Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association, told the Craft Brewers Conference in Denver that he and member brewers are finding the quality of craft beer declining, especially from small home-brewers-turned pro who are selling beer with off flavors or that’s oxidized. He’s afraid continuation of this trend could hurt the industry. Wondering if anyone has experienced this.
I’ve had some off bottles from brewers who fit that description (home brewers recently turned pro). On the other hand, I think there has to be some allowance for a learning curve. Pipeworks had to recall an off batch when the brewery was still green. It’s gone on to make some of the most exciting beers around.
With the number of people that are getting into the business, I can see how this can be a problem. I have to admit (as a home brewer turned professional), that my early beers aren’t nearly as good as what I’m producing now. I know several former home brewers in Oregon who have really struggled from a quality perspective. On the other hand, some have done very well and some professional brewers just aren’t very good. I think a competitive market tends to weed out the weak pretty quickly, but there aren’t that many really competitive markets. In Oregon, it’s really hard to make mediocre beer and survive.
I appreciate Paul’s concerns but agree with Rick that the market will correct the problem. What bothers me more is that few breweries try to make the more difficult styles such as pilsner and kolsch. Excessive hops, wild yeasts, sours and unusual ingredients can mask a host of flaws. Yet, it seems like these are the kind of beers that the public is demanding.
I’m probably preaching to the choir Rick as it must drive you crazy being a brewer of really hard to make beers. Looking forward to tracking down a few of your taps in June when I’m back in Portland.
One of the biggest problems with these young brewers is; they are trying to produce everything over the top, rather than learning how to brew the classic styles and learning from them. Let’s see them produce a basic lager/pilsener and learn how to produce a balanced beer first before they go overboard. Let’s see them produce a mild, British-styled bitter to learn how to balance the hops and malt.
Any brewery will tell you that the hardest beer to produce the right way is a Pilsener - these guys have to learn their craft before they go nuts.
Take a look at any of Picasso’s early work - they were precise drawings and paintings that show his growth as an artist - rather then jumping into the outer limits.
I’ll be working about 8-10 beer festivals this summer - often surrounded by these newbies, and I can’t tell you how embarrassed I am for some of them as they watch their “magic” recipes being dumped at the next booth.
I agree that there’s a lot of crappy beer on the market, and that some of it is actually faulty. I don’t think it’s such a big problem for craft beer in general as Gatza makes it out to be, even though it’s not good to see. The crowd that’s so unfamiliar with craft beer in general usually doesn’t like even the sound ones because there’s too much flavor there. They might like a well-made lager, and I agree that it’s unfortunate we see so little of that being produced in the US. Rick, I was happy to see one of your beers on draught during a trip to OR a few months ago, and I thought it was great. I forget which beer it was. I’ll make a point to seek out more of your brews the next time I’m out that way.
What I see here in MA is that there’s so much demand for local beer (with enough people realizing that Sam Adams is not craft or fully local, as well as not being very good) that some really poorly made ones are able to find commercial success.
Excessive hops and alcohol do seem to make people think that something mediocre or even flawed is good beer. In some cases, I really don’t understand why anyone would want to drink something again after having tried it. As far as the whole wild/sour trend, I’m really unpleasantly surprised by a lot of the domestic offerings I’ve tasted. There is a lot of flavor there, but the problems can be so pronounced, and so many of the ones I’ve had aren’t pleasant to drink. It seems to be a style that’s high on the list of ones that are difficult to get right. I suspect that segment includes a fair amount of the truly faulty beers these guys are talking about.
There have been 5+ breweries that have opened up in Sacramento in the last few years and all have way too many beers - none of which are really memorable - with most being overly bitter and hopped but not in a good Lagunitas IPA way.
I love the new RUHSTALLER beers - the Gilt Edge Lager and Red Ale are really delicious - they do produce a wonderful Black IPA called Capt. Black as well. And, they are using mostly hops grown by local farmers.
I agree. I can’t count how many times I’ve been tasting samples and was grossed out. I’m fairly certain a lot of breweries open today will be closed in the next two years.
Was it a bottle fully wrapped in Burlap? I wonder if you didn’t get an old one. Fresh hopped beers have very short shelf lives and the ones produced in 2012 are dead in the water, with the 2013’s getting long in the tooth as well. But both were absolutely divine when they were just bottled (and were supposed to be consumed).
My mind stores the weirdest info but it was mid October, early November. One of my oldest friends 50th bday was the first weekend in October and he received one as a gift. I thought the package was cool and would of liked to try it but too many people to open it. I wondered what it tasted like and remember your note.
I think this is a good summary of the issues I taste with so many new styles.
Hops can mask a lot of imperfections. Same with pumpkin/chocolate/coffee/etc.
Making a clean classic beer is difficult.
As the highest rated beers seem to be double IPAs or Imperial Stouts, you can see why some try to go over the top to stand out. Point chasers? Perhaps.
Consistency is another difficult challenge to master. Think about Budweiser (AB In Bev) that spend huge sums to ensure that every Bud tastes the same watery and insipid beverage as every other Budweiser no matter where brewed.
I have seen (tasted) significant differences between batches of craft brews - especially between the bottled version and the canned version. (I understand that some brewers may send their beer off-site to be canned and the transport may affect flavor).
Wow.
I thought the story behind the packaging was cool. They employed developmentally delayed people to wrap the bottles by hand, so each one was unique. Just wish it hadn’t tasted like canned asparagus.
Haven’t tried Ruhstaller yet, read about them in the paper since they are newer (using some old gold miner era name or sumthin’).
Granted I doubt any of these places want to be the next Deschutes and I haven’t tried ALL their beers - and none of the beers are horrible, they just aren’t that “great.” The atmosphere at places like Out of Bounds is exceptional though and they are going with the “food truck parked out back” model so they don’t need a full kitchen. They just need to make better beers but hey maybe they will someday. God knows this area is full of Coors Light drinkers so anything to tease their palates and steer them towards better beer is extremely commendable.
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