Craft Beer

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Craft Beer

Postby csmakio » Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:32 pm

Some say it's a bubble that is going to eventually burst, and they are probably right. But we are at period in time where the best beer, cider and mead ever brewed is available in mass quantities. Anyone else a fan? Maybe we could even get some trades going if people are interested.

Some of my favorite breweries are:
-Dark Horse (Marshall, MI)
-Stone (Escondido, CA)
-Three Floyds (Munster, IN)
-New Glarus (New Glarus, WI)
-Pipeworks (Chicago, IL)
-Revolution Brewery (Chicago, IL)
-Boulevard Brewing (Kansas City, MO)

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Re: Craft Beer

Postby Axm » Tue Jul 21, 2015 12:48 am

Coming from San DIego-Escondido where Stone IPA etc is made, I have a clear bias for it. The brewery there is one of the first places ill be visiting when I come back home from Japan.
Karl Strauss aswell.
Beer here in Japan is all usually Malts, and thats fine for awhile, but its hard to escape them and when you do find a pale ale, lager or anything else its usually much more expensive. But these days Japan is seeing the success with craft beer in the states and slowly I'm seeing imports for beer go up and even Suntory, Sapporo and Kirin jumping on board with limited run IPA's.
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Re: Craft Beer

Postby csmakio » Tue Jul 21, 2015 6:56 pm

Very lucky that you grew up near Stone, they were the brewery that really got me going with craft beers. Everything they put out I like, the enjoy by series is great. If you ever want me to send something your way let me know.

Sapporo is damn good. I would love to try the IPA as all I've had is the original here in the states.

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Re: Craft Beer

Postby SaM_4000 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 7:38 pm

Not exactly sure about the definition of craft beer, does it mean beer that isn't widely available?

Anyway, hopefully not derailing the topic but, I once went to this pub called the Brewhouse in Brisbane Australia. They had their own beer on tap and I couldn't get enough of the Brisbane Pale Ale it was probably the best drop I've had in a long time. Hell, I only went to the pub for lunch and to watch some sport and I ended up staying for awhile and drinking about 7 or 8 pints...

Anyway here is a link if anyone is interested in reading about the various beers: http://www.brewhouse.com.au/brewhouse-beers
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Re: Craft Beer

Postby csmakio » Wed Jul 22, 2015 8:40 am

SaM_4000 wrote: Not exactly sure about the definition of craft beer, does it mean beer that isn't widely available


I'm not even sure how you would define it anymore. Yeah, originally it was beer that was brewed locally by independent breweries and wasn't largely available. Anything that wasn't brewed by the big "macro" breweries like Anheuser Busch or the other big guys. Over the last couple years though the craft brewing scene has exploded and there are breweries all over, some of them are getting pretty big. One of my favorites Stone, is now widely available around Chicago and they are based out of California. I believe they just opened a brewery in Germany too, so they are definitely getting big. Not sure how to even define it anymore.

SaM_4000 wrote: I once went to this pub called the Brewhouse in Brisbane Australia. They had their own beer on tap and I couldn't get enough of the Brisbane Pale Ale it was probably the best drop I've had in a long time. Hell, I only went to the pub for lunch and to watch some sport and I ended up staying for awhile and drinking about 7 or 8 pints...


Thats what its all about. Its always something special finding a pub or brewery that has their house brewed beers on tap. Looks like a good place! \:D/ Their Oatmeal Stout sounds delicious!

I'm really not trying to sound like a beer snob with this thread. I went through college drinking High Life and Old Style and would still gladly drink Pabst Blue Ribbon any day of the week. It's just nice have access to small batch brews that have layers of flavor the big guys are missing.
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Re: Craft Beer

Postby amiga1200 » Wed Jul 22, 2015 9:38 am

if this is about one nations brews, wasn't here.
for everything else not targeted, mastercard can TRY! :P
...
english brewed ales are for me.
been getting pleasantly smashed on moorhouses 'pendle witches brew' (5.5%) and 'black cat' (5%).
the brewery is literally only ten minutes away from my present location.
wholesalers to gvt sponsored houses only.
were it not for knowing an insider, i wouldn't be rolling out with a keg on occasion, at factory/cost prices. :mrgreen:
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Re: Craft Beer

Postby csmakio » Wed Jul 22, 2015 1:47 pm

Black Cat looks good, I'm a big fan of dark ales.
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Re: Craft Beer

Postby combat_rock » Sat Aug 01, 2015 6:19 am

Love trying new beers, right now I'm loving Wiseacre and Ghost River since I'm from East Tennessee and they're brewed in Memphis. Love the Ghost River Red, and from Wiseacre I'm digging the Ananda IPA, but then I'm an IPA fan in general.

EDIT: And yeah, the idea of "craft" beer is is getting tested, which is ultimately good, I think. I like the idea that Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada are American success stories by staying true to making a good product while experiencing a slow and steady growth. You can argue that there are a few breweries like Goose Island and Stone that are getting there. Oh, probably Abita too, they seem pretty prevalent. And they certainly aren't Macro like Anheuser. The problem is what do you do when the macros try to make a "good" beer. There is, or at least was a lawsuit against Coors for labeling Blue Moon a "craft beer". Whether or not it's actually good is up for debate, but it's pretty obvious that even in the process of making it (and it's various seasonal and special varieties) they've deliberately set it apart from their main brand. So can it be "craft"? Who knows?
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Re: Craft Beer

Postby myshtuff » Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:05 am

I went to Stone brewery when I was in Escondido for work. Cool place. Locally in Cincinnati we have Madtree and Rhinegeist which have grown in popularity the last few years, but I imagine it's not available outside Cincinnati.

Edit: Oh wtf. Just found out Angry Orchard is here also. Weird.
Last edited by myshtuff on Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Craft Beer

Postby Hyo Razuki » Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:06 am

A friend of mine went to the States recently and visited some kind of beer testing in California and he has been going on about how awesome those American Craft Beers are since he came back. I want to try some but there is only a very limited choice of Craft Beers in shops where I live and most of them are from Germany or Belgium but I'd be most interested in American ones. The problem is I usually don't order stuff online because the mail man mostly comes when I'm not home and then I have to go to the post office to pick up the stuff by myself which is a hassle, so I don't wanna order the American beers online through some importer.

I love beer and I also like our German beers very much but the problem with the commercial beer from Germany is that most of the breweries here use old recipes which are like 400 years old or something and while a lot of those beers taste good, I would like to try something new from time to time. Also we have the Purity Law which doesn't give local breweries much freedom in developing new recipes.

Also the thing for me is, I don't have that much money and I could get an entire crate (20 bottles) of top quality local commercial beer for the price of about 2 bottles of Craft Beer. That's why I only ever buy it when I have a friend who also likes Craft Beer coming to my place or wanna treat myself to something really nice. For that reason, I usually end up buying a crate of local beer which then will last about 4 or 5 weeks.

What's the prices like in the States? Do they sell Craft Beer per crate there?

I especially like the American Dark Ales and I hope they'll sell a greater variety of those here in the future. Some of the blond ones are great too, but I haven't tried many. That being said, you have to be careful with the whole Craft Beer thing in general. Like collecting wine or whiskey, it is actually a cool hobby, but it can easily turn into some poncey obsession if you overdo it.
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Re: Craft Beer

Postby combat_rock » Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:19 am

Hyo Razuki wrote: A friend of mine went to the States recently and visited some kind of beer testing in California and he has been going on about how awesome those American Craft Beers are since he came back. I want to try some but there is only a very limited choice of Craft Beers in shops where I live and most of them are from Germany or Belgium but I'd be most interested in American ones. The problem is I usually don't order stuff online because the mail man mostly comes when I'm not home and then I have to go to the post office to pick up the stuff by myself which is a hassle, so I don't wanna order the American beers online through some importer.

I love beer and I also like our German beers very much but the problem with the commercial beer from Germany is that most of the breweries here use old recipes which are like 400 years old or something and while a lot of those beers taste good, I would like to try something new from time to time. Also we have the Purity Law which doesn't give local breweries much freedom in developing new recipes.

Also the thing for me is, I don't have that much money and I could get an entire crate (20 bottles) of top quality local commercial beer for the price of about 2 bottles of Craft Beer. That's why I only ever buy it when I have a friend who also likes Craft Beer coming to my place or wanna treat myself to something really nice. For that reason, I usually end up buying a crate of local beer which then will last about 4 or 5 weeks.

What's the prices like in the States? Do they sell Craft Beer per crate there?

I especially like the American Dark Ales and I hope they'll sell a greater variety of those here in the future. Some of the blond ones are great too, but I haven't tried many. That being said, you have to be careful with the whole Craft Beer thing in general. Like collecting wine or whiskey, it is actually a cool hobby, but it can easily turn into some poncey obsession if you overdo it.

In America it's all over the place in regards to price but generally the major macros (Bud, Miller, Coors) will all run you the same price, and it's about a dollar a beer if you buy a twelve pack, whereas a good craft beer is about ten to twelve dollars for a six pack. And if it's one with a higher than average alcohol content it could cost more. And bar pricing is kind of all over the place, some places put a premium on bottles, some on draft. Generally a macro will always cost you less either way, but to what extent depends on the bar or restaurant. To me it's always worth spending the money on good beer though, it's one of those little indulgences, like I'll pay a little more to enjoy what I'm drinking that just be drinking to drink. I'd rather have a sixer I'm going to like than a twelve pack I'm going to have to push through.

Oh, and import beers are always priced at a premium, whether they're good or not. Obviously some are and some aren't, but people will pay extra for Corona, because people are dumb.

Also, in America a "case" is 24 twelve ounce beers, although I think most people get either a twelve or six pack for personal consumption. "Craft" beers and imports usually run twice the price of macros. so it's not ten to one as you seem to be describing. I honestly would be pissed if that were the case.
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Re: Craft Beer

Postby shredingskin » Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:39 am

Forget about "imported" beer, they are all pausterized, kills everything. Kills aroma, taste and corpse.

Also if the beer is in bottle, it has a shelve life of around 3 months, and even less, if it does have an acid touch (and A LOT of foam) means it's a manufacturing problem.

I love weat stuff, but gets kinda hard to get in good shape. Most of those actually use avena to give it more corpse.
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Re: Craft Beer

Postby Hyo Razuki » Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:51 am

combat_rock wrote:In America it's all over the place in regards to price but generally the major macros (Bud, Miller, Coors) will all run you the same price, and it's about a dollar a beer if you buy a twelve pack, whereas a good craft beer is about ten to twelve dollars for a six pack. And if it's one with a higher than average alcohol content it could cost more. And bar pricing is kind of all over the place, some places put a premium on bottles, some on draft. Generally a macro will always cost you less either way, but to what extent depends on the bar or restaurant. To me it's always worth spending the money on good beer though, it's one of those little indulgences, like I'll pay a little more to enjoy what I'm drinking that just be drinking to drink. I'd rather have a sixer I'm going to like than a twelve pack I'm going to have to push through.

Oh, and import beers are always priced at a premium, whether they're good or not. Obviously some are and some aren't, but people will pay extra for Corona, because people are dumb.


If I was in America I'd totally do the same thing you're doing. I'd be more than happy to pay double for a beer I like versus paying less for a beer I don't like.

But here, craft beers are like 5 to 10 times more expensive than regular ones. I know the craft beers have better quality ingredients and a larger variety of taste. But still, the quality and taste of local commercial beers is good. Just a tad worse than the craft beers. I think a large part of the pricing also results from having to ship it here all the way from America and also customs charges.

But I'm really interested in the American beer culture now and next year, I'll be going on a trip to California. I also would like to take a day trip to one of those breweries over there. Any breweries in the LA or San Francisco area you guys can recommend for a tourist visit?
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Re: Craft Beer

Postby Axm » Sat Aug 01, 2015 10:08 am

In L.A I recomend Karl Strauss.


Karl Strauss Brewing Company

Universal CityWalk, 1000 Universal Studios Blvd, Universal City, CA 91608, United States
+1 818-753-2739

https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=Karl+ ... ate=kp:xpd

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Re: Craft Beer

Postby amiga1200 » Sat Aug 01, 2015 10:34 am

Code: Select all
http://sixpoint.com/beers/core/sweetaction
been supping this for off-camp activities.
sixpoint is okay, but i've not seen a draught version.
bloody expensive (UK double-standard for vices and imports) and only found it sold at licensed restaurants.
good for 'at friends house gaming' take a 24-stack between the two us us, great! :mrgreen: (the resin is fuck you up in a can! :P )
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