Mostly these kinds of lists come down to what style of beer you prefer.
My biggest complaint on breweries is when you get a brewer who loves making one type of beer over everything else at the cost of having a variety of beers on tap.
If you love making sours, good for you but if you 10 out 12 taps that are sours don’t be surprised when people stop coming to your brewery.
Mostly these kinds of lists come down to what style of beer you prefer.
Was going to say exactly this. I like big stouts (and sours when I'm in the mood for something light). Fremont stouts/barleywines are good. Darkstar is a fine base stout for what I can pick it up for in a six-pack. Their specialty stuff is overpriced, but I never pay for it since I always have it when I'm digging into my brother's collection of verticals.
My favorite beer is out of St. Louis of all places (Abraxas), but it's $20 per bottle, so special occasions only. Firestone Walker, like Pumpy: good at everything. Used to be into The Abyss from Deschutes, but they've gone too heavy with the bourbon and priced it stupid like Fremont. Way back in the day, Pikop Andropov from Hales was the shit--thickest blackest beer money could buy at the time. Anymore, it's hard to say which brewery is better than which when the stuff I usually like best is all small release and comes and goes. I know it's hard to beat some of the specialty stouts from Evil Twin in New York, but they're hard to find here. I've walked into Cloudburst to find three stouts on tap that all rocked my balls, but the most recent time, they didn't have a stout on at all. Ditto Structures (although they have one now that's fucking amazing). Wander's base stout is meh, but when they do something special, it's usually right up there. My brother just turned me on to Great Notion, and they're a similar kind of brewery that tries big things and can seemingly do no wrong.
It's splitting hairs, and at this point it just comes down to where you live, therefore what's readily available, and what style you're into. One thing's for sure is that you get what you pay for, and once you have some of this big specialty stuff, it's harder to appreciate the off the shelf beer. My drinking habit has gotten car-payment expensive!...
Also, for fellow beer fags on here there's an app called Tavour that is a great way to sample stuff from across the country. I used it for a few months and then turned it off after realizing I was blowing $150+ each month in addition to my regular purchases locally. Couldn't drink it as fast as it was building up in the refrigerator.
Mostly these kinds of lists come down to what style of beer you prefer.
Was going to say exactly this. I like big stouts (and sours when I'm in the mood for something light). Fremont stouts/barleywines are good. Darkstar is a fine base stout for what I can pick it up for in a six-pack. Their specialty stuff is overpriced, but I never pay for it since I always have it when I'm digging into my brother's collection of verticals.
My favorite beer is out of St. Louis of all places (Abraxas), but it's $20 per bottle, so special occasions only. Firestone Walker, like Pumpy: good at everything. Used to be into The Abyss from Deschutes, but they've gone too heavy with the bourbon and priced it stupid like Fremont. Way back in the day, Pikop Andropov from Hales was the shit--thickest blackest beer money could buy at the time. Anymore, it's hard to say which brewery is better than which when the stuff I usually like best is all small release and comes and goes. I know it's hard to beat some of the specialty stouts from Evil Twin in New York, but they're hard to find here. I've walked into Cloudburst to find three stouts on tap that all rocked my balls, but the most recent time, they didn't have a stout on at all. Ditto Structures (although they have one now that's fucking amazing). Wander's base stout is meh, but when they do something special, it's usually right up there. My brother just turned me on to Great Notion, and they're a similar kind of brewery that tries big things and can seemingly do no wrong.
It's splitting hairs, and at this point it just comes down to where you live, therefore what's readily available, and what style you're into. One thing's for sure is that you get what you pay for, and once you have some of this big specialty stuff, it's harder to appreciate the off the shelf beer. My drinking habit has gotten car-payment expensive!...
I used to buy a lot of Dark Star. I also like the Blue Can pale ale from Fremont. But like every other craft brewer they make too many god damned IPAs and not enough other stuff that I like.
I pick Ore-gone, because my first craft beer (Portland Ale, IIR), progressing to Widmer Hefe. My initial foray into IPA's was Bridgeport, then to Ninkasi. Later, I drank Washington in Washington, and Oregon when there. I became an IPA knuckle-dragger, and slowly burned out my taste buds.
Love both. It's definitely a clash of the titans between the two. However, Boneyard RPM IPA puts Oregon over the top.
I will also add that Ninkasi is extremely overrated in general
Boneyard in every bistro and restaurant in Portland burned me out on it. Their pub in Bend is pretty nice though, MKP, and they put out some orange pale ale that was really good when it was 100+ out there.
Love both. It's definitely a clash of the titans between the two. However, Boneyard RPM IPA puts Oregon over the top.
I will also add that Ninkasi is extremely overrated in general
Boneyard in every bistro and restaurant in Portland burned me out on it. Their pub in Bend is pretty nice though, MKP, and they put out some orange pale ale that was really good when it was 100+ out there.
I don't even drink beer anymore, but if I did, it wouldn't be craft IPA shit. Coors or Yuengling. I'm not a fancy man. It's a rum (and a little whiskey) life for me.
I don't even drink beer anymore, but if I did, it wouldn't be craft IPA shit. Coors or Yuengling. I'm not a fancy man. It's a rum (and a little whiskey) life for me.
I don't even drink beer anymore, but if I did, it wouldn't be craft IPA shit. Coors or Yuengling. I'm not a fancy man. It's a rum (and a little whiskey) life for me.
My heart just broke, then died a little.
Please don't tell me it's spiced rum, or I'll be finished off.
Today's further evidence that we've reached Peak Beer° and therefore the debate is pointless:
So I was on my way to Home Depot (it was lovely), and I decided I was a little thirsty. And my wallet was a little thick, causing lower back pain from leaning, so I decided I'd splurge and head to Structures:
Imperial Stout Blend of both old and young Stout from Buffalo Trace Barrels Conditioned on Vanilla, Coconut and a touch of Nutmeg Alcohol by Volume: 11.4%
A Gooey version of non-barrel aged Feral Bones Conditioned on Peanut Butter and Cacao Alcohol by Volume: 12.4%
Both fucking amazing. Are there breweries in Oregon (or California or Colorado or New York or Missouri...) that can and do something similarly unique and awesome? Of course, and I've had plenty of it. It's kind of splitting hairs to say any are better than another when the high end good stuff is almost always limited release. What's my favorite brewery? Depends on what's on tap/in bottles when I walk in, I guess, and that changes frequently. There are definitely breweries that can do no wrong, and I've listed a couple. If we're just talking about which state has the most of these, I guess that's worth debating. I sure didn't care about such debates by the time I was about six ounces in last night...
PS: Which one of you fucks was sitting outside of Structures yesterday evening, black hat with purple dub on it, taking a picture of his hazy IPA like a knob?
Comments
If you love making sours, good for you but if you 10 out 12 taps that are sours don’t be surprised when people stop coming to your brewery.
As the Innui like to say to all you knew kids on the block: Fuck Off. Classics Rule.
Love the Camper in this one.
#culturalbackwater
I will also add that Ninkasi is extremely overrated in general
When Deschutes County gets their shit together and secedes from Oregon, you'll be begging to be part of the #myvandals crew.
Per capita there's way more fake boobies in Kootenai County than Deschutes County by far.
#culturalbackwatermyass.
#kardashians
#gretzkys
#rachelhunter
Please don't tell me it's spiced rum, or I'll be finished off.
So I was on my way to Home Depot (it was lovely), and I decided I was a little thirsty. And my wallet was a little thick, causing lower back pain from leaning, so I decided I'd splurge and head to Structures:
Blend of both old and young Stout from
Buffalo Trace Barrels
Conditioned on Vanilla, Coconut and a touch of Nutmeg
Alcohol by Volume: 11.4%
Conditioned on Peanut Butter and Cacao
Alcohol by Volume: 12.4%
Both fucking amazing. Are there breweries in Oregon (or California or Colorado or New York or Missouri...) that can and do something similarly unique and awesome? Of course, and I've had plenty of it. It's kind of splitting hairs to say any are better than another when the high end good stuff is almost always limited release. What's my favorite brewery? Depends on what's on tap/in bottles when I walk in, I guess, and that changes frequently. There are definitely breweries that can do no wrong, and I've listed a couple. If we're just talking about which state has the most of these, I guess that's worth debating. I sure didn't care about such debates by the time I was about six ounces in last night...
PS: Which one of you fucks was sitting outside of Structures yesterday evening, black hat with purple dub on it, taking a picture of his hazy IPA like a knob?