I like craft beer, and one of the things about living in the Midwest is just how much of it I have access to. There are approximately 180 breweries here in Indiana, and if I add the breweries in the four states surrounding Indiana(Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio), I have almost 1500 Breweries that I could get to in just a few hours. That’s a lot of beer, and I made it to every brewery in Indiana last year. I’m looking at working on one of the states nearby, but it’s gonna take a while!
When people find out that I have traveled to so many breweries, they often asked me which is my favorite. They also want to know who the best is. I sometimes struggle with these questions because I found some thing I liked at most of the breweries I visited last year. I found only a handful of breweries that I thought were making poor beer. I choose to keep that information to myself most of the time. Everyone’s palates are different, and that’s one of the reasons we can have such a vast array of beer being produced.
The rating of beer is a very subjective thing. One only has to look at Untappd to see this. The range that some good craft beer is rated is astounding. I’m generally very fair with my ratings, and probably don’t use it properly. For this reason one of my friends told me that you should never rate any of the beer when you’re in the profession. You have that option when you keep track of the beers on Untappd, I am seriously considering not putting a numerical number behind any of the other beers I try from now on.
Why I find this information to be interesting is I do a podcast with a bunch of other craft beer aficionados who often differ in their opinion of the beers we try. Some of them I find to be amazing, and then see the looks of my fellow drinkers around the table, and get that we all view these beers differently. I have been blessed with a palate that allows me to enjoy most styles of beer, and I’ve learned among my hard-core drinking friends that this is an anomaly. It’s why I can walk into a brewery and never worry about finding something I like. I was in a relationship with a woman who only drank sours. It was frustrating for me when I would research a brewery whose website would say they currently had a sour on tap, and then get there to find out it wasn’t true. There was usually a good reason for it, but my partner had to sit there with nothing to drink!
When I started drinking craft beer, most breweries were very similar. 20 years ago you could walk into any craft beer brewery, and see options like blond, red, and brown ales along with a wheat ale, and a Porter and/or Stout. I recently read an article in Brew & Brewing that discussed these styles, and how they have never lost popularity. I still think they are amazing beers, but they are rarely what I try when I go places. They were the beers that introduced me to craft beer, and the styles that I encourage people to explore if they want to become acquainted with craft beer. But our current craft beer population loves IPAs, Imperial Stout‘s, and sours. It seems like most of the other styles are rarely being discussed anymore.
People drink what they like, and they choose to drink those beers because they like them. It doesn’t matter if you agree with other peoples tastes, and that’s why I like a brewery to have multiple choices when I go there. Breweries should have something for everyone, unless they are very specialized. But just because a brewery doesn’t make a beer style that you like, it doesn’t mean they are a bad brewery. If you don’t like IPAs, there there are many breweries you may not be interested in because that’s their larger focus. I already said that you have tons of breweries to choose from, so just pick one that makes the styles you like.
While I enjoy every style of beer, I have developed recently a passion for traditional German style beers, as well as cream ales. This causes me to like a lot of breweries that other people look over when they are trying to find the next crazy beer. It’s another reason that some of these breweries don’t make it far in beer tournaments because a lot of people are beyond these very simple beers. But they are very hard to make consistently, and that is a beauty in and of it’s self. I’ve already written about some of the breweries that make good German style beer, and I’m happy that at least one in Indianapolis is doing amazingly well!(Guggman)
I have gotten a little bit off subject but I am trying to demonstrate how diverse the offerings is of beer is. For this reason, it’s hard to compare breweries who do very different things. But if every brewery was the same, I would not have had so much fun visiting every one of them in Indiana. There is a lot of amazing beer out there, and as a craft beer drinker, it’s your job to find it. And what I’ve noticed about good beer is we want what we can’t have. I was given a Yellow Rose Smash IPA from Lone Pint in Texas last year, and fell in love with the beer. Now I am trading beer with a friend in Texas so that I can have some. He can’t get some of the great beers I have up here, so it’s a relationship that works very well. I see lots of this going on frequently, and I encourage this over the black market that puts beer from other states on the shelves in places where it doesn’t belong with crazy price points!
So everyone has opinions about beer, and that’s a good thing. But we need to remember that we voice our opinions very loudly, we affect breweries in many ways. We don’t have to like all the beer being made, and I find some beer to be barely palatable. But somebody might like it a lot, and I am willing to respect that. The diversity in beer that’s available is a beautiful thing. I like being able to try so many different styles of beer. But I realize when we are too subjective, we lose sight of the bigger picture. I do not want to go back to the time when there was only a handful of breweries. In order for this to not happen, we just need to keep doing what we’re doing. More people than ever like craft beer, and with so many people experiencing it on a new level, I am glad there are good introductory craft beers out there. They may not be exciting to the trained tongue, but let them come to where we are on their own time!
I have found my experience with craft beer to be an exciting journey. I hope other people experience at the same way. You can write about what you like and you can post positive ratings on Untappd all you like. And you have a right to tell people when you don’t like something. We just need to be respectful, and I don’t think a brewery is bad if they have one or two beers I don’t like. This happens a lot, and it’s OK. You don’t have to like everything, but it does not it mean it’s bad. All I ask is that you remember that when you’re rating a beer.
I’m not trying to take the fun out of craft beer. We all have a voice, and we get to tell people what we like. We also are going to dislike some beer, and we have a right to voice that as well. I enjoy craft beer very much, and I’m sure you do as too. The good thing is there’s so much out there, so you’re never going to get to try every beer that you probably would like. We don’t need to waste time drinking beer we don’t, so it’s OK to be disappointed with some beer. I just hope that you like more that you try than not!
We have around 9000 breweries in this country. A lot of good craft beer being made! There really is so much beer, and there is so little time! Enjoy what you like, and remember your palate is different from everyone else’s. A lot of people are going to like that beer as well, but some people may not. My travels have sat me next to some people who seem to be critical of every beer I was able to present to them. That’s fine, but if you are finding more beer that you dislike then what you like, there might might be a reason for this. I just ask that you don’t be too critical of beer. I am reminded of the meme online quoting the Big Lebowski: “Well, that’s just your opinion, man!” And we know what they say about opinions!
So drink beer and enjoy it. Please do not be too critical of what you don’t like. I’m going to focus more on what I really love, because I want to stay a positive voice in craft beer. You do you and try to enjoy as much good beer as you can. If we have a chance to drink a beer together, then I hope we both like it!
So Much Beer So Little Time 