of those only grolsch actually tastes well made. hofbrauhaus (if thats what you meant) has never hit me right. the rest are meh.
Have you tried Yebisu on draft in a Tokyo bar? Some of the best lager I’ve had. I meant the Hoffbrau Brewery, not the restaurant.
Here is where I part ways with the crowd, as my taste leans heavily towards clean, crisp, full bodied lagers.
Maybe you’re so far ahead of the curve you’ve lost your tastebuds?
Anyway, each to their own, drink what you enjoy
Dang…I forgot to mention Sydney and Brisbane! Spent a lot of time there, and the beer was great! VB and 4X were favorites! I even smuggled these back to the States by the case.
We are planning a trip to europe now that we are vaccinated and some travel restrictions are lifted. Definitely looking forward to doing some serious beer drinking
I guess I am lucky in that I like and appreciate a wide variety of styles. Right now I have on tap, lagering, or in fermenters a NEIPA, Porter, bohemian pilsner, Maibock, and English bitter.
What seems to be happening these days is people who are into European lagers seem to think that no one else is sophisticated enough to enjoy their nuances and everyone is on the hoppy beer bandwagon. Well, 2010 called and they want their conceit back. The fact is lagers have become quite trendy and more and more people are drinking them and I am seeing more and more shelf space given to them.
I don’t mind 4x but VB, well, I’m not a fan haha! All our mainstream lagers just use plain old cane sugar, cheap and available here.
Yeah, when I was in Australia I noticed a distinct disdain for it.
cool, i put off a europe trip due to covid, but am really interested in traveling again. hope it goes well, im not looking forward to potential restrictions.
I’ve had a few of those beers including the Zwickel from Urban Chestnut and the Helles from Wibby. Actually, all of the Urban Chestnut lagers are fantastic and they come in this can that opens all the way open… the entire top comes off, not just a small opening. Their Pils is very nice as well. What if craft breweries just picked up where many US macros left off prior to WW2? What if thousands of craft breweries across the US made delicious gold lagers for the masses that kicked Bud Light right in the pants? These beers should not be confused with wimpy, fizzy gold lagers because they’re better than that. A rich, full-tasting gold lager with some hop presence is one reason why I brew and I love to see craft breweries concentrate on that as opposed to triple IPAs, 12% Belgians and Doughnut Stouts.
Yeah, Urban Chestnut is really good, I agree. And those cans are really cool. I’ve been to Wibby as well and enjoyed the brewery/beer. Fun times.
I have always said that “American Lager” is a style like any other and I understand why so many craft breweries and beer enthusiasts don’t want to go there. There are already so many examples of the style everywhere you look but that doesn’t mean that the craft version has to emulate the macro version. Use different hops, more hops, better malt and a yeast with more character. Use less corn or no corn. Less rice or no rice. Give the beer better character but still nice for a warm and sunny day. I remember tailgating with my daughter before an Indiana football game. I found Urban Chestnut Zwickel at a big liquor store down there and offered one to a guy hanging with us. He looked at the can like he had never seen anything like it, was wowed by the entire top coming off but when he tasted it… you could tell he was in Beervana.
I would just change that to “And”.
Because as Hawkeye Pierce might say, “The more craft breweries concentrate on golden lagers, the less craft breweries there will be to concentrate on golden lagers.” 
True, they can concentrate on all of them at one point or another. My issue is with some places I have been to where all the beers seemed so weird and gimmicky that we would have a hard time finding something. I have absolutely been to places where there might be 10-15 choices and every one of them was a “Margarita Gose” and a “Blueberry Sour” along with the big IPAs, Belgians and Stouts, etc. If there were an APA, a Kolsch or other style that was more standard then I really wouldn’t care what the rest of the selections were because I was able to find something I liked. I’ve gone into places where not ONE of the choices “tasted like beer”. 
Unless it is a niche brewery focusing on a particular style, I agree that it would be pretty disappointing not to see at least something un-extreme at a brewery.
All that said, I’m a big believer in everyone brewing what they like or what sells. If you’re a craft brewery with a ton of gimmicky beers and they all sell… excellent. Some people look at all of their ingredients and say “what can I make with this?” while others say “what CAN’T I make with this?”. 
Absolutely. I’m not a fan of blonde ales that have a dash of lactic acid and fruit extract added labelled as “sour” at $10 a glass, but if the hipsters are happy to pay, more power to the brewery for cashing in.
The hipsters in my area of the world appear to be moving to hard seltzer.
My girlfriend likes a brewery in gettysburg that seems to turn out “sours” every week they taste like lactose and fruit puree
When I do go to brewery’s or brew my own beer, I always go for the classics old school styles I tend to brew a lot of portors and stouts only because I love dark beer. The two brews I did were lighter to challenge my self. June’s beer brew will be a strong ale