Remind me of the specific label? Unrepentant IPA lover?That lager is breaking the stereotype @jamesdeluxe has labeled us with.
Beer thread
- Thread starter Sbooker
- Start date
EMSC
Well-known member
I have a nephew who is actually a "double IPA" lover. That stuff is crazy bitter hoppy tasting. I used to go for certain regular IPAs myself back when I was a micro brew drinker.Unrepentant IPA lover?
tseeb
Well-known member
It's not Russian River Brewery (who makes Pliny the Elder and Younger) going through Chapter 11. It's Flagship that I've never tried.
From @jamesdeluxe link "The craft beer downturn has led another taproom to bankruptcy court, this time in Russian River Brewing Company's backyard in Downtown Santa Rosa.
Flagship Taproom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
The parent company of Santa Rosa, Calif., craft beer taproom and dining chain Flagship Taproom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after closing one of its locations in June."In better news the high-end grocery store between my house and my Mom's had their first tasting since June. They announced Thursday morning that tasting was that day from 3-6 PM. My wife walked most of the way there to get her steps in. I parked with our dog near a footbridge about 1/2 mile before the store and waited for her, then we all walked path to store. Tastes were in small, almost like large thimble, plastic cups. They had a Pilsner, a Hazy IPA that we bought a four-pack of after getting two tastes of it and a West Coast IPA. Brewery is from Oakland which I think has more microbreweries that more than twice as big in population San Jose which used to have a large Falstaff brewery.
Triple from now closed Strike Brewing. 10%. Smooth and did not taste that strong to my wife and I when we split one last night.
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ChrisC
Well-known member
A friend's first job after college in the late 1990s was covering Beer (buy-side for Fidelity), and the hot stocks were microbreweries, such as Sam Adams/Boston Beer Company, Stone Brewing, and Pete's Wicked. Him: They are awful companies. Mostly non-viable. Non-scaleable.
All these current microbreweries will just be bought cheaply in a consolidation or go out of business. Microwbreweries are as sustainable as early-stage tech companies. Most will fail. Product does not always matter; distribution does. Look at Micobrew 1.0 (same time as Web 1.0) that started in the 1990s in the Northeast.
New England Microbreweries that survived have mostly consolidated into Mass Bay Brewing Company + Smutty Nose. This includes many originals in every state:
Magic Hat closed its large brewery and performing arts center in Burlington, VT. It used to produce Single Chair Ale. Now, a NY/FL operator owns the brand.
I am not sure I would be invested in anything since most will be gone in a decade.
I liked Crested Butte Red Lady Ale - gone!, Mac & Jack's, Seattle (still semi-kicking), Pyramid, Seattle - gone, Redhook/Elysian/Pike, Seattle - less important. Does anyone still want to try these beers? No.
I have seen business plans for NorCal and Wynwood Miami Breweries. So what's my ROI? What percent of sales/profits/etc do I get? Often, returns happen when we get acquired. Sustainability is not part of the process.
Funky Buddha, Florida - already bought and sold back to owners from Constellation (2017-2023).
Enjoy, and forget.
All these current microbreweries will just be bought cheaply in a consolidation or go out of business. Microwbreweries are as sustainable as early-stage tech companies. Most will fail. Product does not always matter; distribution does. Look at Micobrew 1.0 (same time as Web 1.0) that started in the 1990s in the Northeast.
New England Microbreweries that survived have mostly consolidated into Mass Bay Brewing Company + Smutty Nose. This includes many originals in every state:
| Brand | Type / Specialty | |
|---|---|---|
| Harpoon | Flagship craft beer | |
| UFO | Craft beer label | |
| Long Trail | Vermont craft beer | |
| The Shed | Vermont craft beer label | |
| Otter Creek | Vermont heritage beer brand | |
| Catamount | Vermont heritage brand | |
| Clown Shoes | Craft beer label (novel/limited) | |
| Smuttynose | Legacy craft brand (NH) | |
| Wachusett | Massachusetts craft beer | |
| Five Boroughs | New York craft beer | |
| Greater Good Imperial Brewing | Imperial-style craft beer (Worcester, MA) | |
| Dunkin’ Spiked | RTD (ready-to-drink) beverages | |
| Spiked Italian Ice | RTD dessert-style alcoholic line | |
| Crystal Light Vodka Refreshers | Beverage line (vodka + flavor) |
Magic Hat closed its large brewery and performing arts center in Burlington, VT. It used to produce Single Chair Ale. Now, a NY/FL operator owns the brand.
I am not sure I would be invested in anything since most will be gone in a decade.
I liked Crested Butte Red Lady Ale - gone!, Mac & Jack's, Seattle (still semi-kicking), Pyramid, Seattle - gone, Redhook/Elysian/Pike, Seattle - less important. Does anyone still want to try these beers? No.
I have seen business plans for NorCal and Wynwood Miami Breweries. So what's my ROI? What percent of sales/profits/etc do I get? Often, returns happen when we get acquired. Sustainability is not part of the process.
Funky Buddha, Florida - already bought and sold back to owners from Constellation (2017-2023).
Enjoy, and forget.
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jasoncapecod
Well-known member
Im gonna write a bunch of stuff that will most likely will get me in trouble...
There is a simple reason why the micro breweries are failing..the beer is awful, yea i said it...There is a reason why Coors sells 11 BILLION cans a year...Cause people like to drink it..Budwiser sells approx 40 Billion cans a year...Cause its good...
That's my rant...
There is a simple reason why the micro breweries are failing..the beer is awful, yea i said it...There is a reason why Coors sells 11 BILLION cans a year...Cause people like to drink it..Budwiser sells approx 40 Billion cans a year...Cause its good...
That's my rant...
To you.
To a large portion of the population.
If the only two options I had were Coors and Budwiser I would not drink beer. There is a reason why thousands of craft breweries sell millions of cans of beer that are not the 'cold and wet' type like the two you mentioned. The reason is a small percentage of people prefer a tastier product. A bit like cheddar cheese is most popular with the masses but some of us would bypass that for a vintage or blue any day. I could say the same for coffee.
I am not that much of a beer person, but I think the mass market beers in many Euro countries (Holland, Germany, Czechia for example) for example are far superior to Coors and Budweiser. Many Americans prefer Mexican beer also. Will sbooker drink Foster's?
Ah. No. It is perhaps one of the worst beers that I have every tasted. That is why it is not sold in any volume whatsoever in Australia.
The list below is indicative of the beer market in Oz despite it being from 2023.
AUSTRALIA’S TOP SELLING BEERS OF 2023 - PubTIC
Great Northern has won the battle again for Australia’s thirst, as forces dry up drinkers.
pubtic.com.au
The Great Northern and XXXX and Carlton and Tooheys are 'cold and wet' relatively tasteless types like the Coors and Bud mentioned above.
My 'go to' is family owned Coopers Pale Ale from South Australia which is number 10 on that list. It is the only ale on the list and was responsible for me starting the craft beer journey about 20 years ago. Prior to that I drank XXXX or Victoria Bitter (VB) - both lagers like all the others on the list. If you go to a typical Australian city pub there will be about 10 taps and 8 of them will be cold and wet lagers. The other two will be ales of some kind. In the country and certainly in the outback it will be all lagers.
Interestingly you will note that Corona rates a mention. Do Americans put a slice of lemon in the Corona too?
I suspect that Jason wasn't being completely serious.
Fair enough. Perhaps @Tony Crocker could install a sarcasm font?
Here in the Upper Midwest, we're lucky enough to have a fair number of regional heritage macrobrews (some of which are now, admittedly, owned by the brewing giants) that somehow survived prohibition and the second half of the 20th century and have forever made affordable, "making-love-in-canoe" light lagers that actually taste like something: Grain Belt, Schell's, Leinenkugel, Huber Bock (lesser known, but a real value when purchased by the case), etc. Way better than Bud or Coors when looking for a lawnmower beer.
The hop wars were fatiguing me when medical treatments rearranged my pallet several years ago and now I really can't stand most American-style IPAs. I still love a good stout or porter and dabble a bit with Belgian style beers in the cold weather months.
I'm convinced that in addition to some of the reasons cited above, a significant part of the reason craft breweries are folding is that simply too many people have tried to make a living from their hobby.
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Tons of Mexican beer around here too. Virtually none of it is Corona.
ChrisC
Well-known member
What, you don't want my triple IPA, unfiltered, (I mean 'hazy'), brewed from geyser water from Yellowstone and Calistoga, with yeast yielded/grafted from the coat of my Bernese Mountain Dog who has hiked every 14-er in Colorado?
EMSC
Well-known member
Corona, when blind taste tested without the lemon always loses badly to literally any other beer. That beer has great marketing but tastes absolutely horrid.
I pretty much can't drink Bud, something in there that doesn't agree with my GI tract so I have never been a Bud person ever.
To give you a hint about the public vs actual good beers, just remember that there have been multiple beer makers over the years that have been purchased, heavy marketing added and price increased by 3-4x and suddenly its the 'it' beer for a multiyear run. My favorite of that group is PBR. Used to be crazy cheap mediocre at best beer and then suddenly it is the cool beer to be seen with starting 10+ years ago - absolutely crazy! Tells you a lot about the general public and their ability to consume terrible stuff only because it has good marketing.
Whilst I can appreciate different beer styles and their differences to the run of the mill lagers that most of the population drink I happily admit I can't tell the difference between a relatively cheap sparkling white wine and a very good one. I'm a little better on red wine as I have had more exposure to that.
This is barely an exaggeration of craft brewery marketing speak.
Correct, as exemplified in the language and imagery below.