The Truth about Craft Beers...

jetsonx

As we all know, there has been an explosion in the number of craft beers available on the market.

But very few of these are actually nice. (nicer than Bud, Coors etc but that would not be too hard) Most are too watery, too hoppy or just lack any sort of decent flavor.

There are of course exceptions. Five Lamps is a tasty brew as is Red Rebel but other ones which I've tasted have stood out for being totally unremarkable, forgettable or just insipid.

The fact of the matter is most, not all, craft beers su@k.

What do you think?

Professey Chin

I think thats more a personal opinion then a truth.

And everything is nicer then bud or coors.

circadian

It's a matter of opinion to be honest.

Mesrine65

Different strokes for different folks...

People have different tastes, some like hoppy IPA's, some like high ABV doppelbocks, some like macro's.

It is what it is, just drink what you enjoy...simples

Menas

Beer...mmmmmmm.

mad muffin

I like Bud and Coors. So yeah… fück you. Oh and craft beer tastes like dirty sock water strained through moody week old jock straps.

WoollyRedHat

I just spat out my Galway Hooker in shock.

kylith

Mesrine65 wrote: »

Different strokes for different folks...

People have different tastes, some like hoppy IPA's, some like high ABV doppelbocks, some like macro's.

It is what it is, just drink what you enjoy...simples

This.

I love being able to try loads of different beers and find something that I like. I was in the Porterhouse recently and asked for the barmaid's recommendation and she poured me a couple of wee samples, which was nice of her. I went to the beerfest in 2013 and it was great fun.

NomadicGray

All very subjective, great to have the choices we do

The Peanut

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

I just spat out my Galway Hooker in shock.

Hope that's the drink you're talking about.

NomadicGray

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

I just spat out my Galway Hooker in shock.

Hope he gives you a discount

_Brian

I've no problem with bud or coors or hienakin either if it's good clean gaff and the beer is good and cold.

Craft beers are nice in that they being some choice and interest to the market.

I've also brewed some beer of my own, some has turned out great, some ordinary and some I just fed to the two pigs it was poor.

Sometimes I'm in the mood to try a craft beer but sometimes I just feel like swallowing a pint of ice cold bud.

So it's not that x is great and y is crap, I find it depends how I'm feeling what I want and enjoy.

mass_debater

I'm living on a diet of Hobgoblin these days

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

To each his own.

Bench Press

most of them are horrendous

ThisRegard

jetsonx wrote: »

What do you think?

You should stick to bud, bud.

podgemonster

jetsonx wrote: »

As we all know, there has been an explosion in the number of craft beers available on the market.

But very few of these are actually nice. (nicer than Bud, Coors etc but that would not be too hard) Most are too watery, too hoppy or just lack any sort of decent flavor.

There are of course exceptions. Five Lamps is a tasty brew as is Red Rebel but other ones which I've tasted have stood out for being totally unremarkable, forgettable or just insipid.

The fact of the matter is most, not all, craft beers su@k.

What do you think?

I presume you're talking about Franciscan Wells beer Rebel Red. The Molson Coors company bought the brewery in 2013. Not sure if they are technically an Craft beer anymore since Coors operate them.

I like trying Craft beer and international beer. I always get a little disappointed when I walk into bar and see tap options are Guinness, Heineken, Bud and Bud Extra Cold.

Ghost Buster

Lidl do a lager, red ale and stout under the 'Irish Brewing Company' tag and theyre all yummy!

AndonHandon

What does craft beer even mean?

Avada

I think that's your opinion OP. And your opinion sucks ass

Custardpi

What does it take for something to be labelled as "craft beer", is it purely down to having manufactured batches below a certain level or what? I've certainly enjoyed many craft beers & it's great to have the variety available. However I am concerned the tag "craft" may simply become a buzzword used by manufacturers to sell beer at inflated prices that in many cases is not that great. The craft beer "revolution", while in some ways a positive for the consumer has also attracted a great many poseurs in beards & skinny jeans who wax lyrical about the glorified ditch water they delight in paying €6.60 a pint for.

ednwireland

love my hoppy beer but then I grew up in Yorkshire drinking hoppy beer. Haven't tasted a bad ipa or golden ale yet in the new craft beer guys up here.
Each to there own mind.

The Backwards Man

The main thing that puts me off craft beer is its apparent ability to turn otherwise decent individuals into condescending, sneering bullies.

podgemonster

AndonHandon wrote: »

What does craft beer even mean?

Craft Beers are beers produced by a Brewery or Micro-Brewery that must be:

1. Legally and economically independent of any other brewery;

2. situated physically apart from any other brewery

3. the quantity of beer brewed in the brewery, including beer brewed for export, for consumption and under licence or contract arrangement for another brewery, must not have exceeded 30,000 hectolitres,

4. The quantity of beer brewed in the brewery under a licence, franchise or contract arrangement for another brewery must have been less than 50%.

Avada

podgemonster wrote: »

Craft Beers are beers produced by a Brewery or Micro-Brewery that must be:

1. Legally and economically independent of any other brewery;

2. situated physically apart from any other brewery

3. the quantity of beer brewed in the brewery, including beer brewed for export, for consumption and under licence or contract arrangement for another brewery, must not have exceeded 30,000 hectolitres,

4. The quantity of beer brewed in the brewery under a licence, franchise or contract arrangement for another brewery must have been less than 50%.

Thats the definition of microbrewed. Completely different to craft brewed. Craft beer has no legal protection afaik

Ghost Buster

mad muffin wrote: »

I like Bud and Coors. So yeah… fück you. Oh and craft beer tastes of something

FYP;)

endacl

OP should win the prize for 'sweeping generalisation to counter sweeping generalisation'!

hardCopy

kylith wrote: »

This.

I love being able to try loads of different beers and find something that I like. I was in the Porterhouse recently and asked for the barmaid's recommendation and she poured me a couple of wee samples, which was nice of her. I went to the beerfest in 2013 and it was great fun.

Did she chill the wee samples first?

Links234

"Craft" is up in the air, there's a bajillion different styles and flavours out there it's ridiculous to say anything in broad strokes.

I prefer nice malty ales and porters, someone else will prefer their crazy high percentage beers, but I can't drink them at all.

darkpagandeath

Aye, How many are from large brewery's that produce the swill to plug into this market. I would wager a lot are and people will attune their taste to this fact rather than the product being superior. If you blind taste test between a cheap version and a premium version most people cant tell the difference. If you then do the same but tell people one is cheap and other other is the expensive one people will like the expensive one even though it could be the cheap one in the glass.

mfceiling

Your arse OP.

Try drinking heineken, carlsberg, coors or bud in a blind taste - they all taste the same.

I've started drinking "craft" beers this last couple of months. I've found them all to have distinctive tastes - some nicer than others, but all of them are nicer than the bland, generic "household" names.

podgemonster

Random_Name wrote: »

Thats the definition of microbrewed. Completely different to craft brewed. Craft beer has no legal protection afaik

That's True! Which is why many Beers labelled as Craft Beers may be backed by a major drinks company like Coors. Ireland's beer consumer group, "Beoir" defines it the same way i described in my previous post.

http://www.beoir.org/

NomadicGray

AndonHandon wrote: »

What does craft beer even mean?

It means you're pretentious

Nonoperational

A more accurate way of checking someones age than asking for ID, proper craft beers are wonderful and flavoursome. People that don't like them simply don't like beer.

Links234

mfceiling wrote: »

I've started drinking "craft" beers this last couple of months. I've found them all to have distinctive tastes - some nicer than others, but all of them are nicer than the bland, generic "household" names.

There's some awful sh*te parading itself as "craft" too though, some of the worst beers I've ever had were craft.

I'll enjoy a nice hoppy IPA or the like, but I've had stuff that tasted of nothing but hops, utterly bitter and nearly undrinkable. Brew Dog's Jackhammer is a good example of this, it's just a mouthful of hop burn and nothing else.

"Craft" can be just as ****e as anything else, and that's coming from someone who loves craft beers.

Gatling

Give me a nice ruby ale over the common piss water larger.

Schism

The Backwards Man wrote: »

The main thing that puts me off craft beer is its apparent ability to turn otherwise decent individuals into condescending, sneering bullies.

This is a very good point and I think it's becoming a big image problem for craft breweries at the moment. People who don't drink craft can sometimes associate those who do with being 'know it alls', or 'up their own arse'.

It's like there's a new culture of beer snobbery arriving which rightly turns people off even trying craft beers because they don't want to be lumped in as one of those types. I think because it's a relatively new thing the hipsterish type have latched onto it and are claiming it as their own.

So to anyone who is put off trying a craft beer, just do it! Don't mind the eejits who think they're onto the latest trends and find something you like yourself. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and at the end of the day the pubs always, and will always stock the old reliables if all else fails.

TrustedApple

Love craft beers myself have found if a bar has them i am in i would be drinking them.

But my fave at the moment would be a strong 8% + stout. There is a pub i go to the odd time in waterford that has a lovely 12% oat and chocolate stout on tap and its just fantastic to drink as its so full of flavours and taste on like the crap regular everyday stouts.

Another fave of mine is the brooklyn double chocolate stout witch is 10% per bottle but its basically impossible to get down my way and always try and get a few bottles when i am in Dublin.

Metel Man in waterford is also a very good beer to drink and its so easy to drink compare to budwaser piss and the like.

The Peanut

Any increase in choice has to be welcomed. When I started drinking, the choice of draught beers in many places was Guinness, Smithwicks, Harp and Bulmers. The options now are incredible, some better and some worse. It must be difficult to create a long term market now for new beers, it's becoming saturated.

Icepick

@1st world problems

Nonoperational

Icepick wrote: »

@1st world problems

That's where we live...

Paz-CCFC

I love when people b*tch about craft beer drinkers being condescending and sneering...whilst themselves being condescending and sneering at craft beer drinkers solely for liking different drinks to them.

Valetta

The Backwards Man wrote: »

The main thing that puts me off craft beer is its apparent ability to turn otherwise decent individuals into condescending, sneering bullies.

Beer snobbery. Yaay

Slattsy

95% of them are awful and taste like peaches or potpourri.

I could easily drink in a craft beer pub, if they werent full of bearded w@nkers smelling each others farts.

strobe

I was talking to someone recently about craft beers, the conversation went thusly:

+ Do you like a pint of Guiness?

- Nah, wouldn't really be my favourite.

+ So, what do you drink?

- Ah I like ales, mainly the american type stuff, you know, IPA's and that kind of thing.

+ That craft beer stuff?

- I guess, yeah.

+ What do you drink that stuff for?

- Ah well I just like to try different things really, a bit of variation, you know?

+ Why?

-

- ...

- Well... I mean, you ever go out for a meal with the missus?

+ Yeah...

- Right, well you don't go to the exact same place and order the exact same thing every time, do you?

+ Yeah...

I dunno. The conversation was just a lost cause at that point. Incompatible views on life at a very fundamental level and no way to breach the gap.

I quite like Heineken. And Corolla. And I've had 'craft beers' I thought were horrendous (I'm looking at you Nogne Sunturnbrew!). But I just like to try out different things. I like some of the things I've had already, but I'm hardly going to limit myself to them when there's loads of other new and different things out there in the world to try that I may also like.

Iranoutofideas

Like most new "different" things that become popular it draws out the very worst part of the Irish character.

That being the opinion that anyone who does anything different and who dares to stray from the flock automatically has notions about themselves, is a snob and thinks they are better than everyone else.

It is a great way to spot the ignorant cretin mentality that is rife in this country.

Nonoperational

Slattsy wrote: »

95% of them are awful and taste like peaches or potpourri.

I could easily drink in a craft beer pub, if they werent full of bearded w@nkers smelling each others farts.

Miserable...

Gatling

Not everyone who drinks craft beers/ales have beards .

AnonoBoy

Slattsy wrote: »

95% of them are awful and taste like peaches or potpourri.

Sounds like you're drinking in the toilet product section of Tescos to me.

SEPT 23 1989

mfceiling wrote: »

Try drinking heineken, carlsberg, coors or bud in a blind taste - they all taste the same.
.

No they dont

questionmark?

One thing about living in the UK is that craft beer is just called real ale/porter/cider and they are drunk by those with skinny jeans and those who hate people in skinny jeans. Even better is they are usually quite cheap(£2.20 in my local for anything off the handpump) compared to the commercial stuff like carling selling for £3+. Hopefully Ireland goes that way once the intial snobbery is out of the way.