Tuesday, May 21, 2013

EABF, Year 10



This past weekend was my neighborhood’s annual beer festival.  It was the tenth annual, in fact, and I may have gone to all of them.  I can’t remember.  I was drinking.  The location was great.  The weather was great.  The people were great.  The scene was great.  Everything was great except for one thing: the beer.

Everything was over-hopped.  At nearly every table I went to my choices were hoppy, super hoppy, or uber-hoppy.  There were enough pale ales, IPAs, and Saisons to drown a hundred drunks.  Everything tasted of pollen.  What ever happened to balanced flavors? 

Where were the bocks, the porters, or even the Scotch ales?  What happened to well-made lagers?  Where are my malty dubbels?  What of brown ales, ambers, or reds?  A stout might be nice every once in a while.  I found myself at times reaching for wheats just so I would taste excess yeast instead of pollen.

Brewers and beer snobs: enough with the hipity-hop-ya-can’t-stop-the-hops brews.  You’re ruining beer for everyone.  You have been for years.

I blame the hippies.

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