood their beer with hops, is because:

1. It is extremely difficult to brew consistent batches of beer, week after week, month after month.

2. The extreme bitterness of hops masks the taste of pretty much everything... Including the inconsistencies.

So even if they aren't papering over actual errors in the brewing process, they are papering over inconsistencies.

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#95

Post by rc-1140 »

munificent wrote: post #32

I live in Seattle where the IPA thing is just out of hand. My uncharitable pet theory is this: A certain class of men (sometimes women, but it's almost always men) get interested in something and then desire to make it part of their identity. That in turn means they want to convey that they are more into it than other people. Their passion expresses itself as competition. Most people that aren't really into beer don'…

I agree with the content of your message, as I have seen it happen many times myself first-hand, but I disagree with the way you're framing the phenomenon.

> My favorite Tweet ever was someone who described this process that dudes do where they show up, take over a hobby, and drive all the fun out (and thus women) as "MENTRIFICATION". It is my new favorite word.

I believe that this is a loaded word that does nothing but churn the online gender conflict machine propagated by places like (surprise) Twitter. It doesn't highlight a type of person as the cause, it highlights a gender. The Meaningness article concerning "mops", the "mop invasion", and the "sociopaths" that follow[0] is overall a more accurate representation of what happens when a hobby, craft, or culture is co-opted like this.

[0] https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#96

Post by zwieback »

inferiorhuman wrote: post #82
zwieback wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't agree more. I live in Oregon, the craft beer center of the universe, and find that the vast majority of craft beers is too overwhelming to actually enjoy. There are more breweries learning how to do good lagers but still few and far between.

There are more breweries learning how to do good lagers but still few and far between. That may be but Portland, Oregon has some excellent cider as well. Belmont Station in Hollywood is pretty much my go to place, they've a diverse selection of beer and cider.

Also my hometown of Corvallis: 2 Towns Ciderhouse

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#97

Post by anon73044 »

Bootwizard wrote: post #12
walrus01 wrote: post #2

My personal taste complaint with a lot of people who open a brewery... Everyone seems to think that more hops = better beer. There are so many other possible flavors and types to a beer than some type of IPA that is absolutely overloaded with hops. But that seems to be a very common type of thing to brew. When I open something and am assaulted with the aroma of hops, it's not appealing anymore. It was interesting 7-8…

You're telling me. I've been into craft beer for around 8 years, a bit after IPAs really took off in the US. I have acid reflux, and nothing triggers it more consistently and quickly than having an IPA. It just tastes like straight up acid to me. I equate people who like really strong IPAs to people who are into extreme hot sauce just for the sake of injuring themselves with something that's overly hot. Is there real…

>Is there really any flavor to IPAs with IBUs that are through the roof? No, not at all.

Yes. Yes there is. As someone with acid reflux, I can't stand spicy foods but love IPAs.

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#98

Post by Red_Leaves_Flyy »

amyjess wrote: post #69
victor9000 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The abundance of hops in beer is a west coast thing, as east coast beers tend to be more mild. So that's something to look into if west coast beers don't appeal to your palate. However, assigning a regional flavor to some sort of bravado seems odd. Do people say the same thing about a dry wine, a strong flavored cheese, or an Islay scotch? Of course not, so this seems more like a personal issue than anything else.

Honestly, discovering east coast beers actually made me like hops. My experience with west coast beers convinced me that hops were awful and that my ideal bear would have _just_ enough hops to prevent spoilage and that's it. Which is why I drank nothing but Scotch ales, Belgian beers, and milk stouts for a long time. Eventually, I even started moving away from beer as I finally decided to give wine a chance. And then…

I've toured a lot of eastern breweries tried countless east coast ipas. There certainly are plenty of ~40ibu ipas around. However, from my experience, you're most likely to find those at restaurants that are following the beer trends, slowly, and supermarkets. It's only been over the past couple years that most of my local shops started carrying mass produced double ipas besides arrogant bastard.

By and large the best places to get a good dipa is at the brewery. Most of favorites see very limited distribution and very small runs. Finding a triple ipa is a task on its own. Quality, and consistency is all over the place between breweries and batches. I've bought cans that've spoiled on the shelf. Some breweries have purchase limits because enterprising folk have filled vans with cases of beer to resell in other states.

Sours, like hill farmsteads ales, but more tart, have seen a resurgence. Stouts are still waning in popularity. Pilsners have a place in most long running breweries list as a fallback for those with less experienced or more traditional palates.

I've grown fond of strong kombuchas >3% abv, goses, dry ciders, and randalled brews that have been cropping up lately. I've also had quite a few beers made with teas that have been great. Don't write off meads or gruits either.

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#99

Post by walrus01 »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #91
walrus01 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an enthusiastic road cyclist I don't think there has ever been a time in modern history when the cohort of people who ride 10,000km+ a year for general conditioning/cardio/training, and spend $2,000+ on road bikes, wasn't gender ratio skewed by at least 85:15 towards men. It is kind of unfortunate because there should really be nothing gender specific about cycling.

The body-saddle interface is gender specific. That is a problem for a lot of potential riders.

The last time I looked into this, specific to road bike saddles, Specialized and a few others had developed whole product lines and various widths of saddle sit-bone positions specific for female hips and anatomy.

But no matter how good a saddle is, for a person just starting with a "real" road bike, who has not been on a bike for many months or years, there's going to be a couple of weeks of discomfort before your posterior anatomy toughens up and you stop feeling some discomfort.

A couple of weeks of riding 20km a day at a very leisurely pace should do it. Once you get past that wall, a properly fit saddle should cause no discomfort at all.

Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)

#100

Post by jerrysievert »

jcomis wrote: post #83
jerrysievert wrote: post #19

I've done a bit of consulting work for breweries and beer bars over the last couple of decades, nothing in the brewing process directly (mostly bespoke hardware and software solutions), but have had a great view into craft brewing. it seems like there hasn't been any real technological progress in craft brewing since the 90's. in the 90's, there were unix based control systems, with X11 interfaces, for larger craft b…

Hmm, this is not really true. There are a number of apps/software for brewing and I would wager nearly every brewery is using one and not using paper/pen/manual spreadsheets. BeerSmith, Ekos, Fermentable are a few.

hm. there are a ton of craft breweries locally, and there doesn't seem to be much commonality between them, especially when it comes to data and data collection.

beersmith targets homebrewers, fermentable replaces some of the note taking and materials ordering, and ekos seems to focus on consulting (no prices available, and "we'll build it!").

none of this replaces the automated brewing systems, even in small production lines or automated data collection, leaving notebooks on pretty much every fermentor.

if you want a good look at a large number of craft breweries, and get a good insight to exactly how their processes work, what's missing, and what commonality there is, I'd highly recommend https://oregoncraftbeer.org/zwickelmania/ - almost every brewery in Oregon ends up open, touring, and explaining their process in depth.

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