… Proper Welsh cider?
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Never had one. So I guess that’s fine, then.
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I like IPAs just fine but i’ve stopped buying it for the most part because of how trendy it became, its been an impossible task to find the ones that are actually good.
And ciders have been relatively popular here where i live, every now and then i pick up something new to try 
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French, Normandy cider, too.
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Agree about how Bell’s is OK, not great and not bad. Shame about Founders, I liked some of their beers a lot.
I’ve really been digging Shorts brewery, they do some interesting stuff. Even if some of the packaging is kinda gross.
I may be old school, but I still love Belgian ales the most, I could survive on nothing but Piraat the rest of my life. But they all got pricey.
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Belgian ales are amazing, i don’t buy them often but the few times i do its a huge treat to myself. Makes the expense worth it, especially if they’re tripel ales.
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Just another IPA. Being the best IPA in the US is like winning a turd championship.
I can roll with Two Hearted winning “Best Mass Produced and Widely Available” beer in America.
Not that I necessarily agree, but it’s a seminal icon in the evolution of my beer palate. Back in grad school. it was the shit.
Once I moved West, it became a rare treat, available when visiting home or when others visited.
Now that it’s available here, I have it once in a Blue Moon (it’s orders of magnitude better than that swill).
Finding a good IPA nowadays requires only a little effort. Find a well-curated selection at a small shop or two. Read up a little online. Every region of the country has some stellar examples.
It’s awfully hip to hate on them, but why hate on beer at all? Find a MAGA hat and channel that energy instead.
Serious question: What is the obsession with IPAs and incredibly hoppy beers? So many of them taste like a resinous pine cone. The best I can guess is that there is a collective expectation of ‘you aren’t a beer lover unless you love hoppy flavor’ so drinkers convince themselves they like it and brewers try to outdo each other.
So I’m glad there are more alternatives showing up such as sour beers and ciders. And for after dinner, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale from the tap in a brandy sniffer.
And a confession: I miss ‘Best Damn Cherry Cola.’ It may have been mass produced, but it was really good cola.
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I’m a definite beer fan that has tried a large amount of US microbrews and am an occasional home brewer. The two hearted seems like a pretty standard beer to me; its good but nothing special
IPAs are really fast, cheap and easy to brew. That they can be produced cheaply is the biggest reason for the IPA explosion
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Me too. But a good lager is hard to brew. You can’t hide the faults under a mountain of hops.
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I’m not a brewer but that makes sense to me as to why every craft brewer has been making them. I have found great IPAs but it’s a slog wading through all the terrible examples of the style that i don’t think it’s currently worth it. My go-to styles to drink are stouts and porters
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Lupulin. It’s is a sedative present in hops and profoundly changes the high you get compared to, say spirits or wine. The reason IPAs traditionally had a higher hop content was so that they could make it around the African continent without spoiling because of hops’ anti-microbial properties (also why the ABV is generally higher). It was a standard ration in the Royal Navy traveling to India, hence the full name India Pale Ale.
ETA: Didn’t really finish the thought. Lupulin’s a drug and feels good. British sailors noticed.
True. Even a more complex IPA like the New England styles that have dominated lately are still easier to brew than a…
As @someguy says, a true lager (not necessarily an American Adjunct Lager like Budweiser) requires much more finesse and technical prowess than nearly any Ale. The reason for the lager’s popularity is because it is, in many ways, the full realization of technological and biological refinement of beers. Unfortunately, most of what America got was the cheapened version with adjuncts like rice (no character, just sugar) and very, very poor hops with little to no presence (mostly hop extract and resins, tbh).
Precisely. There is simply nothing like a freshly-brewed beer direct from the brite tank (“freshly-brewed” being qualified by any necessary post-fermentation rests the beer may need stylistically). These rankings and awards are really predicated upon availability. Honestly, for my money Dogfish Head is the best larger-market beer available (though I’m not sure how available it is beyond the Atlantic coast). Having said that, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Two Hearted Ale. It is not easy to get beer as widely distributed while being produced consistently at numerous contract facilities regionally. I’m not sure that’s what Bell’s is doing here, but it’s almost impossible to control product quality otherwise. That’s how Coors got the reputation they once had, by controlling how their product was shipped and handled.
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I’ve seen that in my local Walgreens, I think. Thanks for the recommendation!
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Per the above discussion, it’s an ideal IPA; even-tempered in both hop content and abv, wide distribution and really, really well-made. FWIW, I am specifically talking about the 60 Minute IPA (there are variations on it that are probably more for adventuring than an approachable flagship beer).
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It’s a good beer, Bront.
IMO, Bell’s is over-rated. Back in the day, Oberon was the bomb, but as tons of other breweries now exist in Michigan, it’s gotten more obvious that it isn’t all that special. My more recent beer purchases have mostly been Short’s or New Holland (used to buy Founder’s, but won’t again until they clean up their racism problem). When I can, I get growlers filled at Wolverine State, always my first choice for Ann Arbor beers since they opened in '11.
I like customizing beer. Back in the day, Safeway had the el-cheapo Scotch Pride brand IIRC, in 11-ounce bottles. I’d church-key the cap, add a drop of anise tincture, watch it foam, and enjoy or whatever. Now I merely grab a can of Centennial IPA, take a slurp, and top it off with vodka or rum or whatever. One needn’t subsidize craft brewers, very few of whom are POC.
ETA: misspelling fix
