Most craft breweries make lagers and pilsners that are considerably better than “big beer.” Local/craft beer doesn’t exclusively produce IPAs, Fruited Sours, and Bourbon Barrel Aged Oatmeal stouts.
Craft lagers are out numbered 15:1 by ales because of the tank space and cooling required. The esterification reactions of ale yeasts are inherent to ales and the brewing temperature. All Ales smell fruity. This is really basic beer knowledge.
That’s fair, you clearly know more about beer than me. I mostly just drink them. I don’t care for most lagers but a good one on a summer day is nice. I was just trying to make the point that you don’t have to choose Budweiser over craft beer to get a lager. It’s clear to me now that you already know that.
I have to disagree here. Fermentation temperatures and yeast strains do, of course, have a huge impact on the final outcome, including, but not limited to, the effect of esters. It is not true, however, that all ales smell fruity. With the large variety of top fermenting "ale" yeasts available, as well as some control to be exercised over the fermentation process, it's perfectly possible to get quite a clean fermentation. Kolsch is fermented with an ale yeast, for example.
And more importantly, this is why there are a few craft lagers. It's not because they're too busy making IPAs, it's because lagers specifically aren't easy to do at smaller scale. There are plenty of craft ales that are not IPAs.
What exactly are we calling ales here, isn't ale just beer said another way (or, rather, the other way around)?
Speaking of lagers, good ones are hard to come by these days. I like all things beer, and I enjoy all the IPAs, fruited sours and all that, BUT I also much, much enjoy quality lagers. As it is, in the US, it's rather hard to find good ones, all the mass market ones are horrible (I guess a Stella will work if that's absolutely the best you can do, but everything else is even lower in terms of quality).
I'm in the ironic position that I actually whole-heartedly enjoy IPAs, but hate the IPA fad because it's (mostly, just due to the sheer size of the IPA market) keeping brewers from making good lagers. Can I have both please?
jcampbell1|3 years ago
xtalx|3 years ago
jaredhallen|3 years ago
nerdponx|3 years ago
Elora|3 years ago
Speaking of lagers, good ones are hard to come by these days. I like all things beer, and I enjoy all the IPAs, fruited sours and all that, BUT I also much, much enjoy quality lagers. As it is, in the US, it's rather hard to find good ones, all the mass market ones are horrible (I guess a Stella will work if that's absolutely the best you can do, but everything else is even lower in terms of quality).
I'm in the ironic position that I actually whole-heartedly enjoy IPAs, but hate the IPA fad because it's (mostly, just due to the sheer size of the IPA market) keeping brewers from making good lagers. Can I have both please?