BellePlaine wrote:Lanval,
Here's my $0.02; beer is like bread, it's better fresh (usually). I see that there are Steelhead and Karl Strauss brewpubs in Irvine, have you been to your local brewery?
Minnesota Beer Nut
Yes, and to several others as well. Unfortunately for me, I learned to drink beer in Baden-Wurttemburg, which means:
1. I prefer beers that aren't readily available here (Pilsner is my all-time favorite, and a good Weizen is a joy on a summer day) and don't enjoy the American ale forms as much
2. Most "brew pubs" are little more than a cynical attempt to cash in a fad; even small brewers that were once quality brewers are often lost to the desire to spread out, capitalize and become a "brand". Karl Strauss, for instance, is bottled in San Diego, and trucked up here to Costa Mesa (nearby); they're not brewing on-premises, and while they've won a few awards, I don't believe that American brewers can scale successfully beyond a certain point.
What I discovered in Europe is that you can pretty readily understand the quality of a beer in inverse relationship to its availability; Amstel Light is sold in every train station throughout Europe; it's also an incredibly shitty beer.
In Germany, there are thousands of little breweries of exceptional quality which have little or no name outside of their local realm; they brew exquisite beers under the
Reinheitsgebot precisely because they know they're not going to expand beyond their borders. They can focus on quality because they have a steady, local/regional market without the goal of becoming a dominant market force.
This isn't to say there aren't good large-market beers in Germany, or elsewhere; there are, but they are not as good as many of the smaller beers, precisely because scale in brewing limits your ability to really localize ingredients, which in turn affects quality
and character. No single hop-grower can provide the necessary scale and quality to satisfy a global brand; as a result they focus
not on quality, but on consistency - every bottle tastes the same as every other bottle.
Even if they are reasonably good locally (I drank a fair amount of Bitburger while in Germany) they often don't travel well; time and again I've bought Bitburger in a bottle at Trader Joe's out of misplaced nostalgia, and every time, it's been of poor quality; a thin shadow of what it was like out of a tap, 2 hours from the brewery. But even so, Bitburger was not even close to the best stuff I had in Germany.
But I digress; I've been to the Steelhead across from UCI; mediocre at best. Oggi's isn't bad, but I'm not going to rave about them. Pizzaport has been recommended but I've never found the time. I refuse to go to Newport Beach BC on principle; this place is next on my list:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16866
If I sound like a picky wiener, it's cause I am; what I really want is a good crisp, clear Pilsner, but good luck finding that in the US; so when I drink, I end up drinking shitty American ale, 'cause that's mostly what America produces. American lager tends to be even lousier, since it's generally made by big companies. Nowadays, when I want to sit and drink, I drink red wines from Oregon and Washington; if you want to know what Napa Valley wishes it could be, try this:
http://www.lecole.com/
It's funny, cause we used to drive by that old school every year on the way to the old family homestead. Never thought it would be anything but a run-down old school!
Best,
Michael L
