BeerBorg

There’s a local brewery that I’ve heard people rave about and I sure can’t figure out why. The city where I live has an exciting, up-and-coming local brew scene and this is one of the primary players. But I am always disappointed in their beers. They just recently started bottling for retail. Canning, actually. And today I saw they have a new session IPA (there’s an oxymoron for you, but let’s keep on track here) so I picked up a 4-pack of 16-ouncers. Color -- check. Head -- nonexistent. Aroma -- meh, hard to tell much. Bitterness -- pretty good. Flavor -- decent, citrus and grass. Body -- what body? Water has more mouthfeel. Post-beer headache --check. All their beers seem to do that to me. See? This is why I make my own.

On the other hand, there are a couple of local and almost-local breweries doing it right. Let me mention Rheingeist (Cincinnati), Toxic Brew and Fifth Street Brew Pub (Dayton). Dayton Brewing Co., I’ve been disappointed in some of their beers in the past but they have better equipment now so maybe I’ll give them another shot. There’s also a historical brewery (Carillon) doing one barrel/day of brew the real old school way: charcoal fires, copper kettles, wood barrels, and historical recipes. They make bread and crackers every day from the spent grain. I had a good time talking to the brewmaster.

So once in awhile I get a stinker, but all in all it’s a good time to be a beer drinker around here.

It's good to have options. A couple of our small local breweries get mixed reviews from me. Not too long ago I stopped in to Crooked Ladder. In the past I'd been nonplussed by their brews. This time I enjoyed the whole flight except one. And breweries are popping up like mushrooms around here.

We've had a lot of discussion around here about blind support for all of the locals vs. honest assessment of their product. There are a few that have struggled to get consistent product, and the drive to support your local brewer sometimes masks that. Fortunately, both have improved recently, but it's really tough to balance your attempts to support the local guys with the need to support good product. Fortunately we have a lot of great options here (Yazoo, Blackstone, Black Abbey, Cool Springs Brewery, TN Brew Works, Czann's, Jackalope, Bearded Iris, Mayday, Little Harpeth, etc.).

It's difficult to support the local guy if the quality just isn't there. I have no problem paying a bit more for anything local IF the quality is the same or better than what I can get elsewhere. I'll always try a new place when it opens, and then again about 6 months later to see if there is any change (if I wasn't impressed on the first visit).

From there though, quality gets my money.

Tap rooms are starting to pop up all over the place around me now. I have no issues picking and choosing which ones I give my money to. Are they mostly all great people.... Yes! But like any business, especially a new trending type like this one, the market will become over saturated and the cream always rises to the top. I would love to see them all succeed but it just isn't going to happen because some are going to be pipe dream people that have more money then than know what to do with without the skill or knowledge to run a successful business.

Love the taproom near my house and will gladly give my money to them all day, any day, especially because they open especially for us on the 2nd wednesday of every night to allow our club to have our meetings there. Great group of owners and they make a helluva beer! Probably the tasties English Brown i've ever had!