Nats are the champions!!!!!!!!!!!!

[James Ford]

I bet there are far and away more IPA's than pilsners or marzens by American breweries.

There may still be a dispportionate amount of IPA's, but there's still over 70% of the list that is not an IPA.

Beer geeks putting down Guinness is like indie music fans putting down Train or Maroon 5. But if they like stouts and you don't, isn't their opinion perhaps more valuable than yours?

What stouts have you had other than Guinness?

It doesn't surprise me that someone who doesn't like stouts would say that Guinness is their favorite stout.

You've been misinformed.


http://beeradvocate.com/lists/top

Of the top 250 beers, only 67 are IPA's. So that's (at least) 183 non-IPA's that rate a 99 or above.

Sounds like you should do advance research on Beer Advocate. If you find something that's 95 or above, it's going to be good.

some place like Frisco tap house and paying the same to try a beer that might not end up tasting all that good.

I read that if a beer isn't a super hoppy IPA it will get bad reviews on Beer Advocate.

YOu don't think 67 out of 250 for one beer type isn't kind of weird.  By comparison they only have 2 Pilsners.  No Marzens.  They have a ton of Imperial Stouts. I think you have to find out what you like by tasting it.  I just saw some discussion on there about how they have a friend who usually has good taste in beer but thinks Guiness is the best stout.  And then you have a ton of replies saying how bad Guiness tastes.   Typical pretenious stuff it is kind of pathetic really.

Well Guiness is by far my favorite stout.  Most Stouts are god-awful.   

[atomicfront]

I bet there are far and away more IPA's than pilsners or marzens by American breweries.

There may still be a dispportionate amount of IPA's, but there's still over 70% of the list that is not an IPA.

Beer geeks putting down Guinness is like indie music fans putting down Train or Maroon 5. But if they like stouts and you don't, isn't their opinion perhaps more valuable than yours?

What stouts have you had other than Guinness?

It doesn't surprise me that someone who doesn't like stouts would say that Guinness is their favorite stout.

You've been misinformed.


http://beeradvocate.com/lists/top

Of the top 250 beers, only 67 are IPA's. So that's (at least) 183 non-IPA's that rate a 99 or above.

Sounds like you should do advance research on Beer Advocate. If you find something that's 95 or above, it's going to be good.

some place like Frisco tap house and paying the same to try a beer that might not end up tasting all that good.

I read that if a beer isn't a super hoppy IPA it will get bad reviews on Beer Advocate.

YOu don't think 67 out of 250 for one beer type isn't kind of weird.  By comparison they only have 2 Pilsners.  No Marzens.  They have a ton of Imperial Stouts. I think you have to find out what you like by tasting it.  I just saw some discussion on there about how they have a friend who usually has good taste in beer but thinks Guiness is the best stout.  And then you have a ton of replies saying how bad Guiness tastes.   Typical pretenious stuff it is kind of pathetic really.

Well Guiness is by far my favorite stout.  Most Stouts are god-awful.   

I have had a ton of stouts but I don't remember their names as I don't like them.  I do like Samuel Smiths Stouts.  No Guiness is not like train or maroon 5.  It is like the Beatles.  And how is their opinion more valuable than mine.  Perhaps the reason almost every decent bar has Guiness on tap is because it has actually perfected the genre.  And why would I want the opinion of someone who doesn't like Guiness if I like Guiness?   

I would think more Pilsner is sold than IPA's in this country.  I would think IPA's market share in the US is miniscule.  I would say Lagers outsell Ale's dramatically in this country. How many Lagers are on the Beer Advocate top 250?   

[James Ford]

You really are pretty fucking clueless aren't you? Come one, just admit it. Start reading more about the craft beer scene and learn some things. You're as ignorant as I was 10 years ago.


If someone is a fan of something, it's probably going to make their opinion more informed and thus valid that someone who is not a fan of something.

Every bar had Guinness on draft because Guinness has perfected the genre? Has Budweiser perfected the lager genre?

Have you had any stouts by AMERICAN breweries? Any imperial stouts?

More pilsner beer might be sold in America, but i can guarantee you there are more IPA's produced in America. Practically every craft brewery that opens makes an IPA, much fewer make a pilsner.

I bet there are far and away more IPA's than pilsners or marzens by American breweries.

There may still be a dispportionate amount of IPA's, but there's still over 70% of the list that is not an IPA.

Beer geeks putting down Guinness is like indie music fans putting down Train or Maroon 5. But if they like stouts and you don't, isn't their opinion perhaps more valuable than yours?

What stouts have you had other than Guinness?

It doesn't surprise me that someone who doesn't like stouts would say that Guinness is their favorite stout.

You've been misinformed.


http://beeradvocate.com/lists/top

Of the top 250 beers, only 67 are IPA's. So that's (at least) 183 non-IPA's that rate a 99 or above.

Sounds like you should do advance research on Beer Advocate. If you find something that's 95 or above, it's going to be good.

some place like Frisco tap house and paying the same to try a beer that might not end up tasting all that good.

I read that if a beer isn't a super hoppy IPA it will get bad reviews on Beer Advocate.

YOu don't think 67 out of 250 for one beer type isn't kind of weird.  By comparison they only have 2 Pilsners.  No Marzens.  They have a ton of Imperial Stouts. I think you have to find out what you like by tasting it.  I just saw some discussion on there about how they have a friend who usually has good taste in beer but thinks Guiness is the best stout.  And then you have a ton of replies saying how bad Guiness tastes.   Typical pretenious stuff it is kind of pathetic really.

Well Guiness is by far my favorite stout.  Most Stouts are god-awful.   

I have had a ton of stouts but I don't remember their names as I don't like them.  I do like Samuel Smiths Stouts.  No Guiness is not like train or maroon 5.  It is like the Beatles.  And how is their opinion more valuable than mine.  Perhaps the reason almost every decent bar has Guiness on tap is because it has actually perfected the genre.  And why would I want the opinion of someone who doesn't like Guiness if I like Guiness?   

I would think more Pilsner is sold than IPA's in this country.  I would think IPA's market share in the US is miniscule.  I would say Lagers outsell Ale's dramatically in this country. How many Lagers are on the Beer Advocate top 250?   

[hutch]

James Ford you are so darn predictable.. everything you do is about the "rating" be it beer or music.. how about you decide for yourself what you like instead of going by the so called "experts" opinion?

Its very easy to like what you're told you should like.. it takes some guts to actually like what you like...

This may all be a foreign concept for you but life is about marching to the beat of your own drummer.

[James Ford]

You sound like a spokesperson for the Tea Party putting down the educated liberal elites.

Or one of those old school scouts in Moneyball.

Aggregated data doesn't lie.

James Ford you are so darn predictable.. everything you do is about the "rating" be it beer or music.. how about you decide for yourself what you like instead of going by the so called "experts" opinion?

Its very easy to like what you're told you should like.. it takes some guts to actually like what you like...

This may all be a foreign concept for you but life is about marching to the beat of your own drummer.

[atomicfront]

The reason small craft breweries make Ales and not Lagers is very simple.  It is a hell of a lot cheaper.  To make a lager you need cooling equipment.  It takes longer to make a Lager.  IPA's are simple beers to make.  You can cover up everything you did wrong in the fermentation process with the overpowering flavor of the hops.

Also it is easy to convince someone in America that an IPA is cool.  As most Americans are used to flavorless lagers that havd adjuncts like corn and rice.  So you give them something in the opposite direction and they think that is what they should be drinking.

As for the quality of beer. There are a ton of German Lagers that are probably better than most of the stuff on the Beer Advocate list.  I don't like IPA's in general.  It is the same as I don't like going to a restaurant and only being able to taste salt.  I want to taste my beers flavors.  Not just the hops.

I hope to become an expert on beer making.  I am just a novice.  Making stuff from recipe kits.  I am currently making a Kolsch from a kit using German Ale yeast.  It is cool how there is all this different yeast and hops and malts and so many options on types of beers to make.  I hope to become an expert on beer like some of the other people on here who make their own beer.  And hopefully I can make a lot of beer that I love. 

But if someone gives Guiness a bad rating I know I won't use them as a reference. As either we have disimilar taste or they are just attacking whomever is on top. 

And I don't know why he got into this big argument when I said 8 bucks wasn't that bad to pay for craft beer at a ball game.

[DeathFromAbove1979]

IPA's are cheaper to make. I dunno if that helps anything.

[hutch]

You sound like a spokesperson for the Tea Party putting down the educated liberal elites.

Or one of those old school scouts in Moneyball.

Aggregated data doesn't lie.

James Ford you are so darn predictable.. everything you do is about the "rating" be it beer or music.. how about you decide for yourself what you like instead of going by the so called "experts" opinion?

Its very easy to like what you're told you should like.. it takes some guts to actually like what you like...

This may all be a foreign concept for you but life is about marching to the beat of your own drummer.

you're a fool... you're essentially saying that aggregated data tells you what you SHOULD like..

that's beyond silly... aggregated data has no way of accounting for your personal taste... or how your personal taste was shaped..of course in your case you have no personal taste..... why do you ever offer an opinion on anything if its only to regurgitate the latest beer rating or music ratings?

but its clear- from years of following your posts- that in everything you do you basically look to be told what to do...sad.

if a new album comes out and the critics like it well then by golly you should like it.. if there's a new beer and it gets a high rating then by golly you are going to be drinking it and LIKING it....

weak dude. very weak.

[hutch]

and if you cared to look at the actual data you'd see that for all the moneyball hype that moneyball class didn't do that well in the end..

[Relaxer]

No shit. If someone came on here and was talking about how some drone-noise band got a high metacritic score, Ford would be all "Why do you need outside validation to bolster your opinions? Why can't you just like what you like? I would never let someone tell me what I like. I'd rather spend that time being a good dad to my daughter."

[sweetcell]

IPA's are cheaper to make. I dunno if that helps anything.

generally speaking IPAs are cheaper to make than lagers, because of the aforementioned need to cool and age lagers (ales can be turned around faster).  but among ales, IPAs are the typically the most expensive to make because of the ridiculous amount of hops required.  not only are hops expensive, but using a high amount means that a lot of beer is lost in the process because beer is soaked up by the hops, and never makes it into the bottle.  this in part explains why ultra-hoppy IPAs are more expensive.

HOWEVER, when it comes to the mega-brewers (BMCs), they can make lagers cheaper than anyone can make an IPA or any other ale.  they get such high extraction (efficiency) from their grains and have the process down to such a science, plus the sheer economies of scale at their disposal, adds up to a cost of production that is lower than any craft brewery.  none of the big boys make an IPA.

[James Ford]

Spent a week in Bavaria last year drinking German beers that were indeed far and away better than their American imitations. Then spend a week in Belgium and Holland drinking beers that buried their German counterparts. Then came home to America and tried Heady Topper and Zombie Dust and realized I could be happy with those two and never drinking another German beer as long as I live.


Kudos to you for your homebrewing! I strongly suspect that within three years:

1. you will Be xplaining to me why the various hops combinations used in typical west coast ipa's make them taste so much different than a typical east coast ipa, though you'll find them both tasty.

2. Guinness won't be your favorite stout.

3. You won't give a flying fuck about German pilsners.

The reason small craft breweries make Ales and not Lagers is very simple.  It is a hell of a lot cheaper.  To make a lager you need cooling equipment.  It takes longer to make a Lager.  IPA's are simple beers to make.  You can cover up everything you did wrong in the fermentation process with the overpowering flavor of the hops.

Also it is easy to convince someone in America that an IPA is cool.  As most Americans are used to flavorless lagers that havd adjuncts like corn and rice.  So you give them something in the opposite direction and they think that is what they should be drinking.

As for the quality of beer. There are a ton of German Lagers that are probably better than most of the stuff on the Beer Advocate list.  I don't like IPA's in general.  It is the same as I don't like going to a restaurant and only being able to taste salt.  I want to taste my beers flavors.  Not just the hops.

I hope to become an expert on beer making.  I am just a novice.  Making stuff from recipe kits.  I am currently making a Kolsch from a kit using German Ale yeast.  It is cool how there is all this different yeast and hops and malts and so many options on types of beers to make.  I hope to become an expert on beer like some of the other people on here who make their own beer.  And hopefully I can make a lot of beer that I love. 

But if someone gives Guiness a bad rating I know I won't use them as a reference. As either we have disimilar taste or they are just attacking whomever is on top. 

And I don't know why he got into this big argument when I said 8 bucks wasn't that bad to pay for craft beer at a ball game.

[James Ford]

Which would probably explain why there are so damn many of them and hence why over 25% of the top 250 beers on BA are ipa's.

All I was saying was that the reason why there are so many highly rated ipa's is because everybody makes them. Most breweries don't put out a pilsner, or a biere de garde, or a saison, or a marzen, etc...hence there are not that many of those in the top 250.

Except according to Sweetcell, they're not that cheap. Even still, they are made in abundance.

IPA's are cheaper to make. I dunno if that helps anything.

[atomicfront]

Which would probably explain why there are so damn many of them and hence why over 25% of the top 250 beers on BA are ipa's.

All I was saying was that the reason why there are so many highly rated ipa's is because everybody makes them. Most breweries don't put out a pilsner, or a biere de garde, or a saison, or a marzen, etc...hence there are not that many of those in the top 250.

Except according to Sweetcell, they're not that cheap. Even still, they are made in abundance.

IPA's are cheaper to make. I dunno if that helps anything.

I think if I buy beer for home consumption it will be German Beers.  I appreciate the purity laws and I have no idea what other people are putting in their beers. 

As for IPA's it will never be a favorite of mine.  I don't like that much Hops.  And it is cheaper for small breweries to make IPA's than Lagers.  It might take more hops but the set-up costs to make lagers is very high.  American Mass-produced Lagers are cheaper mostly because they use cheap ingredients including corn and rice fillers. 

The costs aren't even close for a small brewery:

"For a craft brewery to produce 10,000 barrels of beer,  it would cost £150,000. Ten thousand barrels of lager would cost £1million,? he says, as he leads  me around Meantime?s brewery on a south London industrial estate. The brewery is  currently being expanded to meet demand."



http://metro.co.uk/2012/03/06/brew-haha-why-british-breweries-are-turning-their-attention-to-lager-342132/

[DeathFromAbove1979]

Spent a week in Bavaria last year drinking German beers that were indeed far and away better than their American imitations. Then spend a week in Belgium and Holland drinking beers that buried their German counterparts. Then came home to America and tried Heady Topper and Zombie Dust and realized I could be happy with those two and never drinking another German beer as long as I live.


Kudos to you for your homebrewing! I strongly suspect that within three years:

1. you will Be xplaining to me why the various hops combinations used in typical west coast ipa's make them taste so much different than a typical east coast ipa, though you'll find them both tasty.

2. Guinness won't be your favorite stout.

3. You won't give a flying fuck about German pilsners.

The reason small craft breweries make Ales and not Lagers is very simple.  It is a hell of a lot cheaper.  To make a lager you need cooling equipment.  It takes longer to make a Lager.  IPA's are simple beers to make.  You can cover up everything you did wrong in the fermentation process with the overpowering flavor of the hops.

Also it is easy to convince someone in America that an IPA is cool.  As most Americans are used to flavorless lagers that havd adjuncts like corn and rice.  So you give them something in the opposite direction and they think that is what they should be drinking.

As for the quality of beer. There are a ton of German Lagers that are probably better than most of the stuff on the Beer Advocate list.  I don't like IPA's in general.  It is the same as I don't like going to a restaurant and only being able to taste salt.  I want to taste my beers flavors.  Not just the hops.

I hope to become an expert on beer making.  I am just a novice.  Making stuff from recipe kits.  I am currently making a Kolsch from a kit using German Ale yeast.  It is cool how there is all this different yeast and hops and malts and so many options on types of beers to make.  I hope to become an expert on beer like some of the other people on here who make their own beer.  And hopefully I can make a lot of beer that I love. 

But if someone gives Guiness a bad rating I know I won't use them as a reference. As either we have disimilar taste or they are just attacking whomever is on top. 

And I don't know why he got into this big argument when I said 8 bucks wasn't that bad to pay for craft beer at a ball game.

I love German pilsners. I hate IPAs. Never got the appeal of Guinness.