Craft Beer

[u/innsource]

So I run a liquor store which speciallizes in craft beer. #1 store in the state, to be more specific. I live and breath beer. If I'm not selling beers or ordering beers for the store, I'm buying beers, reading about beers, brewing beers, out with beer reps drinking beers. You get it.
Over the past few years I've been getting more and more disenfranchised with the what is being considered "craft" beer. This really hit hard with feedback from my last 3 batches.

Super crisp- clean, sessionable Lager: Too boring
Top tier West Coast IPA: Too bitter, not hazy or fruity enough
Marshamallow Dessert stout (I wasn't happy with sub-par quality) AMAZING!!!

Long story short, I want to brew more "Craft" beers. Does anybody have any recipes for a good New England Double Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Tropical Salted Caramel Double Dry Hopped Extra Oat Cream Vanilla Milkshake Chocolate Raspberry Icecream Sour White Stout Infused with Mint, Hibiscus and Truffle oil?

[u/ByrdMass]

It's funny to see these comments all the time. I live in a small college town in the Midwest where the best option to pick up craft beer is Kroger or Meijer. The only hazies I see are from New Belgium, Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, etc. They are pretty good, but hardly taking over the shelf. I NEVER see dessert stouts or fruited beers. This seems like a coastal problem haha.

Here in the Midwest, I guess the breweries are more restrained. Bell's, Three Floyds, Great Lakes, Rhinegeist, New Glarus, Sun King, the list goes on, but I don't see a lot of weirdness out of these guys and gals. They all make great beer-flavored beer. Another reason life is better in the Midwest!

[u/LukaCola → u/[deleted]]

I literally couldn’t find a “regular” Porter the other day at the shop without other things added to them.

Porters aren't a great example though, in large part because the style had basically fallen out completely until really recently.

Founder's also makes a basic porter that I'd recommend.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/7348/

[u/TheReverend5 → u/LukaCola]

Founders porter, Deschutes black butte porter, Anchor brewing porter, Sierra nevada porter, just to name a few off the top of my head. I am pretty sure I could get those 10 years ago. I know for sure I could get Anchor and Deschutes in Tempe, AZ.

[u/marimbloke → u/ByrdMass]

We get most of those beers, plus the more out-there stuff here on the east coast. You can always buy the classics if you want. I'd argue that's better!

[u/ByrdMass → u/marimbloke]

Hey, I live in Indiana. Can't you let me delude myself? haha

[u/shoreman46 → u/ByrdMass]

I buy a lot of Bells and I’m in New England - I just picked up a 12 of Oberon, hard to find an American Wheat beer anywhere. Their imperial stout Expedition is amazing too, 6 pack of bottles, no candy in there and I think I paid $12 for the 6pack. It’s a big beer for special occasions.

[u/burmerd → u/ByrdMass]

Yeah, I think part of it is there is no PNW equivalent to spotted cow… maybe there just couldn’t be? I could see anchor steam filling that niche, but it doesn’t.

[u/ridethedeathcab → u/ByrdMass]

Yeah this complaint is a bit weird to me. Being from Cincinnati I'm definitely spoiled with some great selection just from the city, but most of the breweries have at least one each of a lager, and amber/red, a blonde, session IPA, classic IPA, etc. And then they also have some more out there stuff (Braxton collabs with Graeter's, Rhinegeist IPAs and barrel aged, etc.), but most of them have made a market of being fun places to hang out, so they try to also make beers for a wide range of people including the person that is prefer Bud Light. Sure if you go somewhere like Urban Artifact you'll be let down, but that's because they're a smaller place who's found their niche in sours, don't like sours, don't go there.

[u/cexshun → u/ByrdMass]

Wow, this surprises me. Been into craft beer for 20 years and I live in Indiana.

Three Floyds has always been considered an extreme brewery. In fact, the main complaint people had about FFF back in the 2000s was that they were too extreme and never brewed anything "normal". But by today's standard, since they aren't brewing a cloudy milkshake basil curry saison, they are considered "restrained". LMAO

[u/Ksp-or-GTFO → u/ByrdMass]

Sounds more like rural vs city. I am in the Midwest and there are plenty of places locally doing fruited beers, sours, desert, hazy, all the other ones. Fun to try but I do wish it was easier to find traditional styles