So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)
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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)
#2My 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 years ago. Now it's just "oh here we go again".
I have a personal theory that the overwhelming aroma and taste of hops in a beer can be used to mask many errors and missteps in the brewing process, which might be more easily tasted by the customer if it were, for example, a weissbier.
Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)
#3My 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…
IPAs are some of the simplest beers to brew and they also happen to be very in demand, hence the glut of overly-hopped beers.
Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)
#4My 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…
It is quite odd, the dominance of IPA. I wasn't aware of it until I walked in Rodman's in NW Washington, DC, and found that what appeared to be 80% of the American beer offerings were IPAs of one sort another.
Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)
#5My 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 haven’t seen the appeal of many craft beers beyond the ideal of buying small/local.
Pretty much all of my favourite beers come from Latvia. I haven’t tasted much better than I did out there.
Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)
#6My 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…
This is a west coast phenomenon, I’ve found the Midwest and east coast to have a lot more variety. It feels in Seattle like beer bars have a “token” stout in the same way that they have a single house wine. Hops must be what sells though.
Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)
#7My 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…
It is quite odd, the dominance of IPA. I wasn't aware of it until I walked in Rodman's in NW Washington, DC, and found that what appeared to be 80% of the American beer offerings were IPAs of one sort another.
And even more so in the Pacific Northwest, relatively close to the hop-growing area in central WA, and full of small craft breweries.
Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)
#8Quoth the article:
> Being intimately aware of the financial health of your company might not be glamorous, but it is as important as monitoring your fermentations or selecting hops.
At the advice of a therapist, a friend of mine started looking for things which bring him joy, with the phrasing, "I love $X. It brings me joy." We started doing it together, and I've also started doing it on my own. I realized that one of the things that brings me the most joy is a clean house; but I hated to clean. Somehow, verbalizing that a clean house brings me joy has made the process of cleaning... enjoyable. Cleaning went from something I 'had to' do for abstract (guilt from upbringing) or external reasons (friends and clients coming to the house), to something I do, just for me. And again, somehow, it has also made a clean house more enjoyable to me.
There will always be the parts you love and the parts you don't want to have to do. Selecting hops, especially for something that many people will potentially enjoy, is super fun (in my imagination anyway). But it is only by "being intimately aware of the financial health of your company" that you are even in a position to do such a thing. Based on my experience, connecting these two things in your psyche is the key to at least easing the burden, if not making the entire process enjoyable.
Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)
#9I wish there was a "Stripe Atlas" for brick and mortar businesses. 90% of the work to start a restaurant, cafe, shop, etc., must be the near identical to others colocated in the same city/state.
The rise of "ghost kitchens" tries to solve this in some way but I think there's opportunity to go further.
Re: So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery (2014)
#10My 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…
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.