Continuing Rant Thread - Get it Off Ya Chest here

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I too do not like "over hopped" brews and believe some are added late just to cover some not so nice tasting results. I recently tasted a brew that was so flowery and fruity I thought it must have been fermented with incense sticks.
 
There was one brew there where the brewer had added actual passionfruit and guava to an IPA where the hops already added enough tropical fruit to make it taste like a fruit salad. Not my favorite beer that one.

Honestly, its not just the hops, or the beards. Its also that we dont seem to be able to have a regular strength beer. Everything is 7%+. Can't have a brown ale, it has to be an IMPERIAl brown. Can't have a pilsner,oh no, this is an 8% IMPERIAl pilsner, much better than those regular ones. Forget those boring stouts, this is an IMPERIAL stout.

Its the general lack of subtlty and this belief that bigger has to be better. More hops, more alcohol, stronger flavours, more, more, more of everything. Its like you have to apply flavours with a sledgehammer.
 
I don't know if its as much aping American styles or lazy brewing. Stouts and APA's are pretty much beginner styles and you can shade the odd shortcoming behind a bunch of roast, chocolate, hops and alcohol. I know I have.
When was the last time you walked away from a hirsute mans stall saying, wow, thats the one of best German Pilsner I've ever tasted!
 
Had a brewdog Elvis Juice the other day. An AIPA infused with grapefruit juice. Not sure how they did it but the smell was intense. A nice drop but I felt cheated as the aroma made me wish I was drinking grapefruit juice.
Hoppy, not hoppy, sour or sweet, I'll take it as it comes. Heck, I'd even consider mixing bourbon and Dr Pepper.
 
Airgead said:
There was one brew there where the brewer had added actual passionfruit and guava to an IPA where the hops already added enough tropical fruit to make it taste like a fruit salad. Not my favorite beer that one.

Honestly, its not just the hops, or the beards. Its also that we dont seem to be able to have a regular strength beer. Everything is 7%+. Can't have a brown ale, it has to be an IMPERIAl brown. Can't have a pilsner,oh no, this is an 8% IMPERIAl pilsner, much better than those regular ones. Forget those boring stouts, this is an IMPERIAL stout.

Its the general lack of subtlty and this belief that bigger has to be better. More hops, more alcohol, stronger flavours, more, more, more of everything. Its like you have to apply flavours with a sledgehammer.
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I was actually amazed when I left the UK a number of years back for Canada and then New Zealand and finally Australia, that most beers were upwards of 4.8 - 5+ percent. Not that I would ever drink it but Stella coming in at 5% was always considered a pretty strong beer, until recent years of everthing being an imperial or double something. The beers I'd be drinking on a regular basis were the likes of Black Sheep bitter - 3.8%, Sam Smiths bitter - 4%, Theakstons Best - 3.8%, Wadworth 6X - 4.1%. I'd be out for a night with mates drinking those beers and I'd still be on my feet 7 or 8 pints later. Great stuff!

Now I'm here and there are precious few beers at below 4.5% that you'd want to drink more than one schooner of, everything else with flavour is upwards of 5%. My housemate (also a pom, but a proud Australian as he keeps telling me since he got his passport) and I regularly have a whinge about this.

What good sessionable beers are there? I'm sure they must be out there but I'm yet to find them.
 
Coopers Mild is the only drinkable mid-strength beer (3.5% or so) I've found that's widely available, although its way too fizzy. Other than that, it seems to be a special offering here and there if you want something below 4.5% and they mostly present as hop flavoured water without any finesse. The Hunter Beer Co are working on a 4% Czech Lager, and if it comes up to their usual standard, that should be a cracker.
 
welly2 said:
What good sessionable beers are there? I'm sure they must be out there but I'm yet to find them.
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In my keg fridge.

4% Northern Brown at the moment. Next brew will be an amber lager then a pils. After that, probbaly a bitter.

I'll happily drink an IPA but it will be one IPA. I cant have a night out on IPAs, one and I'm done. I'd much rather something I can drink a few of without feeling like my mouth has been stuffed full of hop resin or are so string that I can't walk (let alone drive) after more than a couple.
 
Dave70 said:
Actualy, stupid beer names piss me off more than ubiquitous IPA's, beards or headbanging ABV.
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No way, that's half the fun of naming your beers!
 
I usually don't name my beers but I do make a couple of exceptions. The brown i'm drinking now - Life In A Northern Brown. The Amber lager I'm brewing next - Nine Princes.

But those aren't stupid names...
 
The Weasel's Mittens ESB (credit to Heath Franklin)
The Druid's Sleeve Celtic Red
Dark Daisy Milk Stout
Bathurst Brunch Coffee Bourbon Milk Stout (my take on Bogan's Breakfast by Mammoth)
Rolled Gold Oatmeal Stout (rolled oats, EKG hops, you see what I did there)

To name but a few.

Someone else suggested The Unicorn's Canoe which is a cracker but I'm yet to brew a beer that's worthy of it, maybe a watermellon wheat beer or something like that.

Love a silly name.

Edit: I only wish I had some mad art skills to make up appropriate tap labels for each of them
 
Dave70 said:
Actualy, stupid beer names piss me off more than ubiquitous IPA's, beards or headbanging ABV.
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Seems par for the course nowadays. Much like brewery names too. Maybe our beer tastes have been stifled for so long we're throwing our cardigan clad arms to the winds and letting our inner bacon guide us.
I must admit (maybe due to my bottle collecting), eye catching labels suck me in. And while I generally don't name my beers, they usually end up with some form of cliche name to help me remember them by.
Just brewed an APA for a mate (hates overly bitter beers) and called it "My Boyfriend's Bitter (because I can't drink IPAs)." Not that there's anything wrong with that.
 
16 years between songs, hyped up like all hell and the Avalanches produce 'Frank Sinatra'.

Boooooooo!
 
shaunous said:
16 years between songs, hyped up like all hell and the Avalanches produce 'Frank Sinatra'.

Boooooooo!
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The other two they've since released aren't great either.
 
manticle said:
I call my beers whacky shit like altbier or stout.
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You say that so nonchalantly. Tres cool.
 

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