Beer

I dunno about where the rest of you live, but finding good beer here has become pretty tough.

I've heard the local distributors cut a deal with the Big Industrial Breweries to stop carrying beers from small independent brewers and those same Big Industrial Breweries bought up a bunch of the smaller ones I liked and then changed their recipes to use the same nasty hops or hop oil.

Imposter Beers

They all taste the same now. I call it "skunky" but it's generally described as "citrus" or "grapefruit".

For example, I used to be able to get "Anchor Brewing Company" beer here, but no more.

Worse yet, even all the locally owed breweries are using those crap hops. And everywhere I've went that's all you can find now.

Samuel Adams Boston Lager is one of the few beers not using those crappy skunkbutt hops, but's it's still nowhere near as good as it was 25 years ago.

As a nation, we are brewing the crappiest beer ever right now and it's shameful. Lucky for me I have found a good source for an imported Pilsner from Belgium, and a good IPA from New York, but I have to drive 30 miles to get them, so I buy as much as I can when I do.

It's a sad time for beer lovers across America

That's bizarre, around here micro brews are sprouting left and right. And they are truly micro breweries; I know people who quit there job to open some of them up. Of course, California micro breweries focus mostly on extremely bitter IPAs. But.. there are so many choices that even if that is not your thing you should be able to find beers you like. If you are not finding micro-breweries around you then I Think you guys need to catch up with the rest of the country.

Sounds like it's time to home brew.

The Pacific Northwest abounds with wonderful craft beers! Compensation for the winter rains (in full swing now), I guess.

Yeah, I have a few "Mr Beer" kits, and a few kegs to boot that I purchased years ago, and there's a great home brew supplier not far from where we live.

And the last of our kids have moved now. One of my daughters boyfriends drank so much of the beer I used to buy by the keg, and had to drive 90 miles to get it, that I finally gave up buying it. But he's long gone now, so the timing is good for that.

Here's a good link I found today about this issue...

I know!!!

I am sure there is great beer where you are because they understand the difference in types of beers, and it's art there.

But I also think it's probably Portland that started the trend I'm talking about because it's Cascade Hops that are crapping up beers all over now. Those are great in small amounts when balanced with other varieties but now they're just killing beers with them.

It's been a trend to make ever hoppier beers for over a decade now and it's hitting peak stupidity.

I'm not kidding, last year I went to Los Angeles and Palm Desert for the "Desert Trip" concerts and they had something like 50 craft brews there and I tasted a dozen or more over the three days and they all had those same crappy hops in them.

And I was in Destin Florida a few months ago and sampled at least 5-6 craft brews there and got the same thing.

Last Saturday I stopped by a beer/wine store in Branson and they had craft brew they were giving out samples of and I tasted two of them, same crap. One was an IPA and the other a lager and aside from the color I could hardly tell the difference.

And here's the part that really pinches my britches, before I tasted any of those beers I told the bartenders that I did not want a beer "overloaded with the same Citrus, or Grapefruit hops every brewer is using now" and none of them even knew what I'm talking about. They don't have clue.

I'm not the only one whining about it, but it's a pretty small group that is. It's a trend that reminds me of LA in the `70s when everyone would order a Perrier with lunch and all the bottles would be full when we left, except these whippersnappers actually drink that swill.

According to this article brewers are starting to get back to lighter beers again so there's hope this trend will fade away.

I really probably ought to start brewing my own beer again. I really enjoyed that, but I never got the drink much of it. I could have it almost all to myself now that it's just my wife and I here

This is why I drink single malt scotch.... :-)

I'm not fond of hoppy beers, but don't have the taste buds to be able to distinguish their origin. On the other hand, I don't care for flavorless beers of which Bud Select comes to mind. I like a malty flavor with a bit of hops. I've been to a few microbreweries, but almost all of the beers that I have had in them have not been to my taste. I enjoy tasting something different from time to time and once in a while I find something that I like. I tried some Shandies last summer, but thought that they covered up the beer flavor with citrus. I think that they are for people who don't like beer.

It sounds like your problem is not with fake craft beer, but the California IPA movement. Everything is getting really bitter and I am living in ground zero! One thing you can do is get to know the IBU scale. Any craft brew worth there weight in hops will know the IBUs of their beer. Ask for things on the lower end of the scale.

IPAs are so bitter not because Brits liked the taste they just didn't want to drink bad beer on the trip to India.

I love a good IPA but most (all) of them I used to buy have switched to those "grapefruit" hops. I don't think IBUs describe that flavor though.

IPAs do change over time though. To me, an immature IPA can taste a little soapy, but as they age that gives way to a more floral taste (depending on the hops used).

-- (went to go read up on it some more)

After reading up on it I believe you've hit the nail on the head with the "California IPA movement".

Apparently what we get is called "American IPA" which focuses on "C hops" — Centennial, Chinook, Columbus and, especially, Cascade, which is the grapefruitiest of them all.

What really surprises me about this though is how prevalent that flavor has become and the trend to make a beer even grapefruitier than everyone else's. It's a coast to coast thing.

What's really disappointing is that they are all pretty much indistinguishable from each other. It's really only how malty they are that makes them different, an it's not just IPAs anymore. They're crapping up all kinds of beer with those skunky hops.

And that's another point. While they call the flavor "Citrus" or "Grapefruit" it reminds me much more of the "Skunk Bud" weed that got so popular in California back in the `80s. I'm thinking that since those two plants are such close cousins that all that skunk bud pollen is wafting around and mixing in with their hops out there and skunking them up and that's reminding those old brewers of their younger days

I'm not really a beer person; in fact until less than a year ago, I didn't drink beer at all until a friend turned me on to Corona. I don't think I've ever liked any IPA I've tried.

But, we do have a local craft brewery, really neat place that occasionally gives tours. Sometimes they open their bar with open air seating, maybe even live music and food. They have a family friendly atmosphere. And, they do rank the bitterness of their beers. If you ever visit Nacogdoches when they're open, you should definitely give it a try.

I don't like beer too much, I prefer gin tonic or whiskey, sometimes light Chilean wines, but I also noticed that the beer has become of a much worse quality. My friend recently first brewed beer by himself. It was very tasty. He was given a birthday brewing set and he did everything according to the instructions. He says that this is not too difficult, but it takes time.

Yeah... the quality of beer you can get at a liquor store has gotten pretty awful.

So many of the better small brewers sold out to big corporate brewers who switched to crappy ingredients, as well as an increase in good hop prices, and just a general trend to make beers more "citrusy" (grapefruit/skunky) has really made it tough for fans of ales and pale ales.

The nitrates (nitrites?) in wine hit me pretty hard. I get pretty vicious headaches from it. Most beers don't have them anymore, but when I was younger, way back in the `70-80s, they all did.

Just come on up to the PNW. Small local breweries are plentiful, with great craft beers.

You know, a lot of people do this. There even exist specialized forums for such people like brewersfriend