Even More Industry Pros On The Most Overrated And Underrated Beer Styles

The craft beer industry doesn’t want for opinions, it’s a passionate community and everybody’s got a take. So we recently asked our friends in the biz to weigh in on what they thought were today’s most OVERRATED and UNDERRATED beer styles.  And here is just some of what craft beer professionals we asked, thought.

 

Jamie Floyd – Owner/Brewer, Ninkasi Brewing (Eugene, OR)

Overrated: Belgian Whit. “There are lots of really tasty Belgian Whits out there for sure, but the amount if it sold in the US is due to big conglomerate breweries making and selling them. Hoegaarden is owned by InBev for one which used to be the standard but the beer is not as good as it used to be. Next Blue Moon is not really Craft Made nor is Shock Top so it is considered a big Craft category but it is driven by big brewery money not the emerging trend of the classic style.”

Underrated: Flanders Reds (Oud Bruins) – “This is another Belgian Style that when done well is very easy to drink and sessionable. Although time-consuming to make, they are wonderful beers to enjoy when around. I’ve heard that Rodenbach is rereleasing an Alexander Rodenbach brand of Flanders which was once the gold standard until they stopped making the beer. Maybe its resurgence will spawn a new trend.”

 

Yann Lemaire – Head Brewer/co-founder, Cervceria Nuevo Mundo (Lima, Peru)

Overrated: Pale Ale – “The style seems sometimes the category too easy to label and we find a very different sort of beers.”

Underrated:   Porters and Stouts – “Usually people are not so attracted by those styles and don’t think they can be complex too.”

 

Jason Oliver – Brewmaster of R&D, Devils Backbone Brewing (Roseland, VA)

Overrated: “Ice cream flavored beers or beers flavored like desert.  Some people make a lot of noise around these things.  I fear they reward people who do not like the taste of beer.  The exception is our Hoopla Imperial Salted Caramel Apple Baltic Porter, that’s legit hahaha.”

 Underrated: “Beer flavored beer.  Classic beers, especially British beer or British-style.  It’s sad to see the lack of appreciation for a large part of the base of inspiration for early craft brewers.  Many early craft beer styles were American interpretations of British type beers which then developed and evolved in new directions.  Classic British beers seem like an afterthought to most these days.”

 

Ben Evans – President / Head Brewer, Hellbender Brewing (Washington, DC) –

Overrated: Imperial Stouts

Underrated: Brown Ales (American, English and Belgian)

 

Joshua M. Bernstein – journalist and author of The Complete Beer Course and Complete IPA

Overrated: Imperial Stouts – “Look, I love a chocolaty, roasty supercharged stout as much as anyone—especially after a slumber in bourbon barrels—but they’re not the end-all, be-all to boozing. My fridge and closets are clogged with imperial stouts, waiting for a blizzard and a bevy of friends compelled to crack into the ever-growing stash.”

Underrated: Pilsner – “I like beer. A lot. Getting drunk? Not always so much, especially with a three-year-old kid up at the crack of dawn every day. So I’m super-psyched to see the resurgence of pilsner. Done right and served fresh, a pilsner is brisk, finely bittered, and wonderfully refreshing.”

 

James Pachorek – Beer Guy, Lost Highway Brewing (Denver, CO)

Underrated: Belgian Wit and Vienna Lager. “Wit because of its nice light flavors but hearty mouthfeel. Vienna lager because it has a nice light drinkability with a clean malty profile. Like LL Cool J said, “don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years!” 

Overrated: unfiltered/cloudy IPAs and kettle sours – “The kettle sour only because it’s just not appealing to me as a style, and similarly the cloudy IPA leaves a yeasty finish and doesn’t have that nice clean finish I think a beer should have. Just my humble opinion…”

 

Jack Goodall – Marketing Manager, Starr Hill Brewery (Crozet, VA) –

Overrated: Sours – “While I’ve had many sour beers that I enjoy, I feel this is a style that is tremendously inconsistent from beer to beer. Making something tart doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be balanced and/or have flavor.”

Underrated: Dunkelweizen – “To me this is a perfect combination of malt flavor with the drinkability of a wheat beer.”

 

David Fields – Founder, Wormtown Brewery (Worchester, MA)

Overrated:  “No such thing!  I read once ‘All beer is better than water’ and while many people with elevated pallets will beg to differ I happen to agree.  Yea there are pale beers or whatever you want to describe macros as but in the end every style has a time and a place to be enjoyed.  And who am I to tell someone what their individual tastes should be!  I look at it this way, would someone ever tell a guy his wife was ugly because she was a blonde and brunettes were prettier?  Not unless he wanted to start a fight.  Beer is too much fun to fight over….and everyone has a unique pallet.  Nobody should spend any time trying to convince someone what they like is ‘swill, piss or….overrated!”  I say enjoy what you like regardless of other people’s opinion.  Of course that excludes wine as I think all beer is better than WINE.  So that is my overrated style – WINE!  So little variety (Red, White, Pink and sometimes bubbly) and very limited nuances.”

Underrated:  “Different than telling someone what they drink sucks, I’m happy to share with someone a new style that they might find interesting and enjoy.  So with that said I see some overdue momentum happening in Pilsners.  Traditional, light yet with a distinct and authentic European Hop flavor.  Distinct malt flavors but with tons of space to create unique flavors, body and character.  To me this is a really versatile style that the most sophisticated pallet can appreciate and enjoy the nuances of….while a new to craft beer consumer will find approachable and easy to enjoy!”

And be sure to check out the MOST OVERRATED AND UNDERRATED BEER STYLES – Part I   & Part II while you’re at it.