I must say that when Martyn and Ron both decide that enough is enough on one day, well, that is a day to be noted. First, Martyn:
I paired Atlantic IPA with another beer I knew would be towards the hop bomb end of the shelf, Sierra Nevada Anniversary 2009. This year’s Sierra Nevada anniversary beer is in the style of an American IPA, with pocketfuls of American hops, Chinook and Cascade. It’s still strongly hoppy and bitter, with passionfruit and ginger coming through, but the complexity is subtler, the integration better – and the price barely a quarter of Brewdog’s Atlantic.
Then Ron...
I don't want innovative beer. I want tasty, refreshing beer. Beer I want to drink more than a mouthful of. Beer that's a joy to drink rather than an exercise in endurance. I don't want to think "what a clever brewer, how ever did he come up with adding a slight apricot flavour to a Pale Ale?". Or "I wonder what the 17th variety of hop is?". "That's so innovative, making a Mild you have to sip through an enamel straw." Worshipping at the alter of brewers' egos. It's not for me.
When is enough enough? When is too much too much? As Pete notes, all we really want is an Easter bonnet parade in the pub.
Comments
Knut Albert Solem - November 17, 2009 10:36 AM
We want it all. We want tasty session beers, we want crisp lagers, we want American extreme beers we want Belgian beers hidden in cellars for decades.
Yes, we want the Easter bonnet parade, but that's not all we want!
Alan - November 17, 2009 5:53 PM
Stan is doing the math.
Jeff Alworth - November 18, 2009 6:19 PM
I don't really understand Ron's quote. If he doesn't want innovative beer, fair enough. More important: by dint of all the excitement innovative breweries are stirring up (in the US, UK, Belgium, and Scandinavia), the market remains healthy. Healthy markets mean good beer sells. Good beer selling well means Ron's mild thrives. Variety doesn't mean he has to drink anything--it means he has the choice.
(And the worshiping business--does anyone do that? I was under the impression they worshiped beer bloggers.
Alan - November 18, 2009 7:07 PM
Well, there has been the rock star and celebrity thing so someone has been stoking the idea of the secular priesthood. But Ron clarified somewhere today... here it is.
This discussion is getting all cross-bloggy and very busy. Not as busy as mild production, though. I don't think I can agree that mild is thriving in good beer culture.
Ron Pattinson - November 19, 2009 4:01 AM
Jeff, what I meant was just because a beer is "innovative" doesn't make good or make me want to drink it. I'd rather a beer I actually like the taste of.
Ron Pattinson - November 19, 2009 4:02 AM
Mild isn't thriving, BTW. I wish it were. And more "innovative" beers isn't likely to change that.
Jeff Alworth - November 19, 2009 1:56 PM
Ron, I do grasp your point, and it's worth a little pushback from time to time on the furor. (I got in big trouble once expressing a similar apostasy that I had directed at Sam Calagione.) FWIW, milds, one of the few styles never brewed in my neck of the woods (US's NW), are making a tiny appearance. A niche market of folks like you (and me) who love elegant, small beers may be appearing as a kind of shadow to the piercing sunshine of the over-hopped imperials. But it's apparently a regional phenomenon.
Alan - November 19, 2009 4:35 PM
There was a good mild made at Bar Harbor Maine but I am not sure that it is still produced.
dave - November 24, 2009 9:14 PM
Harbor Lighthouse Ale by Bar Harbor Brewing is the beer I believe you are thinking of Alan. I had it a little over a year ago and it hit the spot (and so did Cadillac Mountain Stout). It seems the Harbor Lighthouse Ale has become a "small batch series" beer since Atlantic Brewing's take over of Bar Harbor Brewing.
I keep hoping the mild style will take off just like "barrel aging", "imperializing", and "doing a take on the Saison style". A man can dream right?