There are certain beers and beer styles you see over and over again that are overhyped and simply don’t deliver. But do craft brewers feel as exasperated as some consumers?
We asked nine brewers what the most overrated beer is to find out.
“Any beer that requires a consumer to stand in line for hours to be able to enjoy. There are so many wonderfully made, underrated beers out there. Maybe they aren’t as well marketed, but they often taste as good as some of the beers requiring hours of wait time!” — Nicole Carrier, co-founder and president of Throwback Brewery.
“Any specialty beer that we brew, that we save, that is rated higher than our flagships.” — John Falco, head brewer Lincoln’s Beard Brewing Company.
“I’m sure plenty of people will disagree with me, but I think wild ales are the most overrated. Sure it’s fun to let wild yeast go to town on your wort, but as far as pure drinking enjoyment, I’ve tasted more unpleasant wilds than good ones. Blending with other brews seems to be the best way to make the wilds palatable. Just because that’s how it was done back in the day doesn’t mean it was a good beer back then!” — Pete Anderson, co-owner of Pareidolia Brewing Company.
“The limited release you are standing in line for.” — Kevin Blodger, co-founder and director of brewing operations at Union Craft Brewing.
“The list is long on this one so I’ll refrain from picking out any one beer. But in my experience, every time I’ve had a very highly rated or over-hyped beer I will eventually come across a beer that is better (sometimes it takes a while though). That is the cool part of our industry, with so many breweries cranking out delicious beers, you are sure to find diamonds sprinkled throughout that other people might not know about yet.” — Davin Helden, CEO of Liquid Mechanics Brewing.
“I don’t want to call out a fellow brewery. I will say that I don’t buy into ‘cult beer hype.'” — Patrick Byrnes, head brewer at Islamorada Beer Company.
“We’re not going to name names, but there’s clearly a short list of beers that are more about the idea than the liquid.” — Damian Brown, brewmaster at Bronx Brewery.
“Heineken. Hear me out. There is still a segment of the drinking population who view it as the ultimate in premium beer. By the time many people drink it, it’s old, it’s been out in the light too long, whatever, but it has some gnarly off-flavors. So when non-craft drinkers come into our brewery that is their comparison for ‘fancy beer.’ So they immediately think that all non BMC beer (not Bud, Miller, or Coors) is off, or what we are making is off because it has real flavor. Having said that, once people are in the door, it is fun to open their eyes to what beer can be. It’s like giving people your copy of in utero and watching their brains blow up.” — Jon Mansfield, brewery operations manager at Warhorse Brewing Company.
“Anything using ‘peanut butter.'” — Chris Davison, head brewer at Wolf’s Ridge Brewing.