mattsearle
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2014
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- 152
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I don't know what other people will make of this, but I'm wondering if others feel the same.
I should start by saying that I'm all for the growth in people drinking and brewing real ale and craft beer around the world, & love the added choice that beer drinkers have these days.
My issue is that it seems like sometimes I'll grab a beer from a brewery I've not seen before, but sometimes I feel as though I've been cheated into literally just buying someone's homebrew. Pale Ales and IPAs seem to be the worst culprit, with harsh bitterness and grassy hop flavour too common for my liking. Even oxidised beer and beer that has 'that homebrew twang' are issues I've experienced with 'craft' beer that I've bought in shops. It's like people make a few brews and think "I'm starting a brewery" without really nailing down a recipe or carrying out the necessary analysis of their own beer before taking it to market.
A friend of mine owns several top tattoo shops/ studios, and we were chatting recently about this and he had a good comparison. He said that when the recession hit everyone who fancied themselves as a bit of an artist and didn't have much work on seemed to be all of a sudden a tattoo "artist", without the real knowledge or experience to make that claim.
I'm all for more and more people to be brewing professionally and more people to be drinking good beer, but growth for the sake of growth surely dilutes the market which, I'm glad to say, consists of some absolutely incredible beer at the moment, the best I've ever tasted!
I'm particularly interested in whether this is something that beer fans in the US have experienced (as I'm in the UK).
I hope this doesn't come across as a rant as it's not supposed to, it's just something I've though about a few times an had another such beer last night which got me thinking about it again.
I should start by saying that I'm all for the growth in people drinking and brewing real ale and craft beer around the world, & love the added choice that beer drinkers have these days.
My issue is that it seems like sometimes I'll grab a beer from a brewery I've not seen before, but sometimes I feel as though I've been cheated into literally just buying someone's homebrew. Pale Ales and IPAs seem to be the worst culprit, with harsh bitterness and grassy hop flavour too common for my liking. Even oxidised beer and beer that has 'that homebrew twang' are issues I've experienced with 'craft' beer that I've bought in shops. It's like people make a few brews and think "I'm starting a brewery" without really nailing down a recipe or carrying out the necessary analysis of their own beer before taking it to market.
A friend of mine owns several top tattoo shops/ studios, and we were chatting recently about this and he had a good comparison. He said that when the recession hit everyone who fancied themselves as a bit of an artist and didn't have much work on seemed to be all of a sudden a tattoo "artist", without the real knowledge or experience to make that claim.
I'm all for more and more people to be brewing professionally and more people to be drinking good beer, but growth for the sake of growth surely dilutes the market which, I'm glad to say, consists of some absolutely incredible beer at the moment, the best I've ever tasted!
I'm particularly interested in whether this is something that beer fans in the US have experienced (as I'm in the UK).
I hope this doesn't come across as a rant as it's not supposed to, it's just something I've though about a few times an had another such beer last night which got me thinking about it again.