OT - Michigan Beers
December 27th, 2017 at 7:47 AM ^
So out of curiousity, what should someone who likes Oberon sample to branch out to find something better, but similar in the "summer beer" sense?
December 27th, 2017 at 11:57 AM ^
but if you like Oberon, which is a wheat beer, just about any german hefeweizen is going to be similar but have a bit more depth. Hacker-Schorr is solid. Hofbrau Munchner Weisse. New Glarus and 3 Floyd's make good domestic versions.
For a little more tart summer beer (think lemonade to Oberon's orange juice) I like Berliner Weisse style beers. Bell's makes one called Oarsman Ale that is well-done.
Session IPAs like Founder's All-Day IPA are good summer beers. I think a lot of balanced IPAs are good summer beers. Bell's Two Hearted is a nicely balanced beer with more tropical fruit than hoppy bitterness so it's great in the summer if you're ok with a little higher abv.
Any pilsner, blonde or pale ale is going to be good in the summer. Try some and drink whatever you like! Also nothing wrong with Oberon whatsoever.
December 27th, 2017 at 12:40 PM ^
Pilsners are absolutely disgusting beers.
December 27th, 2017 at 2:28 PM ^
glad you think so.
As a style it's lower on my overall list, but it's a crisp, dry beer that drinks best cold so the right one can make for a really good summer beer.
Firestone Walker Pivo, Revolution Brewing Rev Pils, North Coast Scrimshaw are solid. The german and czech versions are almost all good. Not sure about Michigan breweries doing good ones which would surprise me since Michigan hops should be like Czech hops.
Tacos/spicy mexican food and pilsner is a great summer combo.
EDIT: I just noticed that I made a mistake by saying "any pilsner...is going to be good." Meant to say, in general, pilsners, blonde and pale ales make for good summer beers, and then followed it up with a note to find one you like. They're certainly not all good. But there are some solid ones that make for good summer beers.
December 27th, 2017 at 1:52 PM ^
some of the best beers in the world are pilseners (lagers), but they're more difficult to make than ales; and a lot of schlocky beer making can get masked by hopping it up.
fortunately, some american craft brewers are starting to learn.
December 27th, 2017 at 11:43 AM ^
This is how I feel about Sam Summer. In the past, it's been a symbol of Summer, which from my time at Michigan, I understand is what Oberon is. I'd get excited about Sam Summer the same time everyone else was getting hyped about Oberon. Honestly, held the Oberon love against Bell's and feel bad for it because I missed out on some of their awesome other beers.
Sam Summer similarly has experienced heavy decline and inconsistency.
December 26th, 2017 at 8:26 PM ^
Eh, I could not care less what it meant to the industry. I want beer that tastes good and Oberon is not in that category.
December 26th, 2017 at 8:36 PM ^
Harsh but true. I actually really dislike it...would much rather go after some other marzan or Ayinger wheat beer if I were to actually crave that style. He makes a decent point about maybe what it once was and what it meant to the American beer movement but it's a bit a of a moot one. Also not sure why IPAs were brought up.
December 26th, 2017 at 9:39 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 11:32 PM ^
I still call Oberon one of my favorites. Don't care what anyone else says, there will be more available for me I guess. I like wheat beers but most of them are bland and/or have weird spices ingredients, such as Blue Moon. Oberon has a bit of an edge that most wheat beers don't have. Like most beers, it's best on draft.
December 26th, 2017 at 8:37 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 8:39 PM ^
December 27th, 2017 at 12:42 PM ^
I hate to break it to you, but pumpkin ale and Ofest beers DO rule all. Truth hurts, I know.
December 26th, 2017 at 11:28 PM ^
It’s not even in season. Why would you bring it up? Every craft beer hipster likes to hate on it, but it is a solid beer for its category/season. I wouldn’t travel the globe for it, but I’ll drink it at the cafe.
I respect other people’s pallets, but i feel like hating on Oberon is a crutch that Michigan beer people lean on. “I can’t recommend anything, but I’ll hate on the beer that put Michigan craft beer on the map... hardy har har “
December 27th, 2017 at 2:51 AM ^
December 27th, 2017 at 12:44 PM ^
What does the fact that it isn't in season have anything to do with this discussion? So, just because certain beers are not in season, they're exempt from a beer discussion? That is probably the dumbest thing ever.
December 26th, 2017 at 8:16 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 8:17 PM ^
Bells 2 Hearted & 51K IPA from Blackrock
December 26th, 2017 at 8:18 PM ^
Shout out to the guy that recommended Bell’s Best Brown. That’s getting harder and harder to find in Wisconsin but I love it.
I still remember when Best Brown and Solsun only came in 22 ounce bottles. Perfect for your front porch.
December 26th, 2017 at 9:06 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 11:54 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 8:23 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 8:23 PM ^
Love that stuff
December 26th, 2017 at 8:29 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 8:32 PM ^
That New Holland Poet is also one of my favorites. Delicious.
As far as porters go, the basic Bell's Porter really holds up.
December 26th, 2017 at 8:31 PM ^
I'm also in the Two Hearted/M43/FBS bandwagon, but I'll throw in a good word for most of the brews from North Peak. Diabolical IPA is a perennial favorite, and they have a new cherry porter (Rascal) that's really quite nice.
I'll also recommend a new brewery up in Petoskey, Beard's, which is doing some really nice stuff. Don't think they're distributing a lot right now, but their spot is nice and the beers are quite good.
December 26th, 2017 at 8:33 PM ^
2) New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk
3) Rochester’s Milk Shake Stout
As other’s have noted, more than one or two of 1) or 2) above and you better have a pillow nearby and NOT your car keys. The lactose added to 3) Rochester’s Stout does indeed give it a milkshake (mouth) feel. I think that Rochester is unheralded but brews some well-balanced brews.
December 26th, 2017 at 8:46 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 8:38 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 8:39 PM ^
2. Bell’s Two Hearted
3. Founders Porter
December 26th, 2017 at 10:23 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 8:44 PM ^
December 27th, 2017 at 1:50 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 8:45 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 8:59 PM ^
Perrin Black is a great beer, as well as most Right Brain beers.
If you want to try out some great Belgian style beers, try Big Red Coq, Triomphe, or the Undertaker from Brewery Vivant.
December 26th, 2017 at 9:02 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 9:13 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 9:25 PM ^
December 27th, 2017 at 12:27 AM ^
If they're using a static rotation of twenty year old recipes? I'm partially kidding but that doesn't to me, argue against the original point.
I don't know what Perrin is doing in terms of interesting things at the brewpub, because I haven't frequented enough, but when I'm in West Michigan, I mostly see their gold (which is a decent but unremarkable ale), their light lager, which like, c'mon, what is a craft brewery doing brewing a light lager unless they are literally trying to be the AB of craft beer, and their Grapefruit IPA which is awful (way too sweet from too much grapefruit juice).
They absolutely do seem like they slapped this marketable label on their beers, grew as fast as possible by offering beers that would appeal to the masses, and aren't really doing anything noteworthy.
December 27th, 2017 at 2:53 PM ^
I think there is a sharp distinction between what they bottle and sell at the tap room. Perrin actually waited I think several years before they started to bottle their own beer.
I agree with your assessment of the Gold, light lager, and Grapefruit IPA. They made a strategic decision to bottle their beers that appeal to a hypothetical 'middle palate'.
'98 Problems is a good beer, and the No Problems is also well done (but not as good as Founders session style IPA).
The guy who opened the place should have sold it before the market got saturated. Now it is a more crowded market, and they are pushing a basic risk-averse branding strategy that does not show their best side. But they own the rights to some totally killer IPAs, which were all developed a few years back, and from what I can tell they have discontinued them.
December 27th, 2017 at 4:52 PM ^
and that completely confirms the point: they are chasing growth and sacrificing originality/quality. There's nothing wrong with it, per se, but discontinuing your interesting/good stuff to focus on volume sellers literally makes them the AB/macro sales focused brewery of craft beer. They're not the only ones. This was the model Golden Road took and several others.
EDIT: I'm not sure where you got that story/history but I'm reading an article about Perrin (from when it sold to Oskar Blues in 2015), and it sounds like the goal all along was to make mainstream beer and sell as fast as possible (which they did).
Dude that founded it, Randy Perrin, was a "bud light drinking" souvenir clothing maker. He may have plucked his head brewer from Founder's to carry out the vision of brewing widely appealing beer (which is a smart marketing move to say, hey, this guy came from Founder's), but they certainly weren't toiling away making beer before their taproom opened, at least, not as Perrin Brewing:
"The day we opened, we were the fifth-largest brewery in the state of Michigan, and we really didn't know what we were doing," said James Haney, an engineer who worked at Perrin Brewing Co. and doesn't drink beer. He said that when Perrin "goes into a business, it's no holds barred. All in. Randy doesn't do anything halfway."
Starting out big and selling out relatively quickly, Perrin Brewing is an oddity among Michigan's largest craft breweries. Most of them have been making beer for at least a decade, and many are owned by longtime brewers driven by passion for good beer. Randy Perrin in 2012 told MLive that he was "a Bud Light drinker" and wanted to make beer that appealed to similar palates as well as craft-beer drinkers.
"He had the thought, 'Let's make a local beer that would compete against the big boys,' that style and all that," said Keith Klopcic, president and co-owner of Perrin Brewing. "He built a beautiful brewery here, did a good job. But that wasn’t really what craft's about."
December 27th, 2017 at 10:37 PM ^
December 27th, 2017 at 9:07 PM ^
December 28th, 2017 at 1:01 AM ^
that I'm not familiar with their rarer offerings/what they might have at the brewery. I'm pretty dialed into the craft scene and haven't heard anything spectacular about their BA or sour beers, hence the comment about not really doing anything noteworthy.
And I'm sure a couple of these are good, but that's not a very high overall hit rate. Perrin isn't a brewery that you can say, "yeah, anything from Perrin is going to be solid" like you can with Founder's and Bell's.
December 26th, 2017 at 9:05 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 9:05 PM ^
2. Siren from North Peak
3. OldDetroit from Frakenmuth.
December 26th, 2017 at 9:15 PM ^
If you want to visit a couple breweries that are doing some dang good work while you’re here, Austin Bros. in Alpena (their NE IPAs have been amazing), Oracle in Saginaw, and Creston in Grand Rapids (you have to get the Bloody Fifth!) are great visits. And the food at Austin Bros. is killer as well.
December 27th, 2017 at 7:24 AM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 9:23 PM ^
December 26th, 2017 at 9:30 PM ^
from the tap in the zoo...