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Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection
Ironically, I wrote that post slightly drunk last night...
I'll elaborate more since I'm coherent today. Bohnzie and OTM, I definitely enjoy many different aspects of many styles of beers. Thank God the craft beer movement is in full swing, because I think the trends also lead to lack of creativity. I have some friends (and the bartender at my favorite watering hole) say, "Hey man! Check this out. ULTRA hoppy!" I deeply respect their opinions, and after tasting it, my palate was absolutely ruined. Pure pine notes, zero balance. I don't want someone saying, "Taste this! It's DEFINITELY got the characteristics of THIS type beer." I want someone to say, "Taste this! DELICIOUS."
One of my top five beers is considered "hoppy" but it's hoppy with balance. Recently the bar has started putting a lot of Sculpin on tap (huge fan!) so I can now stop bitching about the over-hopped offerings. And Bohnzie, maybe that's why the new offerings are so bad. If they're rushing them out due to trends, maybe they're not letting them age properly or sacrificing quality for quantity.
Chico, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Guinness. There's still a few macro-ish brews out there that hold a soft spot in my heart (Labatt being one of them for some reason).
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I love a good Guinness...some of these stouts and porters craft breweries are putting out are neither sometimes...still good, but not what they are labeled to be...
Yeah, there is a different between ultra hoppy balanced and ultra hoppy INYOURFACETOBEBITTER!!! Some folks take the real bitter stuff and drink it and like it because BA has it rated as a 98 so it must be good. The beers I got into that really showed me that you don't have to be in your face bitter but can be super hoppy is Laguintas. They figured out how to hop the hell out of a beer but not taste like it.
But in all honestly, I think sheeple tend to go with the popular notion of a beer instead of really trying and determining whether they like it or not. Between BeerAdvocate and Untappd, you'll see a trend among the top beers, that their ratings don't fluctuate too much. Whereas lesser known beers will have a lot of leeway in ratings. Don't hate on a sub 85 beer just because a bunch of hipsters on BA didn't care for it because it wasn't "hoppy" enough.
It's funny you said "Taste this! DELICIOUS." because the small group of guys i drink with...that's what we do. We don't try to sell anyone on ABVs or hoppiness or whatever. We say, you have to drink this because it's good. And then we talk about it from there. And if we're trying something new, we'll compare notes. It helps that our palates are similar, and we'll disagree from time to time. But that whole selling it based on gimmick words bites.