Quote:
Originally Posted by phisherman
Those beers were fun back in the day because they were just so different than anything else getting put out.
Nowadays, everyone is making thicc boi stouts that have every adjunct ingredient you could think of added in.
People love novelty but those styles aren't so novel when there are a ton of them on the shelf at Lukas or Total Wine.
Sour beers went through this same phase. When there were maybe 5-10 total SKUs in the entire product category (and they were all solid sours technically), they sold fairly well, if not slow and consistent. Now there are a ton of sour beers on store shelves and most of them are not great technically. As a result, the whole category suffers.
It's been fun to watch beer's "phases" for the past 15 or so years.
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Yeah, the market is oversaturated with mediocre beer. I rely heavily on Beer Advocate for ratings, but it's tough when a brewery doesn't have much of a presence there. Untappd is mostly terrible for rating great beer, as everything seems to be a 4.2, but it's a pretty good indicator of terrible beer when you can actually score like a 3.6.
I've seen beer advertised as something like "Caramel Current Pastry Stout" that is neither caramel, a current of caramel, or pastry. And of course plenty of sours list a variety of flavors, but it's just another sour (and same for plenty of IPAs).
I'm pickiest on stouts and really try to minimize bad purchases by doing flights or a single bottle purchase... and I'll drain pour even a mediocre stout. The best out there though will never get old (well, until my foot falls off).
Sort of to scho's question though, I don't even really have a sweet tooth food-wise... don't keep sweets around and usually don't order dessert. All about the big boy thick stouts though.