Craft beer....Oh MY !

I like beer. I don't drink much these days. Whatever beer is in my hand is good enough for me. I like hoppy but prefer malt i guess. Usually if I grab a 6 pack I get Shiner bock.
 
I like beer. I don't drink much these days. Whatever beer is in my hand is good enough for me. I like hoppy but prefer malt i guess. Usually if I grab a 6 pack I get Shiner bock.
Shiner Bock is what I drink when in Texas. I will buy Lone Star if I am making chili.
 
I mostly drink German beer. I don't even know what's considered "craft beer" anymore, given most small beers I learn about still have major distribution channels.

In many states that utilize tiered distribution, the brewery may not have a choice who distributes their product to the retailer; they are stuck using whoever owns the channel and often that may be a big brewing corp. The big brewers recognized the power of controlling distribution early on and moved into that business where possible. Where they didn't own the channel, they exerted huge influence on it. You don't have to compete at the cash register if you control what's available at that register.

Stone got into the distribution game a bunch of years ago specifically to take some of that power back.
http://www.stonedistributing.com/
 
In many states that utilize tiered distribution, the brewery may not have a choice who distributes their product to the retailer; they are stuck using whoever owns the channel and often that may be a big brewing corp. The big brewers recognized the power of controlling distribution early on and moved into that business where possible. Where they didn't own the channel, they exerted huge influence on it. You don't have to compete at the cash register if you control what's available at that register.

Stone got into the distribution game a bunch of years ago specifically to take some of that power back.
http://www.stonedistributing.com/

I guess my point is, if I can buy Fulltone, ZVex, and Catalinbread at Guitar Center now, are they really boutique?
 
This. And I am mostly an Ale guy. IPA and often Pales are usually the first go tos. I tend toward the IPA or pale on the brew list that is around 5 - 6.5% rather than a double or heavier IPA. I prefer the cleaner taste with less malt, and more aroma hop presence. I also like stouts.

I buy from the store mostly local Idaho (Sawtooth Brewing, Sockeye) or Bend, Or products (Deschutes, Worthy), or in summer, I like Sierra Nevada Pale also. Sierra Nevada could hardly be considered micro anymore, but I still like their pale. Will sometimes get a Stone product or similar too. Not as much a Lagunitas fan for some reason.

In Tacoma/Seattle, I like to get a Fremont product, Seven Seas, Silver City, or stop in to this little one in Tacoma called Dystopian State. Oh, and Stoup.

I remember when Sierra nevada was considered exotic :wink:
 
I mostly drink wheat beers and stouts. So something like Left Hand Milk Stout might be an independent, but are they really independent if I can find them here in NYC and they have national distribution? Yeah, I can get Brooklyn, Ommegang, KelSo, Blue Point, etc. There's plenty of local beer. But ShockTop, which is surprisingly good, is a Bud product. Also, I'm never drinking Gennie Cream Ale ever again. Peed in that river too many times. :grin:

yeah of course they can be independent. it's like music just because a band is on an independent lavbel doesn't mean they don't or shouldn't be allowed to have distribution nation or worldwide. BTW I saw Brooklyn at the total wine store yeserday and considered getting it but then I thought the cashier might judge me....think I was some kind of scriffy beard skinny jeans hipster (even though i was in shorts and clean shaven)...so I never purchased it :embarrassed:
 
I've been laying off the beers. Have a home brew kit for over a year and haven't even opened it yet. Perhaps I shall look into this and make some home made beer.


Anyone into home brewing?

I used to be in mid 1990's I used to always order from Williams brewing out of San Leandro California. They were one of the original ones dating back to 1979 https://www.williamsbrewing.com I havent made any since at least 2000...too much hassel . I was always a stickler for absolute sanitary conditions so there was always massive cleaning before :embarrassed:
 
yeah of course they can be independent. it's like music just because a band is on an independent lavbel doesn't mean they don't or shouldn't be allowed to have distribution nation or worldwide. BTW I saw Brooklyn at the total wine store yeserday and considered getting it but then I thought the cashier might judge me....think I was some kind of scriffy beard skinny jeans hipster (even though i was in shorts and clean shaven)...so I never purchased it :embarrassed:

And that's why you'll always be a wannabe. :tongue:
 
I guess my point is, if I can buy Fulltone, ZVex, and Catalinbread at Guitar Center now, are they really boutique?

w/r/t craft beer the Brewers Assoc breaks craft beer down into a few categories and 'where sold', 'how much' and 'owned by' are the bulk of the criteria: micro, brewpub, contract and regional. So a micro or brewpub would typically be a very boutique style product w/ limited geographical sales and an agility in product. But a bigger brewery with wide distribution would still be considered craft beer if they are independently owned and production is under 6 mil barrels annually.

https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics/market-segments/
 
oh well...you can already know me so it doesn't count :embarrassed:
Just busting chops. I wish we could've met up whem I was in town.
A few beers and lunch, walk with Callie woulda been cool.

I had that pesky triple bypass going though.
Cheers.
 
My favorite is 90 Shilling. a Scottish style Ale made here in Colorado. I pick ip Old Peculiar when I can find it.

I drink Old Peculiar whenever I see it on cask, it's really good. I don't think traditional british beers do well in bottles really, most are filtered and pasteurised and it doesn't do them any favours - they tend to get a bit of a boiled sweet flavour -although old peculiar does hold up better than most. Theakstons also sell wooden pins of it at christmas time

Another good one you might like is Old Jock from Broughton and Traquair house ale is another one.
 
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