navybsn

Dharma - Bhaisajyaguru
 

After recent health scare and the fact that any amount of alcohol now induces crippling anxiety for at least 24 hours afterwards, I quit drinking around 3 months ago.  I have any zero alcohol option "beer" that is on offer in whatever place we are in at the time but the taste of these tings varies wildly from borderline tap water to completely OTT flavourings that are not well balanced.  Erdinger and Leffe are the pick of the bunch with San Miguel coming a distant third.  
Increasingly, when in bars with microbreweries or specialist draughts I find the zero alcohol stuff sells out pretty quickly suggesting they order/produce minimal amounts.  Prefer a green tea nowadays to be fair though.

I believe that is what really turned me off to IPAs. Like Surge, I won't turn down a perfectly good beer if someone is handing it to me, but they're never my first choice. Down here, breweries either try to see just how bitter they can make a beer as some kind of badge of honor or how many weird ass fruit combos can be added. It's akin to the hot wings trend, let's make these perfectly good chicken wings inedible as some test of manhood by adding 43 ghost peppers and top it with a scotch bonnet. People claim to enjoy them, but I can't see how.
And it's all fine and good. Plenty of beer out there to like for everyone. Just annoying that every brewery has to have 60-75% of the menu dedicated to the same variation of style. In stores, seems that's all they carry anymore and most just suck (the ones you mentioned, Voodoo Ranger, Space Dust, 420, the list goes on). Many started out good, but over the years got bought out by conglomerates or over expanded and the quality dropped. Stone was sold several years ago and had never been the same.
Everyone has their own preferences. I personally don't like German beer. Lukewarm on IPAs and Pilsners. Will never seek one out, but will never turn down a freebie.

Killing Joke - Killing Joke (2003)
 
Coroner - Grin
 

Pretty good actually. Glad to not have enough hair for a manly man bun or grizzly adams beard too.
Definitely a regional thing. I'm sure there are plenty of good variations in local areas. The mass produced stuff always disappoints no matter the style. Beer should be local, like food in my opinion.

How does it feel to be part of the basic-bitch casual crowd that can't handle the throat-eradicating, tongue-petrifying bitterness real men crave?
I think part of the reason they're everywhere is that they're easy to do an ok job on quickly, and the hop flavor and bitterness can cover up a lot of little flaws and inconsistencies that would ruin a more nuanced beer. But that doesn't make for a great experience. They are not all like that. 
If you're ever up this way, like for Messe Des Morts, lemme know. Too much good beer up here for you not to try some.

Killing Joke - Killing Joke (2003)
 
Coroner - Grin
 

I believe that is what really turned me off to IPAs. Like Surge, I won't turn down a perfectly good beer if someone is handing it to me, but they're never my first choice. Down here, breweries either try to see just how bitter they can make a beer as some kind of badge of honor or how many weird ass fruit combos can be added. It's akin to the hot wings trend, let's make these perfectly good chicken wings inedible as some test of manhood by adding 43 ghost peppers and top it with a scotch bonnet. People claim to enjoy them, but I can't see how.
And it's all fine and good. Plenty of beer out there to like for everyone. Just annoying that every brewery has to have 60-75% of the menu dedicated to the same variation of style. In stores, seems that's all they carry anymore and most just suck (the ones you mentioned, Voodoo Ranger, Space Dust, 420, the list goes on). Many started out good, but over the years got bought out by conglomerates or over expanded and the quality dropped. Stone was sold several years ago and had never been the same.
Everyone has their own preferences. I personally don't like German beer. Lukewarm on IPAs and Pilsners. Will never seek one out, but will never turn down a freebie.

Obituary ‎@ Frozen Alive recorded at Stodoła Club, Warsaw Poland. August 24th, 2006
 

Mütiilation - Black Metal Cult (2024)
 
This one snook past me.

Funkadelic - Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad. (The Doodoo Chasers)
Fried ice cream IS a reality.
 
 
Aosoth - Complete Show Live In Paris, Oct 27, 2016
 

>Brewers in Belgium using recipes crafted and honed over hundreds of years - "Our beers are malt forward, mildly bitter, with some noticeable dark fruit flavors"
>Some dude in Australia who thinks beer is a synonym for yellow, fizzy water - "Beer should taste like beer, not a fruit bowl"
Well, I'm convinced

So much beer, so little time. I do prefer a beer you can't see through too. As I write I'm thinking fondly of the time I spent in Belgium last year. Mrs Thatguy wanted to see Art Nouveau architecture and eat mussels and chocolate. I wanted beer. We were both happy.
If I were 30 years younger I would definitely cultivate a man bun and there's nothing wrong with that.

Both of these are swill in my book. They're better than Bud but that's not saying much. I can understand not liking IPAs, especially if you've never had a really good one as fresh as possible, or maybe if you're someone (like my wife) who finds hop bitterness disgusting. Even under good conditions the flavors can take a while to click. But unless you've tried the real deal, you don't know what you're missing.
I was burned out on the hazy ones until I lost my sense of smell to Covid the first time around. Hazy, hoppy IPAs were the only thing that cut through the noise and tasted "normal" to me. Lucky me, northern VT is the land of plenty.

"I prefer beers I can't see through. So if it's too warm for a good stout, I want a black ale, scotch ale, or I will settle for a nice amber or honey brown."  - Navy Goat Butcherer
Yes this. I remember when I was in the pubs of Australia and all their beers were piss colored. I didn't know wtf to order, had to ask Carlissimo which piss he was drinking. My go-to here at home has become the Yuengling black & tan, $15 for a 12-pack, an eastern PA beer available everywhere and anywhere around here. And if they don't have it on tap they'll have their lager which is almost as ubiquitous as Budweiser around these parts, just with a wee bit more flavor. Because I don't always want a heavy syrupy stout with my dinner or in the warmer months. I'll grab a 6 pack of Smitty's red ale now and then as well. I ordered one at the Irish Cottage one time several years ago with my shepherds pie and I really liked it. And yeah fuck a bunch of bitter IPA's, I honestly find it hard to believe people like that shit so much.
 

 

If it weren't for beer nerds like us, we'd all be stuck with 1980's piss domestic swill for choice. Maybe just Bud Light for us yanks and Fosters for you folks on the wrong side of the planet. Be grateful for beer nerds.

If it weren't for beer nerds like us, we'd all be stuck with 1980's piss domestic swill for choice. Maybe just Bud Light for us yanks and Fosters for you folks on the wrong side of the planet. Be grateful for beer nerds.

As you can imagine, IPAs of all variations are prime movers in Sunny Florida. Beer menus are dominated by IPAs with various fruity additions. I do like the citrus variations (mango, orange, etc) as they tend to take the edge off the overbearing bitterness breweries tend to show as a badge of honor with the IPAs. We also tend to have a lot of Gose, Kolsch, and Pale ales. All fine, but I prefer beers I can't see through. So if it's too warm for a good stout, I want a black ale, scotch ale, or I will settle for a nice amber or honey brown. We've got a couple places here doing Czech style ales that are amazing, but you have to get them at the breweries. Will never see them on a shelf.
Again, not complaining. I have access to more quality beer than I could ever need, but it's a shame to see the commercially available craft beer market essentially turn into the domestic beer market it was a reaction to years ago. Lack of choice, same bland styles, just with added costs for the end user.

Yeah...I don't want it to sound like I'm complaining by any means. Md definitely isn't lacking for options, and if I have a craving for a certain style I can almost always find a well done version on the shelf. It's more that between the pandemic, the popularity of Hazy IPAs, and alternatives to beer fighting for the same shelf space, I've noticed there are far less options for a given style available than there was about 5 or so years ago...especially for styles that aren't in fashion with the Instagram crowd.
Like, the brewers in North America are really good at making various types of IPA's and Stouts, so if I can't get Yeti from Great Divide anymore, it's disappointing but someone local probably makes something nearly as good. When it comes  to a lot of the classic European styles though, well we don't have 1000 years worth of experience making Belgian style ales like Trappist monks in Europe. With a few exceptions, our versions of those styles are just pale imitations. So when a beer like that gets crowded off the shelf because local brewery #256 puts out another Hazy or Sour or whatever, it becomes a lot harder to find a replacement. Thats kind of what I'm disappointed about  
EDIT: I get it though. Both breweries and liquor stores need to prioritize what's selling, so from a business standpoint I totally understand why things are the way they are right now

I live in the home of hazy IPAs. There is an absolute glut of them represented at the supermarket, and slim pickings of everything else aside from multinational conglomerate pisswater (funny enough, the gas station has a better and more varied selection). Most of them are alright but tiresome, and the sheer quantity of them means that it's difficult to find them fresh, because the store is incentivized to keep its overstock on the shelves long after the beer is past its prime. Too many bandwagon-jumpers.
On the other hand, when they're done right they're amazing. Fiddlehead, The Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, and Schilling (Resilience) make great examples. I would hate to see those beers go away. Hill Farmstead and Schilling also make excellent lagers in an assortment of regional European styles. Both are real destination breweries. The only comparable place in MA was Tree House, another brewery somewhat unfairly defined by its flagship hazy IPA, that also makes an array of different styles and nails every one. 
We do get some good Canadian beers down here as well as stuff from Maine and NY state that fills in the gaps. The things I don't see around too much are English and Belgian styles, and big-alcohol barrel-aged beers. But it's basically Beervana. No complaints. Y'all should visit.

Holy shit...yes. Especially the "Hazy IPA". How many versions of that style do people need?
To be fair, I'm by no means hurting for good beer, and a lot of the local brewers are making some really good stuff. I just hate seeing the market contract to the point where certain styles are all but dying off because they aren't trendy. Like, give me a good bock or scotch ale, instead of the the 3000th fruited, imperial, milkshake sour

Same down here. Even the big retailers have decreased their selections. Craft beer selection is getting quite stale as well. The boom is definitely on the decline. On the other hand, we have quite a few quality local breweries in the area, so I mostly drink stuff from one of them. Usually a decent selection of styles although always heavy on the IPAs. Good lord I wish that trend would die off. 

Ondfødt - det österbottniska mörkret (2023)
 

Slough Feg - Traveller
 

Devastation - Idolatry, death/thrash Corpus Christi Texas 1991
 
Assorted Heap - The Experience of Horror, death/thrash Germany 1991
 
Cyclone - Brutal Destruction, Belgian thrash 1986